How much oil consumption is too much?
 

Hi guys, I sure could use some experienced opinions, I change my oil about every 6000 miles (using the DIC as my guide) and it appears that I lose about a quart of oil per 6000 miles between changes, I haven't found any evidence of leaks, and no evidence of smoke from the tailpipes:
Is there somewhere else that the oil could be going?
Is this amount something to worry about?
The car runs perfectly so I don't mind adding some oil between changes as long as it's not going to kill it.
2004 SLE with about 18,000 miles.

What brand and grade of oil are you using?
I burn half as much in the same amount of time and have over 130k on mine. I use Mobile one synthetic.
How are the plugs? Do they appear gummed up or sooty?

That is a Very normal consumption/use of oil ,for a 6000 mile interval,......you have NO problem with 'oil loss'. ;)

Exxon Superflo 5W-30, it's on GM's list as meeting requirement GM6094M.
Plugs look immaculate, but I only checked the 3 easy ones facing front.
It's a white car so I figured if it was burning oil I would see evidence on the rear bumper that surrounds the tailpipes, or in the tips themselves, but they are clean.
Crazy eh :?:

Thanks much for your encouraging comment GTP2SSEi, that helps to put me at ease a little, but do you have any ideas where that oil goes?

A small amount of oil will slip past the rings and get burnt up and sent out the exhaust. Its not enough to collect on your bumper so it goes un noticed.

Oh, thanks PontiacDad, is it ok to drive it this way for years to come?

If you are running with 5W-30 oil especially in Florida, that is much too "thin" for those conditions. My book recommends 10W-30, and we use that year round here in Biloxi, MS. Our 2002 has 47K miles, and we change oil and filter every 3 months or 3,000 miles and the dip stick is almost always still very near to the full mark.

I'm with Larry,............5 W 30 is just about the thinnest oil you can buy,........it is a weight that I only put in my snowthrower,due to the really thin 5 weight(about as thin as water) for easier starting when the temp is down sometimes to single digits or below zero,........I would only run 5 W 30 in my car only during the coldest months of the year(in Upstate NY,that's Very cold),......the rest of the year(....sometimes the entire year) I run only a good grade of 10 W 40 in both my car and motorcycle.............

i change the oil and filter every 10,000 miles (105K) we bought the car new with 18 miles on it.
i use 5w/30 Mobile 1, we live in Calif. and it gets HOT (110 plus) in the central valley.
use a good oil ( i perfer Mobile 1) and it will last a long long time.

ROD
p.s. i lose, burn 3/4 quart every 10,000 miles.