I have just checked my oil level after 6k miles from service and the oil was not registering on the dipstick. I had to put approximately 2.5l of oil in to top her up. It is the selespeed, 53 registered with 23k covered. Is this usual or excessive? I am, obviously, using the stilo as my only mode of transport now that I can no longer ride motorbikes so have covered in the last 6 months more miles than I would usually cover in a year. Warranty expires at the end of the month.

what engine is it

selespeed 2.4

for further information, it has been driven steady with no thrashing, mainly motorway usage.

i woudnt of thought it should use that much oil best to get in checked out mate to be on the safe sound

well, I've covered 3500km with no discernible movement on the dipstick, if that helps. Mine's also an '03 Selespeed Abarth.

400g/1000km is the quoted maximum oil consumption in the handbook.
http://www.lloydminsterheavyoil.com/transportscience.htm gives 0.88 as the relative density of motor oil compared with water (give or take for the thinner oil in modern engines etc.) Therefore, 400g is 0.454L.

You mention 6000 miles which is (*1.609)= 9654km.
If we divide this by 1000, that's the number of 1000km-units of oil consumed.
9.654 * 0.454L = 4.38L.

As you can see, your 2.5L is well within the 4.38L that FIAT says it can use. Comment from other owners here is that Abarth oil consumption is usually quite high. You could try a 10W60 oil instead.

Meanwhile, my 0.2L (say) in 3500km is perhaps 0.06L/1000km, much less. Maybe it was run-in better or perhaps I'm just lucky

-Alex

Errr... would think that is excessive! My 1.6 used about 1.2 litres over 12K, current JTD 0.1 litres over 5K...

Yes... but as Alex has pointed out. The Abarth has a reputation for highish oil consumption.

Think I'd be inclined to move to Selenia 10W60 fully synthetic as this gets good reviews from a number of members

It's remarkable the variation in oil consumption between different engines. For instance my JTD is on 0W30 and yet uses virtually no oil between changes :spin:

GET IT IN A GARAGE RIGHT AWAY.

Mine was away for seven weeks, one of my pistons had all it's rings lined up and oil went through everything and coked my valves, burnt oil and soot filled my exhaust.

Your symptoms are identical to why I took mine to the garage.

If you're worried I'd whip all your plugs out. If they all look healthy then don't worry

Thanks for all your replies, the ends of my exhaust are stainless with no signs of oil on them and no apparent signs of smoking. Have contacted fiat dealer who have said that they'll put a do a consumption monitor for 1000 miles as it is in for service/mot on 27th and we'll see what transpires. Have made it known of my concerns due to warranty expiring on 31/12 and they have stated not to worry as it has been reported within the warranty period.

Good move.

Argonought's right - if the engine was burning a harmful amount of oil, the plugs would be black and oily. Well that's my opinion anyway. But I'm pleased you've made the most of your warranty, even though remember that 2.5L/6000miles is within the FIAT specification.

This idea of ring gaps lining up seems absurd to me, production engines since the year dot have had gaps in the two, three, or four rings, and we've never had this problem before, so why now? I think someone was looking for an excuse?

-Alex

Hi, I would'nt worry too much if the car is running fine (no blue smoke etc!), I was a bit worried when i first got my Abarth but i've had it 3 years now and i do 400 miles + a week, I normaly top it up every 4/5 weeks with approx half a litre of the synthetic oil, As i say i was worried but after speaking to people on here and a couple of dealers it seems to be the norm with this engine (my friends Civic Type R uses even more!) just keep an eye it, Hope this helps.

thanks Geoff,
I covered 8k miles in my first year ownership (I had the bikes as well then) and on checking throughout the year there appeared very little drop. Certainly not enough to warrant a top up, this year though it has used over 3l for less mileage. I thought it may have been the fact I have converted to lpg but have been assured by several different lpg agents that no more oil than if being run on petrol should be used so have discounted this. We'll see what fiat do at the end of the month and I'll keep you all posted

That quoted oil consumption is horrendous, even if it is within Fiats guidelines.

I would be very unhappy about having to top up every 1600 - 2000 miles with half a litre. In my Vectra, that's only about 2 1/2 - 3 weeks. I'd never have to drain the oil at all at that rate. It does up to 20,000 miles between services and I have NEVER had to top it up between. So there is your comparison.

Again, unfortunately, the Fiat just doesn't compare.

I think someone is on the wrong Forum

I never topped up the oil from one service to the other in the Alfa and that was a much more powerful engine.

ScottyP said:

I never topped up the oil from one service to the other in the Alfa and that was a much more powerful engine.

Click to expand...

Well I don't top up my oil, but that's because my car's purple


Seriously though, engine power has nothing to do with it, it's more likely to be connected with how the engine was run-in, how the engine's driven now, whether the engine's reaching full operating temperature, and also apparently whether or not it's a Vauxhall (Argonaught - I agree! )

Some of you guys are doing relatively high mileages per year (well, compared to the 10,000km or so that's common here) and so I think the need to top-up the engine oil is unavoidable. If it didn't need topping up, that would mean very little oil left behind on the cylinder walls, and therefore a greater risk of piston/bore wear in the long term.

Usually my oil consumption has been a long way below the quoted measurements (cars such as my old Uno 60 spring to mind), but there's always going to be the exception to the rule.

Now might be a good time to mention what I've learned about engine running-in. When new, the engine should be 'stretched' quite often to near its full performance, not all the time (risk of overheating) but run at a range of speeds/loads. None of this 'no more than 3000RPM' malarky, as that leads to the bores glazing, and then the piston rings cannot abrade enough to form a good seal. Likewise the first oil for the engine was historically always a basic oil; not semi-synthetic or synthetic, not 'friction-modified'. There was always an oil change after 1500km (and not before) to allow for this running-in. I note that this does not apply to the Stilo, which has its first service at 20,000km, implying that synthetic Selenia is used from the start.

So taking the above factors into account, and the ample torque of the Abarth model almost encouraging the use of low revs, I just wonder whether most Abarths did not enjoy a particularly great start in life, the piston rings not bedding in properly due to a combination of synthetic oil and light loading.

-Alex

My Stilo Abarth burns 1 litre every 1000 miles and has done since I owned it. The car is a high miler and I do give my car proper abuse and regularly use the auto-changeup system on the selespeed (changes up a gear automatically at the redline)

I doubt there's anything wrong. The cylinders ovalise at the top of the bore over time (same with any normally aspirated engine) which means there is more opportunity to burn oil. That's why all the turbo conversions for normally aspirated engines state the engine has to have done less than 25k miles as that is typically the threshold after which with turbocharging you'd get excessive blowby due to the ovalised bores
Another thing that can lead to excessive oil consumption is the crankcase breather system, but I'm not familiar with the Stilo Abarth system. On the coupe (v similar engine) there is a diaphragm valve and if that goes your car will use a lot more oil

Selenia 20w60 fully synthetic is not a good oil IMHO. I used to use it in my coupe and it started to break down a lot quicker than the likes of Mobil 20w50 or Motul 20w50 (both synthetic, the latter being synthetic ester based).

I would concur about the way the engine is run in but you'll find that happens at the factory and if you took the head off a delivery mileage car there are unlikely to still be any hone marks

Not on the wrong forum, simply demonstrating the difference with other makes of vehicle. It is all to easy to get blinkered into the Fiat way and not open our eyes to other makes that may have much better performance. (lower oil consumption in this particular case)
1 litre / 1000 miles is totally excessive and not acceptable IMO, regardless of what Fiat spec is. And I bet that they don't advertise that feature when selling the car !