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Oil is dissapearing

7.7K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  RSE MOTORS  
#1 ·
Hi, I'm a newbie, hello all.

I have a Astra H 1.4 Z14xep engine. recently I have been having problems with oil consumption. Every 2,000 miles or so the oil is empty, I took to a local garage, where the engine was given a full reconditioning, timing chain kit, valve stem seals, head gasket, new pistons and piston rings all bearings replaced, crankshaft was polished, the sump gasket along with all the other gaskets and seals were changed, etc. The oil is still dissapearing. there is no smoke and not a single drop of oil leaking and the engine is running well. The spark plugs have no sign of oil residue on them, I am very confused as to where the oil is going.
I am using 5w30 fully synthetic oil. the engine was at 89k before getting the engine rebuild
the car does 450-500 miles a week mainly motorway driving
after the engine rebuild I was told to do 1000 miles not driving faster than 60mph, after 1100 miles did and oil and filter change.
soon after about 1500 miles after the oil change, I noticed that the engine had gone louder, checked the oil, was on minimum. the reason car went in for an engine rebuild was the oil consumption.

if anyone has had a similar problem, any advice is very much appreciated.


Many thanks
 
#2 ·
Its not uncommon for vauxhalls to use upto 1.2lt per 1000 mile. This is exactly what my Zafira uses and exactly what the book says is AVERAGE usage. Have a look through the vehicle handbook and find the oil usage figures and then work it out. Its will be something like 0.075m/100km which is 1.2lt/1000 mile. If its within the acceptable level then dont worry about it - just keep it topped up.

I nearly had heart failure when we first bought ours at the amount of oil it was using. Our old renault clio had 160k on the clock and never used a drop between oil changes. The zafira is different. Theres no leaks and no smoke but it was drinking it like a alki drinks alcohol. I asked the same question your asking now and I got the same answer ive just given you. You engine might be different figures but mine states this is normal and its continuted to burn through over 30lt of oil in the last 3 years/30k. Its shocking. I check our oil every week and usually top it up every 2 weeks+.
 
#3 ·
Hi. I bought a zafira 1.8 and noticed the same. It was using about 1 litre every 100 miles and only blowing smoke when revved hard from idle. Couldn't notice any smoke while driving at any speed. I have now replaced valve seals, piston rings and big end shells. I found that the oil guides behind the oil control rings were blocked solid and also the breather from cam cover to the throttle body was blocked so cleaned them out. Its running sweet so far but seeing as I only carried out the work yesterday only time will tell. But if the oil guide ports in the pistons were not cleaned out when the new rings were fitted then the oil control ring is still unable to guide the oil anywhere resulting in continued oil usage. Hope this helps. Sounds like poor workmanship to me.