How much oil do 899cc Sei's/Cinq's usually use? I'm using more oil now than I was when I had a leaky rocker box gasket. Soon after replacing the gasket I changed from 15W40 to 10W40 (with an engine flush), and it seems to be going down very slowly. After 5 months it's still more than halfway between min/max, but before the change of oil the level didn't change, even with a small leak :-o

Oh yeah, do you think it's something to do with the type of oil? There aren't any noticable oil leaks.

Could be many reasons. You are using a lighter grade of oil, so seepage would be at a greater rate. Its no problem if you use about half a litre per 1000 miles, some manufacturers, Mercedes frinstance, suggest a litre per 1K miles is normal usage in a new car.

Cheers

D

The Ugly Duckling said:

Oh yeah, do you think it's something to do with the type of oil? There aren't any noticable oil leaks.

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no leaks? aint broke - dont fix it! just keep her topped up!

philbo said:

no leaks? aint broke - dont fix it! just keep her topped up!

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Nah, I'm not too worried really, just a bit dissapointed because when it was leaking there was virtually no loss of oil.

I suppose RallyCinq is probably right about the seepage. The rate of loss isn't a problem, at the rate it's going it'll probably take about 2 years to go from max to min. I know somebody who has an Alfa and they can burn loads of oil, I think it's something like a litre/500 miles.

Do you think the 15W40 would be better, or does it really not matter?

While we're on the subject of oil I have another question about engine flushing. How frequently should it be done? I did it at the last oil change, just over 5 months ago, should I do it at the next oil change? Or would it be best to do it every x oil changes? I try to change the oil every 6 months, although this one may stretch out to around 7 or 8 months

depends how often you change your oil. the only reason to to do an engine flush is to get rid of built up sticky black oil. if youve just done it with the last oil change then just do regular oil changes, say every 5-6000 miles. best way of keeping an engine in top form! id swap back to 15w40 oil aswell as the engine was designed to run with this oil.

philbo said:

depends how often you change your oil. the only reason to to do an engine flush is to get rid of built up sticky black oil. if youve just done it with the last oil change then just do regular oil changes, say every 5-6000 miles. best way of keeping an engine in top form! id swap back to 15w40 oil aswell as the engine was designed to run with this oil.

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Yeah, I've still got about 1.5 bottles full of the 10W40, but I could go back to 15W40 after that (if I keep the car that long). The annoying thing is that I get the 10W40 very cheap in Makro, whereas the 15W40 cost a fortune at places like Halfrauds.

Oh yeah, I only do about 4,000 miles/year, and that's why I change it so fequently. Most of the trips are around 7 miles, but I do have a few (unavoidable) short trips too. They usually say that the best way to keep the engine in tip top form is to do frequent oil changes.

dont go to halfrauds then. asda do 15w40 oil for about 6 quid. depends if youre fussy about what you put in. oils oil in my opinion and if you change it frequently then there shouldnt be any problems.

if your into you castrol gtx oil like me youll have noticed it has changed from 15-40 to 10-40 and a new oil has been brought out called gtx high milage which is the 15-40 gtx available at focus for £12 cheapest place ive found

by the way castrol is the best stuff ive found i was running it on comma but it was getting through a bottle every few monts so swapped back to castrol gtx it is the best

my brother's corsa runs on tesco's own brand oil and he uses a litre every two weeks at least so it proves you get what you pay for