(T) broke down

I went to start my car this morning and it wouldnt start, coughed and spluttered and said low oil pressure. I opened up the bonnet and there was bugger all oil. My car is 6 months old with 4000 miles on the clock, is it normal to use all that oil? On my last two cars (rovers) they have never used a drop over 40 000 miles.

Hi chris.
No its not normal, you have a problem.
Check for loose oil on the engine or ground. Do you have any blue smoke?
Let us know what you find.

No, theres no oil on the ground or any blue smoke as far as i'm aware. The AA guy said that modern engines burn oil. He used to run a fiat dealership and said that the 1.4 does use oil, but I dont think that it should use anywhere near this much. Has anyone got 1.2's/1.4's that have used any oil?

it shouldnt use oil to that extent though - unless you have problem/s!

There's plenty of old threads on this subject - official line from Fiat is a litre per 1000 miles is ok as I understand it! Like the AA guy said, its very common on modern engines - companies like lex leasing are seeing record numbers of cars per year now that have blown up due to lack of oil in early life. Generally it improves as mileage increases - my Abarth went a few thousand using none...then drunk a couple of litres and stopped again. I had a similar experience with previous car (3 series BMW).

Paul

Yep, it shouldn't be using the oil to that extent?!

When was the last time you checked the level? And what has your dealership said about it so far?

My 1.2 has used less than half a litre in 12,000 miles to first service. checked oil the other week after another 4000 miles and not a drop used yet. All 16v engine use a little oil but it shouldn't be using litres of it in a few thousand miles.

My JTD uses hardly any. In fact I don't think I had to top it up between the 12 & 24k services.

My old Punto HGT used oil from day 1, although only maybe 1-2 litres over 12k miles.

I get through some in my 2.4 - as soon as the oil level goes blank/flashes on the last bar on the MFD at idle, I give it a quick top up....

Chris, been used to the 16v K series?

if your stilo is a 1.4 then its a different type of engine to that of the 1.4 used in the brava/o (which was bad) The Stilo's 1.4 is basicly the same engine as the 1.2 but with the capacity extended. With my 1.2 its hardly used any oil as well and as its a FIRE engine its technicly an old engine with alot of modifications.

Yea I had the K series in my Rovers.

To be honest I had'nt checked my oil for about two months and I had thought then that it had used a bit but I forgot about it. Because I have never used any oil in other cars I guess that I just expect them not to use any. It does sound from your replies that it is excessive though, i'm going to monitor it every day to see if it carries on using to much.

Also should'nt a warning light of come on before it completley ran out?

Thanks a lot for your replies.

Had a 214 16v before I moved to the brava. It didnt use much oil either, only topped up about half a litre every 6000 miles.
With the warning light, I always thought it litup when it was too late, like when there is only a drop of oil left, litarly.

Chris is it possible it was low when you got it? My 1.4 has gone from full on the dipstick level to 3/4, therefore using about 250ml in 4500 miles to date.

Ive heard of people buying brand new cars with minimum oil in them- then blowing up through lack of it.

Wierd as it maybe- it was a rover