Technical Oil consumption change

[jon67]

Hi, I'm trying to figure this out. I've searched the internet with not much success.
2015 fiat qubo 1.3 Multijet, 80k miles. Recently started using extra oil, I'm topping up about 1/4 litre every 250 miles.
I've had it for 3 years and change oil and filter every 6 month/10k miles. Fuel filter at 12 monthly intervals.
I've had it on multiecuscan, no faults, all parameters seem fine.
No oil leak on drive. No smoke from exhaust.
Any help

 

[The Panda Nut]

Clearly the oil is either leaking or being burned.
My daughters Seat Leon started doing similar a few years ago and I couldnt work it out. I now believe it is a leak that only manifests itself when up to full pressure. Its taken an age to see any leaks at all. May be you need to check you have no pin holes where oil is being wquirted out at higher revs but not touching any part of the engine or body leaving no trace. I think its from the sump gasket on her car and I assume when its parked the leak is above the oil level. There dont seem to be any drips at all.
I would look at the sump itself, the sump gasket and the end seals. You would expect drips but her car just doesnt seem to.
The other possibility is the piston rings getting tired and it is actually burning oil when driven a bit faster bbe seen while on the move / under load but not enough to be seen from the car. There are also valve stem oil seals. Our oldest Panda is now smoking a bit and this is my main suspect, it could also be head gasket /a leak from higher up on the back of the engine. In this case I think its the end seals of the sump at fault Signs of leakage are very slight and we have no drips. I had an Allegro a few years back and that absolutely drank oil. No obvious smoke and no visible drips or leaks but it consumed huge quantities of oil. It must have been burning the stuff.
If the car really doesnt smoke, it must be leaking somewhere!

 

[jon67]

Clearly the oil is either leaking or being burned.
My daughters Seat Leon started doing similar a few years ago and I couldnt work it out. I now believe it is a leak that only manifests itself when up to full pressure. Its taken an age to see any leaks at all. May be you need to check you have no pin holes where oil is being wquirted out at higher revs but not touching any part of the engine or body leaving no trace. I think its from the sump gasket on her car and I assume when its parked the leak is above the oil level. There dont seem to be any drips at all.
I would look at the sump itself, the sump gasket and the end seals. You would expect drips but her car just doesnt seem to.
The other possibility is the piston rings getting tired and it is actually burning oil when driven a bit faster bbe seen while on the move / under load but not enough to be seen from the car. There are also valve stem oil seals. Our oldest Panda is now smoking a bit and this is my main suspect, it could also be head gasket /a leak from higher up on the back of the engine. In this case I think its the end seals of the sump at fault Signs of leakage are very slight and we have no drips. I had an Allegro a few years back and that absolutely drank oil. No obvious smoke and no visible drips or leaks but it consumed huge quantities of oil. It must have been burning the stuff.
If the car really doesnt smoke, it must be leaking somewhere!

Ok thanks, I'll have a closer investigation around the sump seal and just keep topping up for now

 

[AndyRKett]

I would take a look at the induction side of things and possibly the turbo.

Excessive amounts of oil getting from the sump back into the cylinders can lead to a catastrophic engine runaway situation which will destroy the engine, you want to be sure that excessive amounts of oil are not being fed into the intake system either through the PCV system or from worn seals in the turbo.

 

[bugsymike]

Although you have seen no smoke, it may be an idea to go for a brisk run in the car and have someone following, as often when driving hard it is not visible in the mirror.
Small engines working hard often use oil as they get older/higher mileages. The modern 5/30 and 0/30 grade oils in some cases, don't help in my opinion, as more to improve fuel consumption figures by less drag, than oil consumption.