Can you guys tell me how often should I be checking my engine oil. I mean my car's in the garage at the moment cos of blown this, that and the other and its getting repaired by warranty. But I was wondering how often do you guys check the car's engine oil. I would normally drive the car everyday but I not really a fan of checking the oil level every two weeks.... hence one of the reason why my car is in the garage at the moment.
I've noticed when I did have the car it was going through a shed load of oil and I was having to check and top it up every couple of months. But is this normal with everyone? I don't it should be. I mean I've had a VW Polo and a Bora and I never had to check the engine oil lever before.... I ain't too bothered about how often everyone changes the engine but i would really like to know about the topping up business.
Please let me know what are your thoughts on this thanks. s:) :) s:)
I never check mine s:oops: :oops: s:oops: gets done when it goes in for service, but I don't have any pre-cats.
Quotebut I don't have any pre-cats.
Does this mean you don't have any Cat on your car???
Quote from: "Liz"I never check mine s:oops: :oops: s:oops: gets done when it goes in for service, but I don't have any pre-cats.
Tut tut Liz, you should still check fairly regularly - go to the back of the class s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Now mine is FI I check it every 2~3 days, before then once a week.
Quote from: "rainmen23"Quotebut I don't have any pre-cats.
Does this mean you don't have any Cat on your car???
No, that means she hasn't got any pre-cats on her car... In summary - pre-cats are in the exhaust manifold, and only reduce cold start emissions (not tested in the UK, and not required for the MOT), the CAT is in the main exhaust. (A quick search on pre-cats should turn up more info than you could ever need on the subject)
I check mine, erm.. once every.. not very often really. Month, maybe a couple of months..
Topping up every month or so probably indicates excessive use, but it depends how much mileage you do really. I seem to recall the 'official' line is that 1litre/1000miles (love the mixed units there s;) ;) s;) ) is OK.
Quote from: "aaronjb"Topping up every month or so probably indicates excessive use, but it depends how much mileage you do really. I seem to recall the 'official' line is that 1litre/1000miles (love the mixed units there s;) ;) s;) ) is OK.
1Lt/1000miles s:shock: :shock: s:shock: i've never had to put a drop in mine between services, that meansin theory i should be getting thru 20 Litres per year s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Quote from: "aaronjb"I seem to recall the 'official' line is that 1litre/1000miles (love the mixed units there s;) ;) s;) ) is OK.
Quote from: "kanujunkie"1Lt/1000miles s:shock: :shock: s:shock: i've never had to put a drop in mine between services, that meansin theory i should be getting thru 20 Litres per year s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Stu, you're forgetting that this is
Aaron's 'official' line. What is it? Three litres a day? s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:D :D s:D
Quote from: "Darth Paul"Stu, you're forgetting that this is Aaron's 'official' line. What is it? Three litres a day? s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:D :D s:D
Oi s:P :P s:P I meant that was
Toyota's official line... My official line is one 4.5ltr container per week (the 'total loss oil change system')
Tsk, do get it right DP s;) ;) s;)
I'm in the same situation as 'rainmen23' i'm using quite a bit of oil, i have had an oil change, and in four weeks and 1200Miles the dipstick reading has gone from just over full to three quarters full. so thats less than 1lt in 1000miles, but surly thats not right?
hense i'm trying to sort out some extended warranty before things go Tits up.
can't wait to get the warrantry and the cats out on the 3rd. sleep alot easier. s8) 8) s8)
rainmen23 - did you notice an overly smokey exhaust in recent mornings? ?
Quote from: "kanujunkie"Quote from: "aaronjb"Topping up every month or so probably indicates excessive use, but it depends how much mileage you do really. I seem to recall the 'official' line is that 1litre/1000miles (love the mixed units there s;) ;) s;) ) is OK.
1Lt/1000miles s:shock: :shock: s:shock: i've never had to put a drop in mine between services, that meansin theory i should be getting thru 20 Litres per year s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
Ditto my level never seems to move s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
s:oops: :oops: s:oops: Going to check mine today along with the tyre pressures before another week at work!
Quote from: "Liz":oops: Going to check mine today along with the tyre pressures before another week at work!
did my tyre pressure last night, due to a very slippery drive home, and found that they where 5-6 psi down s:shock: :shock: s:shock: OOpppss
I hate checking the oil, cause every time you take the dipstick out, you get a different reading, they are so Difficult to read. probably the worst design ever ! ! ! ! s:evil: :evil: s:evil:
Check mine weekly ...when I wash it.
No noticeable loss between 10K services.
Quote from: "DaGoblin"Check mine weekly ...when I wash it.
No noticeable loss between 10K services.
You have time to wash every week; I wish I did s:? :? s:?
Once a week, along with tyre pressures when the 2 is cleaned.
Quote from: "heathstimpson"You have time to wash every week; I wish I did s:? :? s:?
s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Bugger living with you, stinky boy.... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
I do 350+ miles a week, and here in Norfolk we're in the middle of turnip picking season; so the 2 is completely black by Tuesday and looks like it's been on military manoeuvres by Friday. s:roll: :roll: s:roll:
The real trick is avoiding the dog sized lumps of mud the tractors like to leave on blind bends. s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
I used to check mine every week, until the pre-cats disappeared.
It's now less often, about every three weeks.
Jason
Would you expect to see a redundancy of oil after a few hundred miles after a change, to take into account the burning of the new oil?
Quote from: "DaGoblin"Check mine weekly ...when I wash it.
No noticeable loss between 10K services.
Dotto, Ditto.
But I'm afraid the weekly wash is taking a bit of a back seat during the winter. No pre-cats gives me the comfort that a slightly extended reading time won't cause a problem.
Quote from: "extremeMR2"Would you expect to see a redundancy of oil after a few hundred miles after a change, to take into account the burning of the new oil?
I would have thought not. But I go back to some previous threads.
As said above the stick is difficult to read, but ALWAYS ensure you read it with the car in the same place, with the oil at the same temperature (cold, hot, warm). I found the level could vary by about as much as a quarter of the Full / Empty range.
I now do it whilst cold (in the garage) before I take the car out for a wash / spin, but still do 2 or 3 dips and a couple of swizzles, just to make sure. I find you can even get the front and the back of the stick showing different levels !
Quote from: "extremeMR2"Quote from: "Liz":oops: Going to check mine today along with the tyre pressures before another week at work!
did my tyre pressure last night, due to a very slippery drive home, and found that they where 5-6 psi down s:shock: :shock: s:shock: OOpppss
must check mine in a mo after doing a standing start 360 spin after turning into a side road the other day,scared the crap out of me, must remember to engage granny mode
From ExtremeMR2
Quoterainmen23 - did you notice an overly smokey exhaust in recent mornings? ?
Yes i did. What does this mean was wrong with the car???
Not sure what it means, It's just that, i'm finding the same thing with mine, not sure what it is, but it means it's burning oil presumably. would like to know more details of what has happend to yours if and when you find out. thanks
Check the link out http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9010
I check my oil everytime I take the car out
Quote from: "weaselchops"Once a week, along with tyre pressures when the 2 is cleaned.
Quote from: "heathstimpson"You have time to wash every week; I wish I did s:? :? s:?
s:shock: :shock: s:shock: Bugger living with you, stinky boy.... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
My black mr2 suffered precat failure- it constantly puked out blue smoke, particuarly when you put the engine under load. the car used 5 litres of oil in 3 days (engine only holds 4.5litres!!) and the car had no power whatsoever (i couldn't keep up with my girlfriends 1.1 106 at 70mph on the bypass!!) the engine also made a tappy / rattly noise as if the top end had been starved of oil a few times in the past.
when the dealership i bought it from took it into the toyota garage, they commented it was the worst wear they had seen to date.
subsequently, the dealership realised it would cost too much for them to fix the car, gave me my money back and put the car through a market.
I then decided to buy my silver one privately so therefore got more for my money and I've bought the toyota extended warranty at £580 for two years including RAC cover (coz of club toyota)
I have a bit of a scraping noise coming from the engine (no one else can hear it though) and it's just white condensation type smoke in the mornings, but it's quite a lot, and it doesn't disappear until the car is up to operational temperature, and even then I see a bit coming out of the exhaust no an again
Really need to sort my warranty out when I get home.
Quote from: "extremeMR2"I have a bit of a scraping noise coming from the engine (no one else can hear it though) and it's just white condensation type smoke in the mornings, but it's quite a lot, and it doesn't disappear until the car is up to operational temperature, and even then I see a bit coming out of the exhaust no an again
Really need to sort my warranty out when I get home.
our engines can sound a little scrapey as you put it when they start and even from new mine has produced a lot of smoke on colder mornings, dont fret, this
is just condensation forming and is quite normal.
if the smoke were slightly bluish in colour or even black then that would be a matter
QuoteextremeMR2 wrote:
I have a bit of a scraping noise coming from the engine (no one else can hear it though) and it's just white condensation type smoke in the mornings, but it's quite a lot, and it doesn't disappear until the car is up to operational temperature, and even then I see a bit coming out of the exhaust no an again
Really need to sort my warranty out when I get home.
Like Stuart says AKA kanujunkie
it is normal to have white smoke as you put it. However if you do hear a knocking noise of like metal hitting metal when you REV the engine this ain't normal. Cos this is what my car was doing and hence the reason why I put the question of "how often do you check your engine oil"
I need to check my oil level about once a month, i asked toyota why the car was using so much oil and they recon that its normal and the car is designed to use alot of oil to save the engine.
Quote from: "mrS dan"I need to check my oil level about once a month, i asked toyota why the car was using so much oil and they recon that its normal and the car is designed to use alot of oil to save the engine.
that wrong, a good engine will use a certain amount of oil but not much at all , i take it you have been reading the threads on pre-cats and have checked them out to be sure?
Like Aaron said, the dealerships go by what Toyota tell them and, with everything on the wrong tollerance (giving worst gaps etc) then yeah, maybe a litre per 1000 miles is about right. Doubt many engines get made like that but higher oil use than the rest of us shouldn't olny mean it is only a pre-cat problem. I've had cars that drunk oil for the first 4-5k and ones like this that haven't even needed a top up in over 7k.
So if you, say you go through a tank of fuel a week (+-300miles) that's 900 -1000 miles in a month. Correct???
The difference between full and empty on the dipstick is that of about 1L of oil. so in one month you can go from full to empty (According to Mr T's 1000 to 1L oil consumption)?? Surely that's not right
The 1L/1000 miles is a max limit. You see it on all sorts of hardware. It is a limit that the designers say a worst case bit of kit will reach. On most things, it's done to prevent warranty claims or replacing bits when they aren't needed. I've seen jet turbines use only a tenth of what their alleged normal operating limit implies. You'd be very unlucky to ever get an engine that would use that much and as tolerances improve along with better engine management and material use, modern engines use a fraction of the oil compared to their antecedants. That's not to say someone won't get one though!
Quote from: "proeliator2001"I've seen jet turbines use only a tenth of what their alleged normal operating limit implies.
unless its a JT-9D which generally uses about 1.5 gallons of oil per 2000 miles. God you have to love old technology s:wink: :wink: s:wink:
Still, 3.5 litres per 1000 miles isn't bad for something that can each shift around 70 tons at up to 560 mph s8) 8) s8)
Speaking of checking oil - I just finished changing mine. Halfords have a dire selection of oil now s:( :( s:( I ended up having to go for Castrol 0W-40 as that was the closest to what I really wanted (5 or 10W-40). There was really only a choice of Castrol Edge Sport 0W-40 (replacement for the old Castrol RS), Castrol Edge 5W-30, Mobil1 15W-50 or Halfords own. Grr.
Still, it'll have no problems circulating the engine in the cold weather, that's for sure.
Also checked my preCATs while I was at it - they look pristine.. I'm actually starting to think my car had a new engine before I got it..
Please could someone tell me what is a Precat. I have no real understanding on what this really is. Also what does the have to do with the engine oil? (I'm asking in a polite manner) s:) :) s:)
In addition to my question above. How do you check your Precat and what should I be looking out for? i.e. faults
do a search on precats, there are volumes already written that should answer your question fully.
Quote from: "extremeMR2"I hate checking the oil, cause every time you take the dipstick out, you get a different reading, they are so Difficult to read. probably the worst design ever ! ! ! ! s:evil: :evil: s:evil:
I do mine when something like this thread reminds me too... s:wink: :wink: s:wink: but probably no more than 1 every few months. Never had to add any, unless it got done at service time.
I too can get different readings on both sides of the stick, so i guess i'll only start to worry when i dip and see there is none!! s:roll: :roll: s:roll: