Thread: Boost and oil consumption - How many miles per quart do you get?

I threw a 190k mile engine in the autotragic car until I can find a super clean DE replacement. I really didn't check the engine over well since it was a free engine, I just did a compression check and popped it in. After getting it all together and broke in I noticed a cloud rolling behind me when pulling past 4500 RPM or so @ 14PSI. I thought it might clear up but I'm close to 3k miles on it and it's eating at least 1 quart per 1,000 miles. I'm going to pay closer attention and log miles per qt.

What kind of miles per quart are you getting and how many miles are on your engine?


Some of the info on Fiat 500's show that they consume quite a bit brand new.

The accepted rate of oil consumption for engines used in the vehicles listed above is 0.946 liter (1 qt.) in 3,200 km (2,000 mi) for the 1st 80,467 km (50,000 mi). For vehicles with more then 80,467 km (50,000 mi) the acceptable oil consumption for engines is 0.946 liter (1 qt.) in 1,207 km (750 mi).


This above rate only applies to personal use vehicles, under warranty, that are driven in a non-aggressive manner and maintained in accordance
with the appropriate maintenance schedule. This rate does not apply to vehicles that are driven in an aggressive manner, at high RPM, high speeds.

Aggressive Driving
Aggressive driving and/or continuous driving at high speeds with high RPM's will increase
oil consumption. Because this may not always be an everyday occurrence, it is hard to
determine exactly how much the oil economy will be affected. A higher rate of oil
consumption is normal for vehicles equipped with manual transmissions that are driven
aggressively. Aggressive means; operation at high RPM (3,000 RPM to redline), with
frequent use of engine braking (using the engine to slow the vehicle). Vehicles that are
driven aggressively may consume engine oil at a rate of up to 0.946 L (1 quart) every 805
km (500 mi). This is normal for a vehicle that is driven aggressively. No repair is
necessary. This driving habit will require the owner to check the engine oil level at frequent
intervals, to verified the oil level remains within the recommended operating range. Oil
level should be checked every time you get fuel.

Type of oil also plays a large roll.. @zeneffect can provide a good link.

Checking the oil level every time you get gas is a great habit to get into!

When I threw the motor in I used 10-30 cheap crap and dumped it @ 1000 miles. Have had 10-30 Mobil-1 synthetic in it but I'm going to switch back to 10-30 conventional oil and see if it helps. I think I'm going to look into some total seal gapless rings for the next engine. This is the first high mileage SR20 that I have used under boost so it's pretty interesting to see the consumption compared to the low mile engines that we are running.

Out of my 5 DE engines, only one of them consumed any oil to speak of. It probably also leaked a good bit?

My current DE is turbo'd and does not consume, nor leak, any oil. The same can't be said for our other (German) cars.
This has been the case using Mobile 1, Rotella, Castrol, and Amsoil oils. All full synthetics.

https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

not an end all to oil selection, but provides a bit of info that is not found anywhere else. take this info and combine it with voa and uoa to make your decision.

from personal experience, Pennzoil platinum pure plus consumed about a quart after 2000 miles. Castrol Edge, Rotella (used it once was not happy), Pennzoil platinum (old style) and Valvoline max life did not consume any. This behavior was repeatable on my motor as I went through a minimum of 2 gallons of each listed.

Good info! Thanks for the oil test bible, going to read some of it after work.

We rebuilt the engine a couple months ago. Did a hone and installed new rings and some factory used rod bearings from a VE. The compression rings were pretty limp and out of spec. The oil rings were froze up and caked up bad. Several thousand miles on it now and it doesn't smoke or drink oil anymore. Before the oil would get dirty really fast, now it is staying clean.

I was going through about 3/4 of a quart every 3,000 miles. This was with a stock ve with 1 bad valve seal, using mobile 1 10w-40 in hot weather.

One of mine is a 97 SE-R w/ 209k miles. I just pulled the valve cover off and it looked pretty nice inside. It uses very little oil, except for the usual leak around the distributor like almost all of them have.