# What to do for excessive oil consumption?



## 99819 (Jan 29, 2010)

My Vehicle: 1988 Nissan Sentra, 2DR Gasoline, Manual 5-spd, Coupe @ 1.6L, about 163000miles

Somewhat recently I started having to add 2-4 quarts between each 3000mi/6mo oil change (seriously). What weight should I be using? In the past at one time or another i've used 5w30, 10w30, some High Mileage versions of those and some higher weight conventionals a few times.

I have been told that running 20w50 can help with oil consumption, is this always the case with these kind of engines? It's kind of funny because the engine is in great shape; don't really see a reason for it to be burning off tons of oil. The other odd thing is that the exhaust isn't particularly smoky (main sign of oil burning, I thought), and engine was flushed recently which didn't help the symptoms at all.

Would switching to Synthetic help? Should I try conventional 20w50 (or similar weight)? Also wondering if different brands of oil are better for this sort of thing? I heard that Kendall used to be, before the buyout, so not sure which would be good for this these days.

Thanks guys


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## dreamteam (Jul 29, 2005)

If your car is using the oil, check inside the tailpipe for unusually oily film. There may also be a leak. Check under the engine to see if there are any oil coated surfaces. 
Yes, increasing oil viscosity, 20w-50, will decrease consumption.
I personally would not switch to synthetic.
There are some aftermarket products,STP, CD-2, motorhoney, etc. that will increase the oil viscosity. Most of them do work. However, if you are using oil, you really need an overhaul to permanently fix the problem.


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## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

That much oil, your probably plugging up your cat too, been there... done that. Might pull your plugs, check the color, depending... you might consider pulling the head and running a hone thru the cylinders, re-ring it and maybe a valve job.... should bring you some extra life. I went thru and just replaced everything so I didnt have to worry about it....


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

Sduibek said:


> My Vehicle: 1988 Nissan Sentra, 2DR Gasoline, Manual 5-spd, Coupe @ 1.6L, about 163000miles
> 
> Somewhat recently I started having to add 2-4 quarts between each 3000mi/6mo oil change (seriously).


A good way to test for oil burning is to first fully warm up the motor. Stand behind the car. Have someone rev the motor to 4,000 RPM and hold at that RPM for about 15 seconds. If you see a lot of blue smoke come out of
the tailpipe, the motor is burning excessive oil.

If you don't see an excessive amount of blue smoke, then in your case there's probably an external oil leak.


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## TOOQIKK (Jul 11, 2009)

blue smoke, oil covered spark plugs, run a compression test, look for drops(or in you case pools of oil under car), the valve cover gaskets leak, the oil pan gasket, the crank seal, the main seal, and the oil filter can leak too. do not put synthetic oils in your car(it would be a huge waste and probably cause it to leak even more!!!!) thicker oil might help but with that much lose i would be looking for some kind of mechanical failure(ie gasket, seal etc)

good luck with your search and please keep us updated as to what you do and what you find!


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## ZombieX (Feb 10, 2010)

if you cant rebuild the engine yet pour a half bottle of lucas oil treatment, that should do the trick.


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## ZombieX (Feb 10, 2010)

oh important don't use stp or motor honey, it will make your engine non rebuildable and glue your engine together(they are made of polymers(glue) instead of a petroleum based product)


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## TOOQIKK (Jul 11, 2009)

not a fan of lucas products.....have had bad experiences and have seen some scary test results.........jmtc


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## ahardb0dy (Nov 9, 2003)

Just want to add In my 90 sentra I have run Mobil 1 - 10W30 in it since I bought it 5 years ago now have over 222K miles on it and running the synthetic I have no leaks.


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## Gary Frew (Aug 26, 2018)

hi my 2005 nissan almera has had a oil leak the turbo pipe had burst spraying oil all along the bottom of the car had that fixed and have noticed its still burning oil ,when i accelerate i have noticed plumes of smoke out of the rear view mirrors hear it could be a blown turbo off the almera forums i am looking into that has any one had the same problem as me, who could steer me in the right direction pls ,
regards Gary.liverpool.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

By your description, it sounds like the seals are bad inside the turbo.


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