Need some tech help guys. Fiat Multipla, 67,000 miles, recently had a full service (about 2,000 miles ago) and has used all the oil in the sump.

Low oil pressure warning kicked in so investigated - no oil in sump. It's not leaking and can't see any blue smoke on start up or under acceleration.

Have noticed that it has no power up hills. Think it is terminal, but might be something really obscure that I'm missing. Anyone got any ideas - Lambda sensor, blocked pipe???

Sure it was fully topped up? seems very excessive to use all that oil and not be noticed....

Yep, checked it a few days after the service having been caught out by a 'reputable' spanner man.

When you say empty, have you dipped the oil and none on the dipstick or have you removed the sump bung and its completely dry?

Must have gone somewhere - its either in the water or been burnt and gone out the exhaust

Checked it with the dip stick. No leaks at all. We've got a new car park at the office and there's not puddles, nor any sign in the water or coolant system.

http://www.superstreetonline.com/techarticles/130_0703_reading_spark_plugs/photo_10.html

i would take one of the plugs out to see if it shows signs of burning the oil.
You need to work out where the oil is going before you can diagnose whats causing it

If you have been driving it with little or no oil for any length of time the excess heat could've took its toll on all the internal surfaces which would explain the poor performance

Thanks for the help! I will take a plug out and have a look tomorrow. I'll take a pic and put online.

A lot of Alfa's use about 1 litre to a thousand mile and its not seen as excessive so maybe the rings are a bit shot to boot and its just got burned up.

just checked the mileage @ service was 65657 and mileage today is 69540. Think it could be the rings then!

May well just have been normal consumption really , the power issue might be something else.

that consumption seems normal to me.

fiats tend to like there oil.

"A lot of Alfa's use about 1 litre to a thousand mile and its not seen as excessive so maybe the rings are a bit shot to boot and its just got burned up. "

Is this true? I would be very concerned if my car used that much oil. First Fiat I have owned, gonna be a steep learning curve I think

If mine does prove to use that much oil i'll just change the oil filter every 6 months and be done with it

They take an age to bed in , but some dont use hardly any .
My 3 never used a drop but heard far sweater engines than mine that used about litre per K and this is quite common on a lot of makes.

wow will be keeping an eye on mine then. just changed the oil for some fully synthetic 5w40 when i finally got the sump bung off with mole grips due to the nature of the rounded hole in the centre,

any progress on the 1.6 with the oil light on?

I'm just completely shocked having gone from a Vauxhall Omega 3.0 that never used a drop of oil over 20,000+ miles a year and only ever cost me £150 to service to something with more issues than Britney.

My first car was a Fiat Panda and rebuilt the engine after the head gasket went and it never ever used any oil, or fluids thereafter - was a sweet little car.

I can't believe that a car can use a litre of oil in 'normal circumstances' that equates to four oil changes each year based on 12,000 miles..??? Would love to know if anyone else has had the same problem though.

The manual for the Multipla states 400 ml of oil per 1000 km should be the maximum oil cunsumtion.

I had a Fiat Coupe 20 valve turbo which the manual said 1000 ml / 1000 km !

our 1.6 has done nearly 100k and uses no oil.

Noticed a thin ring of oil round the edge of the exhaust and it's developed a weird vibration from the front o/s shocker, so am spalshing the cash on a mechanical inspection to lay this demon to rest. I will post the report online with the results.
Found the note in the handbook, but my car has used a little over 7.3 litres in 3883 miles...

does sound like its burning oil, i would just keep topping it up though, 5L of half decent oil is only a tenner so wont cost the earth just wait until it gets bad, my punto was using 1L every 20-30 miles just before i put in new engine

Mechanic has give me the final verdict. Piston ring on No.3 cylinder, o/s torsion bars look ropey, o/s shocker needs replacing/ bushes plus some other odds and sods. Unfortunately for this one, it is off to eBay. I've spent £2200 on on bearings, cambelt service, full set of tyres, front discs and pads, variety of n/s suspension components and a full Fiat factory exhaust c/o Ricambios since Jan 08, but can afford it no more. Open to offers as they say!