Oil consumption advice needed...

[muza]

Hi again!

I've just spoken to a renault dealer - and he did explain that renaults are 'made to use oil' ...

he then went through what the clio sport 172 should be consuming, in terms of engine oil, inbetween services. He said that when some people come in for servicing, the oil does appear low, and sometimes the oil light is on - indicating very low oil levels.. He seemed to give the impression that it was acceptable for the engine to consume most of the entire oil reservoir inbetween servicing...

my service interval is every 12,000 miles, and the entire oil reservoir in a 172 is 4.85 Litres, so...

12,000 miles divided by 4.85 = 2,450 miles per Litre (roughly)

The technicians judge was that if your car uses more than a litre for every 2000 miles or so, you should start to be concerned.. this still baffles me because some of you in this thread seem to use no oil atall in that time???

I am going to fill up the oil to the top when i get my new oil container (ordered off the net so i have to wait) and see how much the car uses over the next 1000 to 2000 miles...

in the mean time i may get a oil pressure check etc done, not sure what else to do really! :dapprove:

 

[john lloyd]

some do some dont, depends on the engine, how its driven (especially from cold) how hard a life it has, what brand and indeed grade of oil is used.

mine never used a drop for years but it does burn some when doing track days using a 0w-40 just keep an eye on yours mate but some engines do use oil regular and its not a problem.

 

[DrR]

my 182 has used a ltr in the last 2.5 years/ 32k. Obviuosly it's been serviced in that time, but it doesn't use much at all.

 

[Toms_clio]

That's strange. I have done 3000 miles in my 182 and no oil atall has been burnt!!

 

[hughski]

Seems a bit weird how some of you guys are using so much oil, my car gets driven relatively hard a lot of the time and i'm yet to see the oil leave the top of the dipstick marker...

I tend to agree.

 

[Silent_Scone]

mines seen better days and still uses hardly any...lol

 

[Turkish]

My 172 never used a drop conversely my 182 used to go through around a litre every 1000 miles. Both were owned from new by me and both driven in the same manner, the 182 showed no signs of burning oil nor was it dropping any. As far as Renault were concerned when I spoke to them about the difference in consumption I was seeing between the two they felt it was merely down to manufacturing tolerance variation. They also said it was well within their "normal" range of consumption so felt it needed no further inspection. Although when they told me what their upper limit for oil usage per 1000 miles was I must admit it sounded more like that of a 2 stroke than a 4 stroke!

 

[Simon@SprayShack]

Looks like I spoke too soon. When I last checked it a couple of months ago it was just under half on the dipstick. Came up this weekend saying it was empty, filled it up and it took 2 litres. So its used about 2 litres in 8.5k.

???????/ your dip stick MAX - MIN is 1litre..............????/?? 2litres?

 

[bearne1]

Mine has had oils service at 14k, 24k and 35k (mid December had Elf 5W40). Now it has covered 37k and very low already. Either was not topped up quite enough when I had the service or it is drinking oil!

Anyone confirm this is normal? Car is driven 5 days a week almost 60 miles which doesn't help!!

 

[bearne1]

Hang on, just checked and no leaks under the car but seems to be some oil sitting on top of the inlet mani. Sure i've read that this is a common problem? Or am I mistaken and have another problem to cure!

 

[mark123]

Probably leaking out of the cam cover bolts. Mine had the same.

I put a dab of silicon sealant under the head of each of mine in turn then torqued them back down. Cured it for me.

 

[TimR26]

My old 172 used 10 litres in last 12 months of ownership. I think half a litre ended up on TDFs floor on the rolling road day!

 

[imprezaworks]

Had mine since July. Havent needed to top it up once

Dan

 

[sideways danny]

Hang on, just checked and no leaks under the car but seems to be some oil sitting on top of the inlet mani. Sure i've read that this is a common problem? Or am I mistaken and have another problem to cure!

pretty common, there's 3 fixes that might be necessary, silicon under bolt heads, re-sealing the breather plate or re-sealing the entire rocker cover. Can normally tell where it's coming from by looking with a bit of experience

 

[Gavin.]

I need to find out where my oil is going on my 1.2, It has just gone from top mark on the dip stick to the bottom mark in 6 weeks :dead:

No oil under the car, no oil in the water although it is smoking a fair bit under hard acceleration

 

[Tigger]

Mine is losing a fair bit of oil - from the max line to just above min line on the dipstick in less than 3 weeks! About 400ish miles in this period.

Not smoking or dumping any on the road, some oil on top of the rocker cover under the inlet as most of these cars do
No oil seems to be pooling or building up on the under-tray either.

Anything else to look at or check besides keeping a good eye on it?

 

[imprezaworks]

Over the past couple of weeks ive been getting now and again a smell of oil, doesnt stay very long and i dont think its anything to worry about. Keeping an eye on the oil level and its not moved at all. It was in birchdown last week getting a driveshaft fitted and theres def no oil leaks. Mmmm odd

Dan

 

[Tigger]

I had a closer look at mine last night to find some oil lying in behind the inlet, just above the fuel rail.

Will try to get it cleaned up over the weekend and check where it is seeping from.

Anything else I can do meantime? Cheers!

 

[davo172]

Only time I have EVER put any oil in my 172 is the first 1500 during runnin in, done 63k now fsh change oil every 6k not ever had to top it up never uses a drop !

 

[Tigger]

Could be as simple as a bolt not torqued up correctly, letting oil to seep out?

Really want to get this sorted and move onto the little bits I want to tidy up for summer