Oil Consumption

ANKLES3038

MEMBER
2006 SAAB 9-3
110,000 MILES

HiI own a 2006 reg 1.9Tid, the 150 one, just lately it has been using a little more oil than usual, I dont think it a problem as most of my driving consists of 13 mile long commutes, but the car has 110000 on the clock so obviously did alot of motorway miles in its first three years, could it be just that the car isnt getting to temp, could you recommend a quality oil to protect against this, or should I be concerned, by using oil I mean 2 litres over 8 thousand miles spanning 5 monthsThanks for any advice

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,757 POSTS

In 8,000 miles it should have had two oil changes and is almost ready for the third one. That means it's using less than a litre per oil change. All engines today use some oil due to use of low tension piston rings to reduce friction. In response to the many complaints of oil consumption, most manufacturers do not mark their oil dipsticks with "full" and "add" any longer. They use "min" and "max". As long as the level stays above the "min" mark, there's no need to worry.

If the level is dropping too much, you can add a bottle of dark purple dye. After the level has dropped, you search with a black light including at the tail pipe. The dye will show up as a bright yellow stain that you can follow back to the source.