yuh oh
03-05-2005, 03:22 PM
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yuh oh
Just talked to my dad, who just finished changing the oil.
Only two-point-something litres of oil came out of the car.
How did it become ~1+ litre down just like that? This can't be good... No blue smoke...
Ideas?
Only two-point-something litres of oil came out of the car.
How did it become ~1+ litre down just like that? This can't be good... No blue smoke...
Ideas?
03-05-2005, 04:22 PM
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Lower intake gasket failure, perhaps? Check under your intake log.. you see any **** there? How about around the engine, anything? How many miles did you go on that oil change? Because cars usually burn oil, just miniscule amounts.. so if you went a good long while on one oil change, you could have burnt off 1 litre.
-justin
-justin
03-05-2005, 11:36 PM
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Uhhh, your car actually takes more like 4 to 4.4 litres of oil. You lost at a minimum 1.4 up to 1.8. That is almost half the oil that is missing. It had to go somewhere.
03-06-2005, 10:06 AM
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Originally Posted by sse1990
Uhhh, your car actually takes more like 4 to 4.4 litres of oil. You lost at a minimum 1.4 up to 1.8. That is almost half the oil that is missing. It had to go somewhere.
Better find out where that oil is going before that 3800 lets you know its low on oil...
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03-06-2005, 11:11 AM
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More to the point, how often do you check the oil ? Any chance when it was last changed, they only put 4 quarts (3.8 liters) in ? How many miles since the last change ?
That said, Buick 3800s just do not seem to use much oil (compared to SBCs), mine use about one hole (five holes from full to add) per 1,000 miles/1,600 km. Is this about what others see ?
When changing oil, mine usually take about 4 1/2 quarts or a touch over 4 liters to fill and about 3 3/4 (3.5 liters) drain when changing (about 10 oz/330 ml is in filter which I fill before installing).
Maybe part of the problem is the difference between quarts and liters (3.8 liters = 4 quarts).
The angle a car is at when changing oil can also make a difference in how much comes out. How many quarts (do they use liter containers in Canada ?) of oil did he put in to get it to full ?
Sometimes I refer to the 3800 as a "one gallon" engine....
That said, Buick 3800s just do not seem to use much oil (compared to SBCs), mine use about one hole (five holes from full to add) per 1,000 miles/1,600 km. Is this about what others see ?
When changing oil, mine usually take about 4 1/2 quarts or a touch over 4 liters to fill and about 3 3/4 (3.5 liters) drain when changing (about 10 oz/330 ml is in filter which I fill before installing).
Maybe part of the problem is the difference between quarts and liters (3.8 liters = 4 quarts).
The angle a car is at when changing oil can also make a difference in how much comes out. How many quarts (do they use liter containers in Canada ?) of oil did he put in to get it to full ?
Sometimes I refer to the 3800 as a "one gallon" engine....
03-06-2005, 12:11 PM
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Yes we use Litres in Canada. Usually my car takes 4 Litres to fill ( 4 liter = 4.2267528 quart ). While my Malibu takes 4.4L, and it seems that more and more new cars take the 4.4 Litres.
03-06-2005, 12:38 PM
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Padgett,
Are you saying that your 3800'* seem to use a little bit of oil per 1000 miles?
On my 91 3800, For whatever the reason the oil level never changes... I had Mobil 1 in there for the better part of 9 or 10 months once and didn't use any oil..
My friend had a 200,000 Miles 3.0 LN7 in his Grand Am and it didn't use any oil either.. The low milage replacement motor does use 1 hole per 1000 miles... Same motor, but they act diffrent..
Now my 95 Is another story... I seem to go through 1.5 holes per 1000 miles, its always done that... The exact same goes for my cousins 60,000 mile 1995 SLE bonnie.. I have heard others say they their 3800 didn't use any...
My friend OTOH loves to build chevy V8'*... Its always amazes me when he'* done... After he rebuilds them they never use any oil, not even through the breakin process..
Maybe it has something to do with the person/* building the 3800'*... Some better some worse...lol
And I have seen oil change places fill up with the specified amount of oil... i.e. 3800 Vin C, 4 quarts... The the disclaimer in the chiltons... Bla Bla Bla, may need an additional quart when changing the filter... But I will say that 4.5 quarts seems to be the magic number for me
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Are you saying that your 3800'* seem to use a little bit of oil per 1000 miles?
On my 91 3800, For whatever the reason the oil level never changes... I had Mobil 1 in there for the better part of 9 or 10 months once and didn't use any oil..
My friend had a 200,000 Miles 3.0 LN7 in his Grand Am and it didn't use any oil either.. The low milage replacement motor does use 1 hole per 1000 miles... Same motor, but they act diffrent..
Now my 95 Is another story... I seem to go through 1.5 holes per 1000 miles, its always done that... The exact same goes for my cousins 60,000 mile 1995 SLE bonnie.. I have heard others say they their 3800 didn't use any...
My friend OTOH loves to build chevy V8'*... Its always amazes me when he'* done... After he rebuilds them they never use any oil, not even through the breakin process..
Maybe it has something to do with the person/* building the 3800'*... Some better some worse...lol
And I have seen oil change places fill up with the specified amount of oil... i.e. 3800 Vin C, 4 quarts... The the disclaimer in the chiltons... Bla Bla Bla, may need an additional quart when changing the filter... But I will say that 4.5 quarts seems to be the magic number for me
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03-06-2005, 04:57 PM
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Guess I'd be more accurate to say "I would be concerned about more than one hole per 1,000 miles" but do not always fill completely - if I have a part quart and it plus four others get me over halfway (three holes) probably will not bother about it, I do not overfill. Just looked at two that are about due and neither was covering the third hole (after sitting overnight). I usually change at 3,000 mile intervals.
Have had a very few cars that seemed to use no oil when new but none of mine have less than 50,000 miles on the clock. Have also had a few small block chevvies that did well to get 500 miles to a quart. No smoke or obvious leaks, just went "somewhere". At 250 miles per quart they foul plugs.
Have had a very few cars that seemed to use no oil when new but none of mine have less than 50,000 miles on the clock. Have also had a few small block chevvies that did well to get 500 miles to a quart. No smoke or obvious leaks, just went "somewhere". At 250 miles per quart they foul plugs.
03-06-2005, 05:10 PM
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Now that is interesting. I use 5 quarts every time. And it usually is only 3/4 of the way into the cross-hatched area. The oil filter uses about 1/2 quart, but before I used to fill it up before putting on a new one, I would always loose a few holes on the dipstick upon startup. So, 5 quarts everytime. My car is a poor example of how much oil she used, because I had an oil leak [it was VERY apparent it was the Lower Intake gaskets, they were riddled with oil passages in the gasket]. But I used about 1 quart /1000 miles towards the Summer when my mom gave me the car. She didn't burn a drop, never dropped any either. She'll be oil tight by the time I am done with her.. [sometime.. 
].
-justin
].-justin
