Just gauging if any of you guys are burning some oil. If so, at what rate. I am tired of putting in 1.5 Litres every 5000kms in my Honda.

 

A new car should NOT burn 1 quart (1.5 Liters) every 3,400 miles (5,500 Km). If it does, something is wrong!

Also, you should be changing your oil every 3,000 miles (4,800 Km).

 

Honda? What's a Honda?

WayneTN

 

It is absolutely, and wholly NOT necessary to change your oil every 3000 miles. In fact, if you care about the oil supply, and the economy around oil you should go out of your way to not change your oil every 3000 miles. Every single motor oil is rated to go at least 7000 miles. Personally, I change my oil every 5000 miles. Do some searches on the web, and you'll find plenty of info on the "Change your oil every 3000 miles" myth (for lack of a better word).

 

I disagree. I believe you should change your oil every 3,000 to 4,000 miles.

Under "ideal" driving conditions, you could extend the period between changes to as much as 7500 miles. A new engine with little or no wear can probably get by on 7500-mile oil changes. However, how do we determine ideal conditions? What many of us consider to be ideal conditions, your owner’s manual describes as “severe” conditions. These include: stop-and-go driving; frequent short trips (under 10 miles); wet weather driving; hot weather driving (above 90 degrees F); cold weather driving (below 40 degrees F); trailer towing; and long periods of idling.

We can better appreciate the need for changing the oil every 3,000 miles if we understand how oil breaks down in our car. The most significant difference from one oil to another is how quickly breakdown occurs. Although there are many factors that contribute to the breakdown, heat is one of the most important. As an engine accumulates miles, it dumps more unburned fuel into the crankcase, which dilutes the oil. This causes the oil to break down.

There are two types of oil, petroleum and synthetic. The first major difference between petroleum and synthetic oil is heat tolerance. Petroleum oil begins to break-down almost immediately. A high quality synthetic, on the other hand, can last for many thousands of miles without any significant reduction in performance or protection characteristics. However, older cars still can still contaminate synthetic oil with unburned fuel, requiring more frequent oil changes.

Today's engines are expected to put out more power from a smaller size and with less oil than engines of the past. Therefore, the engines run much hotter than they used to. That puts an increased burden on the oil.

It’s important to note that synthetics do a much better job of "cooling" engine components during operation. Because of their unique flow characteristics, engine components are likely to run 10 to 30 degrees cooler than with petroleum oils. This is important, because the hotter the components in your engine get, the more quickly they break down.

In conclusion, you should change your oil more frequently if your car is older and/or is driven in “severe” conditions.

However, others believe that you don't need to change your oil so frequently. For a different opinion, see this web page:

Exposing the 3,000 Mile Change Myth
http://www.motoroilbible.com/index.html