Oil Consumption

[Speedy]

It looks like my car is burning a quart every 4,000 miles. Is this normal?

The car is a 2006 3.5L Touring with 53,000 miles. Thus far I have changed the oil every 5,000 to 6,000 miles of mostly highway driving. Also I used to use Mobil 1 for the first 20,000 miles but switched to dino after that.

[sxtman]

I have a 2006 Dodge Magnum SXT with 29,000 and having the same problem. Did not notice it till today. Come to find out I was 3 quarts low and I have only been 6,000 miles since my last oil change. I do run a pure synthetic which will last 10,000 miles if the engine keeps the oil in it. Does anyone have an answer for this

[formerice]

I think a quart every 4,000 might be normal. I am pretty anal about oil and if my vehicle was down half a quart, I would top it off. I had a Mazda B3000 truck once that burned a quart every thousand miles, but it went about 300,000 miles before the guy I sold it to junked it. However neither of my hemis burn a drop in 5,000 changes, 71,000 in the Ram and 107,000 mi in the Magnum

[MidnightSXT]

My 3.5 mag does this too and has 45,000km on it. I think its a normal thing judging by all the posts i`ve read about this. I change oil every 5000km and its due in another 1500km and its down about half-3/4 litre

[Speedy]

My 3.5 mag does this too and has 45,000km on it. I think its a normal thing judging by all the posts i`ve read about this. I change oil every 5000km and its due in another 1500km and its down about half-3/4 litre

Are there any other posts about 3.5L engines burning oil. I searched and couldn't find any.

[sxtman]

I could understand a small amount but 3 quarts in 6000 miles...way to much...trying to talk to the dealer about it...will post more when I hear from them

[formerice]

I could understand a small amount but 3 quarts in 6000 miles...way to much...trying to talk to the dealer about it...will post more when I hear from them

I would keep an eye on it every time you gas up. when its down a quart, add one. Some cars will go 4000 on a quart, but if you don't top it off they will burn another quart in a thousand miles, the less oil you you have the harder it works.

[His 'n' Hearse]

IIRC, a few years back, GM maintained that 1,000 miles/qt wasn't excessive! Of course, that's GM. . .

[Leonard]

Chrysler said if your car or truck is using a qt of oil 1200 miles or more its normal.

[sxtman]

I did a little more looking into my car today...I topped it off on the 11th of this month and Im already down a quart and my exhaust pipe is coal black on the inside and around the tip...which tells me that it is burning it....Im sorry in my opinion a new car with less then 30,000 miles should not be burning oil that bad.

[PHANTZM]

Mine is doing the same. It's more noticable now with the nice Borla tips too. But on average it is 1-1.5 Qts low at each oil change.

[ZMagnum]

These engines run rich so some of that black in your exhaust tips is due to that.

I noticed that every time a Prowler goes WOT a puff of white smoke comes out. Since it has essentially the same 3.5L engine as we have I would guess that we burn more oil when going WOT too. So how much oil you burn will depend on your driving habits.

I get my oil changed every 3,000 miles or 3 months whichever comes first. I've not noticed being low on oil at any time except when the dealership adds 5 quarts instead of 6 with an oil change. Then I just top it off. To be fair the dealership hasn't done this in a while. I use regular 10W30 oil not synthetic.

[His 'n' Hearse]

I think I recall reading that by today's standards these engines (3.5L) have relatively sloppy valve guide tolerances or a problem with them going oval or such which allows oil to be sucked down the valve stems. Fnkychkn, Tbird100636, Samoan Tsunami, or any other of you engine gurus wanna chime in here?

[sxtman]

I talked to the service manager and they are waiting to see what the overall oil consumption is after my 1000 miles but he did say that Chrysler says that 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles is with in there tolerance....and everyone wonders why the oil prices are so high!!!!!

[MooNDoGGie]

I change my oil every 15000,km or so and I use Mobil1 extended oil. I use a K&N oil filter which in my opinion is the best oil filter made. I have to top up my oil maybe twice between oil changes. This is normal for this high output (high compression) engines.

Relax its normal. I drive my car like I stole it and its all good. In fact you should be more concerned if you baby your 3.5 (like some of my fellow LXforum friends). They are all talking about putting in a cleaner additive to clean the carbon off the valves. I have no worries there.