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My oil is disappearing...

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Old 12-02-13, 03:07 PM
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My oil is disappearing...

Title says it all. My oil is going somewhere, but I have no smoke. I also do not have drips under the car. The only thing I can see is a bit of seepage from the front cover, but it just makes a film and doesn't drip. The front cover seepage can't possibly cause me to lose half a quart of oil in a month (It takes me a year to reach 3k miles).

No smoke on startup, whether it be freezing cold or blistering hot, no drips, nothing.

Engines was rebuilt 3 years ago and only has 14k miles on it as of now. Used new rotor housings, irons and new bearings. The only thing not replaced internally was the e-shaft and the rotors themselves.

Any insight?
Old 12-02-13, 03:44 PM
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Half a quart sounds about normal should burn about a quart between oil changes rotarys have oil injections and use oil simular to a 2 stroke
Old 12-02-13, 04:00 PM
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So you average 250 miles a month, then on average you are loosing a quart every 500 miles.

I've read a bunch of threads where 500 miles to a quart was common. Could it be because of a oil meter pump stuck fully open?
Old 12-02-13, 04:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Tui
So you average 250 miles a month, then on average you are loosing a quart every 500 miles.

I've read a bunch of threads where 500 miles to a quart was common. Could it be because of a oil meter pump stuck fully open?
It's an S5, so it "shouldn't" be stuck open, but I could be wrong. Maybe the oil injector nozzles are stuck open allowing engine vacuum to suck it in? I am just speculating.
Old 12-02-13, 08:54 PM
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But if oil metering pump flakes out it will set a code 26 and will engine will shut off if if you give it more than 15% throttle and if an oil in jector was stuck open should be white smoking
Old 12-02-13, 09:07 PM
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My thoughts are on how you drive this car when you actually take it out. I only take mine out a few times a month, and it gets beat on. I use the same amount as you describe and has seemed normal to me as described hundreds of times on here.
Old 12-03-13, 11:16 AM
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Originally Posted by archaphil
My thoughts are on how you drive this car when you actually take it out. I only take mine out a few times a month, and it gets beat on. I use the same amount as you describe and has seemed normal to me as described hundreds of times on here.
I remote start, let it warm up a few minutes, hop in, go to work. My work is about a mile/mile and a half from where I live. On my days off, I may go here or there and beat on it a bit, but not normally.

I havent noticed this much oil consumption before until now Maybe my driving style has changed and I havent noticed? Dunno.

Pulled the leading plugs out last night and they look normal for premix gas.

This winter has been much cooler than the last few years, so maybe that plays a role? I have seen the OMP injection rate graph that shows the correlation between RPM and load, but I am unsure how temperature may affect that.
Old 12-03-13, 11:40 AM
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what weight/kind of oil are you using? and how long has it been in there?

if the oil is too light, or been in there too long, it can go away faster than normal.

my Rx8 is kind of picky about this, with 5-20 it uses a quart in 1000miles, with 5-30 it doesn't. for an Rx7 i like 10-30 or 10-40, although 20-50 is ok too.
Old 12-03-13, 12:23 PM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
what weight/kind of oil are you using? and how long has it been in there?

if the oil is too light, or been in there too long, it can go away faster than normal.

my Rx8 is kind of picky about this, with 5-20 it uses a quart in 1000miles, with 5-30 it doesn't. for an Rx7 i like 10-30 or 10-40, although 20-50 is ok too.
10-30 idemitsu. I am just now approaching the 3000 mile mark. Been in there since february, but like I said, it takes me forever to reach 3000 miles.
Old 12-03-13, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by jjwalker
10-30 idemitsu. I am just now approaching the 3000 mile mark. Been in there since february, but like I said, it takes me forever to reach 3000 miles.
hmm, 8 months doesn't seem too long, but maybe it is?
Old 12-03-13, 04:06 PM
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Originally Posted by j9fd3s
hmm, 8 months doesn't seem too long, but maybe it is?
Possibly. I mean I can understand if it just sat all the time, but car gets driven to operating temp everyday. I've been doing this for 3 years so just now noticing this kind of oil consumption is what caused me to scratch my head.

This IS however, the first time I have used idemitsu in my car, as previously it always got penzoil. Maybe Idemitsu deteriorates quicker over time regardless of mileage?

I am about to top the level off this afternoon and I'll pull the dipstick again next week and see what it looks like.
Old 12-04-13, 01:05 PM
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P/O had quaker state 10/40 high mileage in my car and right now I can use a quart in under 200 miles. The P/O said it uses alot of oil but it took him alot longer to down that much oil, I drive the car much harder than he ever did though.
Old 12-04-13, 02:08 PM
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I use about one quart every 500 miles. I was concerned about the oil meter pump being stuck open. But from this read it's not unusual.
Old 12-04-13, 02:49 PM
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i wouldn't focus so much on the mileage at the rate it's eating it but how many short trips the engine sees. in this case i would chalk it up to oil seeping past the rotors when the engine is off and sitting overnight, so consumption will be higher than normal unless say you took a 2k mile roadtrip you might use only half as much as the short trips.

you could try different weight oils and see which the engine likes, since there is little you can realistically do about it aside from that.
Old 12-04-13, 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted by RotaryEvolution
i wouldn't focus so much on the mileage at the rate it's eating it but how many short trips the engine sees. in this case i would chalk it up to oil seeping past the rotors when the engine is off and sitting overnight, so consumption will be higher than normal unless say you took a 2k mile roadtrip you might use only half as much as the short trips.
Yes.
I recently put 3400 miles on my car in 2 weeks.
Used a quart of oil.
Since returning home and driving more normally- i.e., short trips, stop/go traffic, sitting for a few days- oil consumption has tripled.

I'm beyond worry though, with close to 250k miles I'm grateful she runs as well as she does and know I've been driving on borrowed time for quite a while.

Let the old girl drink if she wants...she's earned it.
Old 12-08-13, 07:39 PM
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Originally Posted by RotaryEvolution
i wouldn't focus so much on the mileage at the rate it's eating it but how many short trips the engine sees. in this case i would chalk it up to oil seeping past the rotors when the engine is off and sitting overnight, so consumption will be higher than normal unless say you took a 2k mile roadtrip you might use only half as much as the short trips.

you could try different weight oils and see which the engine likes, since there is little you can realistically do about it aside from that.

Maybe...

I am going to check the level tommorow. It's been freaking freezing outside so maybe we'll see a correlation between ambient temps+engine temp+short trips=?
Old 12-29-13, 09:38 AM
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Sounds like this is normal it should burn oil it's a rotary lol
Old 12-29-13, 05:24 PM
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It is normal to burn oil, some of us just dont like burning a quart in 100-200 miles :P
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Old 12-30-13, 10:03 AM
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I forgot to update this. My oil consumption seems to have returned to normal.

I wonder if the below freezing temps had anything to do with it.
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