LoveCT

Thanks Jill for the pictures.
Quite the contrary Jill. The MB manual states that for normal driving, the consumption should be up to 0.9 qt per 600 miles. New or old engine. Any close or above is excessive. NOT considering the break-in period. Toyota also says that. VW actually goes a step further and says it is normal to have 1 l per 2000 km. Which I would agree, albeit I would consider this high normal.
Regardless of the make, CR is making ppl aware of excessive oil consumption in these makes (MB). A lot of unscrupulous end user don't know it beforehand. So where is CR blowing smoke?
PS. Thanks to the revelation by CR. I wouldn't consider an MB unless things change in the engine oil consumption front. Like minded ppl would tend to agree.

Toys4RJill

CR is blowing smoke, I would rather see them state that it is perfectly normal for an engine to burn oil and each manufacturer is different. They also did not report how those experiencing oil consumption are using their vehicles. Also, 2% of the survey respondents are reporting this issue is nothing significant, as there are a number of caveats such as how they are using the car, what kind of oil was used, who performed the oil change which where not discussed. Furthermore, there doesn't seem to be some big epidemic of catastrophic failures on the road because of what CR all of sudden discovered.

I am glad I checked up on CR's useless claim as I never knew that almost all car engines burn oil, and I never knew that new engines burn more oil than when they age. I also never knew that when using an engine to high extremes, it may burn more oil.

PS. Did anyone know that Lexus recommneds that the LFA use Mobile 1 oil? They almost wrote to sound like you "have to use Mobile 1".

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

You do know that Exxon/Mobil makes Toyota branded oil.
No surprise the LFA uses Mobil 1.

I'm also glad CR came out with that article.
I wouldn't buy a vehicle that burns a qt of oil every 600 miles.
I don't care what the engineers say.It's excessive consumption and not normal to me as a consumer As it would be for many potential buyers who would only know if they read the manual of which most don't.
Of course no MB salesman will mention the qt per 600 miles,would they?

LexBob2

Same here. It's good to call attention to the issue and for the car buying public to be aware of. Also, it keeps the pressure and attention on the manufacturers.

I guess if they hadn't run the article, one could argue, "with all the data they claim to have why did they not make it available to the public??"

LeX2K

Of course, it is impossible to prevent all oil from getting past the rings and valve seals. But the point is a well designed engine doesn't burn any oil that you can notice unless you go way past the proper OCI.
A quart every 600 miles is terrible, this is what you expect to see when the oil rings are completely shot and the cylinders are out of round not on a supposedly proper running engine. The Toyota 1ZZ-FE is notorious for burning oil because there were not enough holes drilled in the pistons so oil didn't flow enough and would turn to sludge then harden. When this happened the oil rings would wear out along with the cylinders and the engine would burn oil like crazy. The point is this is a bad design not something you accept as normal.

Toys4RJill

You don't know that a well designed engine does not burn oil? I would agree that 600 mile seems a little sketchy, but it not like it is not listed in the manual. I believe that the German cars have this listing as the cars get used on high speed highways compared to America designed cars. I suspect that a Lexus LS460 will burn a quart of oil per 600 miles if used extensively on a German high speed highway.

A MB G wagon needs to have the front/diff oil changed after the break in period of 1900 miles....bad design?

LeX2K

What???
What in the world does this have to do with an engine burning oil?

Aron9000

600 miles a quart is RIDICULOUS for any car made in the last 60 years and is a sign that there is something significantly wrong with the engine. I can't believe Benz would put that in their manual, as it is a flat out lie IMO, that type of oil consumption is not normal.

mmarshall

Not necessarily a bad design. As the straight and bevel-gears in the final drive unit rotate and mesh with each other during the break-in process (and even after, to a lesser extent), it's normal for small microscopic pieces of metallic residue get into the fluid...one reason why the fluid eventually needs changing. M-B, though, with a 1900 mile break-in fluid change, is more strict about that than most auto manufacturers, which may not call for it until 15,000 or 30,000 miles.

But the difference between a gas/diesel engine and a typical final-drive-unit /differential is that differentials don't typically use oil unless there is a leak in the gaskets, a loose drain-plug, or on the rare occasions that they overheat and damage the fluid.

LeX2K

CR has a sample size of nearly 500,000 cars so I'd say there is more than enough data to conclude certain engines/models are way way worse than average. Having to add up to 10 liters of oil between changes is absolutely absurd any auto maker that tries to claim this is normal is full of ****.

edit - BMW says 1 quart per 750 miles is acceptable and they specify a 10,000 mile OCI. So between "changes" you'll be dumping in over 13 quarts of oil! There is hardly a need to even change the oil there is no oil left in the engine from the last change anyway just replace the filter and top off.

Toys4RJill

CR reports did not say that owners are adding up to 10 quarts per service interval. CR implied it. The service manual says that depending on driving....trust me, if owners were adding 10 quarts per service interval we would be hearing about this a lot more.

LeX2K

Doesn't matter what CR said, BMW for example says adding more than 10 quarts between changes is perfectly fine. And some of their engines do burn that much oil in fact BMW states that their highest performance models may use even more. The bolded part of your post is classic strawman.

Toys4RJill

It does matter what CR is trying to imply because it is not true. It is based on driving style and almost all auto makers state that high speeds will likely cause more oil to burn. CR is not reporting the true facts. Owners are not adding 10 quarts of oil per interval, only 2% of the owners have reported that they are experiencing excessive oil consumption but CR does report why, how, these owners are using their cars.

CR also said that new engines do not burn more oil than older engines, but that is not true. All Automakers are saying that new engines burn more at the start of the engines life.

CR is fulll of it.

LeX2K

Well that's basically your only attempted argument here.

Toys4RJill

They are full of it. They have cleverly written the article to sensationalise the issue. After some of us on here have actually looked at the facts it appears that the issue is minor. CR does not even explain how the owners might have used the vehicles to perhaps cause this so called issue.