yo! after my first oil change in a 2000 C5 wtih 16k miles on it, I checked my oil and it was down a quart, so I put in a quart. That was probably two or three weeks ago. Today, I checked the oil and I was down a half of a quart. So, about a quart and a half in just 3000 miles.
I recently saw a thread regarding this, but I'd like to read more.
Thank you.

 

There are quite a few threads floating around about oil use in some model years. Do a search and you'll hit pay dirt.

 

2000 was the year that there was a serious oil consumption problem.

If I were you, I would change my oil every 3k miles or so. If you see high RPM like a good vette owner you should probably change oil a little more often than the chumps that never drive their vettes. I changed my this past weekend and had a 5 quart jug completely full after almost 4500 miles. My 99 takes about 6.5 quarts.

Goodluck with her.

 

Well that's about 1 quart every 2000 miles - not exactly a major oil burner to GM.

First of all, changing the oil every 3000 miles, especially if you've added 1.5 quarts, is a major waste of money. I change my oil every year (about 5500 miles) and add a couple of quarts inbetween changes. Heck, even petroleum-based oil can last longer than 4000 miles under the worst conditions.

What in the world does that mean?

 

From posts that I have read on the subject. GM doesn't think there's a problem until your burning a quart every 750 to 1000 miles. And they have to monitor the consumption. Mind you if you think you have a problem you could always suck it out to make it worst. That is if they seal the drain. There's always a way around everything.

 

I have had my Vettes serviced by an old time Vette guy who seems to know his stuff. His opinion is that the new oils are so slippery that they will get past seals and rings much better than dinosaur oil.

When it seemed that I was burning a half quart or so every 1000 miles, he said "would you rather pour in a few dollars of oil three or four times a year, or would you rather let a Chevy dealer take this engine apart?"

I experimented with different oils. After I switched to (non GM approved, but approved by Porsche and Mercedes)Castrol 5W-50 synthetic, the situation got much better, and I may need to top off with 1/2 quart between oil changes, which for me is around 3000 - 3500 miles. You may want to try that. I like thicker oil anyway. I think that the thinner oil is mostly to help the EPA estimates. My other mechanic keeps 20w-50 year round in my German cars with absolutely no problems(I am in SoCal, but I often go to snow country).

 

I've got a 2000 MN6 with 45k kilometres on it (28k miles).

Used less than a litre between last two changes and I have just looked at it again - oil use since last change 1000 miles ago is indiscernable. I use Castrol Magnatec 5w30

I must be one of the lucky ones I guess.

I know a fellow Brit who lives a couple of miles away and who has got a 2001 that burns almost as much oil as my central heating. He uses Mobil 1 (in France this is graded as 5w40 for some reason) and as he's still just inside warranty (it was a late registration) he's thinking about getting the engine taken apart to fix it. Although I wouldn't trust the dealer to look at my car after the last 'service', but that's another story . . .

If it is a ring problem thicker oil should help, but if it's really knackered it will need fixing properly.

So good luck with it.

 

Your consumption is not that bad. I go through ~1 qt every 1000 miles, but I drive hard...very hard. I also I consume more oil when I use Royal Purple, which is a better lubricant than Mobil 1. And I am one of those guys who 'wastes his money' changing oil frequently. But at ~$20,000 for the engine, I am very cautious.

 

I change my 1998 every 5000. It doesn't use any oil.

 

I thought I was stretching the mileage between oil changes on my 04. I couldn't imagine going 5,000 miles between oil changes. This is the first car that I ever owned that I didn't change the oil every 2,000 miles. I'm going 2,500 miles between changes on this one.

 

keep in mind this thing uses synthetic oil and not dino oil like most other cars out there. synthetic oils have been analyzed, many times on here even, to still hold up 7500 or more miles just fine.

alot of people here change them religiously by the mileage, i for one go by the oil life meter and just change it when it says it needs to be changed. i drive mine relatively hard, at least to me its hard. its an auto so i guess i dont string out the revs upshifting and downshifting like a MN6 would, but i have 84k on it now and it uses no oil at all. still right at the full line on the next oil change. and i go by the oil life meter just like the original owner did. no leaks, no wasted money, and works fine still. p.s. mine usually flags an oil change around 7500 or 7400 miles...my parents car (mommies daily driver) isnt driven as much or as hard very often....and i think it went almost 10k before saying it needed a change and it was perfectly full too. anyway, do what u want, ill stick to what works for me.

 

Guess I should feel very lucky. The oil (Mobil 1) level on my '99 has never been low between oil changes. Been right at the mark every time.

 

Ditto those who said GM (or any car manufacturer for that matter) doesn't consider oil consumption to be a problem until it exceeds 1 quart every 800 miles.

 

Ok I am going through the testing right now so here is the scoop:

This problem mainly affects early model 01 MN6s because that is when they used a smaller piston ring. GM realized their mistake and corrected the problem for later 01 productions. The A4s have the same problem, but since the difference of driving between the MN6 and the A4 many A4 drivers neve notice the problem.

I have had 2 tests

1 - 3/4 quart 800 miles (highway mostly)
2. 1.1 quart 800 miles (around town mostly)

Either of those are below GM standards. Figure if I waited 5000 to change my oil even at 3/4 usage I would use 5.5 quarts of oil or I would have 1.5 quarts left - NOT ACCEPTABLE by any company.

I would think that being down 1 quart in 3000 miles is below GM standards (figure I am using roughly 3 quarts in the same time).

My car has 12K miles on it and this started around 9K miles so it should also happen early in the life of your car, but that does not mean that different driving styles can start it happening later.

Good luck...

 

thats the problem. Many vette users are torn between just adding oil and having an unqualified GM mechanic service it. Lucky I have a good GM tech here in NJ that plenty of people trust, but I feel bad for those that dont have one.

I would say this problem is probably worse because of GM service not being good nad people not wanting them to look at it (or by now they are out of their warranty period).

Good luck to your friend.

 

I went through this with my '01 so I know it can be a pain in the butt. My dealer started the oil consumption test and had me drive my 1000 miles. That car wasnt my daily driver so it took me about 2 months to drive those 1000 miles. I returned to my dealer so that they could check the oil and when they did, they found that it was low, but they werent sure if it was quite low enough.

Since they were freaking idiots, thay wanted me to do the whole damn thing over again and drive another 1000 miles. Well, this time I made sure that it used enough oil. I drove the 1000 miles and then I crawled under the car and removed the drain plug and let about a quart leak out and then I put the plug back in. This was slightly devious, but I was going to make sure that they fixed the damn problem instead of continuing to stall me until I ran out of warranty or something.

When I went back, they checked the oil and found out that it was really low. They did the re-ring under warranty and everything was fine from that point on until I sold the car. Again, maybe it was a little sneaky for me to drain the oil, but they knew there was a problem and they were trying to avoid fixing it.

 

It is a pain. I have to do the test 3 times even though my GM tech knows that I burn through oil. He said that he has to do the test, send it to GM and then wait for their OK. Like GM doesn't know they screwed up.

Anyway everyone that I talked to after the re-ring never used a drop of oil...

 

Actually, it was the '01s that really had the oil consumption problem, but some earlier models did too. My '00 had it and I had the rings replaced by my dealer under warranty. They did an excellent job and in the three years since it has been done, no more oil consumption.

At the time I had mine done, GM's standard for excessive oil consumption was a quart or more in 2000 miles or less. The service bulletin that came out covering this was Information on Engine Oil Consumption Guidelines #01-06-01-011. Your dealer should have access to this. The guidelines state you are to participate in an oil consumption test, which can be a pain, but depending on the dealer, they may not require much. I contacted my dealer as soon as I noticed the problem and then kept careful track of what oil was consumed. I documented each time I checked and about three months later, I had enough documentation to bring them. They did not question anything else and did the ring change. I do not know however whether GM's guidance has changed since that time.

The key is if you decide to get it done, know how well your dealer is familiar with these issues. When I had mine done, my dealer had not torn down a C5 engine, but they did a great job. They had worked on some F-bodies though. And, I trusted the mechanic - he took his time and was really **** about getting things just right.