2008 Cadillac CTS DI: Low oil

It seems that the CTS runs low on oil pretty often. Is this a known problem with the car or engine?

It went 9075 miles and only used a quart? That's really good. What are you complaining about?

Because I think I recall them adding some oil really not that long ago. It wasn't the mileage, it was the frequency. Maybe I'm wrong about how long ago that was.

They added 1.3 quarts at 6647 miles.

Guess there's no problem if this car gets regularly serviced every 5,000 miles.

anyway i can get edmunds to spot me for a consumer comparison test of the two motogp rounds in the USA? i'll take some pics and tell you which one i enjoyed more. sound good?

enjoy the race al, i'm jealous. (go colin edwards!)

typically, direct injection engine will consume more oil than the typical engine. but to go through a quart of oil in less than 3K is a bit excessive IMHO, and could lead to other issues down the road.

highway cars will also typically burn more oil than cars that do shorter trips.

my old VW TDI would g through that much oil, after 7-8K miles, into it's scheduled 10K oil changes.

I'm surprised it only required 1/2 quart with the dipstick that low. Is that normal?

A quart every 3k is not excessive at all. Most manufacturer use 1 quart every 1k miles as a threshold for excessive oil consumption.

Uhhhh...
I guess I'd better check my oil level.
Yeaaaaahhhhhhh...

"typically, direct injection engine will consume more oil than the typical engine."

Maybe that's true but I have over 30k miles on my IS350 and never had to add any oil in between changes.

Yup. We added 1.3Q @ 6647mi.
I only added 1/2Q because it's due for service soon - I could have dumped the whole quart in there.
blankfocus - watch for some MotoGP blogs - see you at Laguna next year.

I wouldn't consider that oil consumption excessive, if the engine had 75k + on it. but assuming it was broken in correctly, I find that going through a quart in only 3K is a bit much for a new car. but I'm not mechanic, so I could be wrong.

louiswei,

"Maybe that's true but I have over 30k miles on my IS350 and never had to add any oil in between changes."

You shouldn't have to. While DI engines MAY consume more engines, you shouldn't have to have add more oil between changes. Unless your oil changes are every 10K+ miles, like with VWs and other Euro cars. then you may need to add a little.

This is perfectly acceptable consumption (in the eyes of GM). That's how they get away with extended oil changes ;-) You end up putting enough new, clean oil in between changes to offset the older oil and get you to that 7500-10K mile interval :-P

My '06 Impala "uses" oil. Only 29K miles on it. Everytime I fill up the washer fluid, I am now in the habit of checking the dipstick. It is not uncommon to have to add a little oil every now and then to keep the level up. The Impala 3.5L V6 takes 4qts with a filter change. So I buy the 5qt jug, and that leaves me with 1qt remaining to use for topping off between changes. Works out well.

I have to ocassionally add Prestone pre-mixed Dexcool to the coolant reservoir as well. Impalas, and other GM vehicles from what I have read, like to "use" Dexcool. For those of you with a GM vehicle, keep an eye on your coolant.

Welcome to the GM ownership experience! You get used to it and it becomes second nature :-)

ryster,

Thanks for the knowledge, I didn't know that about GM engines. But if that's normal, then no harm done.

That does seem a bit excessive. My off-roading vehicle is a 91 Nissan Pathfinder with 188,000 miles, and it uses about 1/4 quart between the 7500 mile oil changes. The thing refuses to die- once something major goes wrong I'll get a new 4WD for the backcountry, but an 18 year old car that gets abused off road runs better than most new cars- something is wrong here...

"But if that's normal, then no harm done."

That's exactly correct. How much oil it burns (within reason) is not important. It's when it starts burning more then normal that you have a problem.

You guys need to learn more about the variety of modern engines out there. I learned ALOT when I bought my 06 Civic SI, which was my first major oil consumer.

From 0-26000 miles, this car consumed at least one quart every 1500-2000 miles. No problems though, and it was broken in fairly carefully.

I tried many different oils during that time....Royal Purple, Pennzoil Platinum, Supertech, Quaker State, Mobil One extended performance. All consumed about the same.

I experienced no problems with the car. No blue smoke, ever. It runs rich and leaves black soot on the tailpipe, but that's common for these engines (tuned rich in stock format, because of all those kiddies putting exhaust and intakes on without ECU tuning).

At 26,000 miles, I switched to Amsoil. I'm not going to say it's liquid petrol poured down from heaven, but it is damn good. My oil consumption dropped to about 1 quart every 5000 miles.

At 47k now, and it's been consistent like that for 21000 miles.

Some modern engines consume more oil than others. Design differences, etc.

Ironically, my Honda naturally aspirated engine consumed more for the first 26000 miles than my Subaru turbocharged four cylinder is consuming thus far (which is to say, no consumption yet on the Subaru).

Joe

So what happened? Why is it acceptable for modern engines to use more oil.

We have two vehicles, each with more than 100K miles on them. Neither needs to have any oil added between oil changes. The last vehicle I had that ever needed oil added between changes was a 1977 400cu (6.55L) V8.

Brn,

There is a misconception that modern engines should inherently all not consume oil because they are MODERN.

My engine was born around 2001 and consumes some oil due to piston/cylinder design. Same with the 01-06 M3 (to my knowledge). Alot of turbocharged cars tend to consume more oil due to extremely high turbo temps that literally cook a little oil, or pressure in the cylinders at high boost.

All these modern engines have modern owner's manuals which recommend regular checking of the oil. How regular? Usually about once every gas-tank fill-up.

But I guess that's just a relic of a bygone era?

FYI, my wife's Saturn Ion Ecotec 2.2 liter never consumed any oil. I mean 5,000 miles and that thing was rock-solid at the top of the dipstick.

I know there are plenty of engines with no consumption. But it's by design, not by nature of being modern.

Joe