My car tonight when started had the DIC state Low oil level. I have never seen this come on before and the car has run perfect all day. Can't figure out why all of a sudden it the oil has gotten low. I checked the dipstick and the oil is indeed about 1/2 to 1 quart low on oil. Why is my engine burning oil or has it been low and it just relayed the info now.
THanks

 

My car burns about 1 quart for every 1,000 miles, but it really depends on how hard I drive the car. Seems pretty normal based on the threads I see around here.

 

It is a 2003 Z06 and yes I was backed in on a steep incline driveway. Still kinda sucks that you gotta add oil to these things.

 

It's practically an all aluminum race engine ..... adding some oil once in a while is a small price to pay for an OHV engine that can rev to 6,500 RPM all day long.

 

That's the case for a lot of performance cars (Porsche, Nissan Z, rotaries)...

 

If you think those 700 + HP NASCAR engines or the new Lexus V8 run a lot of ring tension then you'd be mistaken. Free horse power. Excessive ring tension robs horsepower and should not be used as an excuse to cure an 'oil consumption ' problem. Most race engine run 10 to 12 pounds of ring tension.

http://www.rjsmith.com/gm-894549.html
The point of the Gen 3 engines were to make horse power and with that came some complaints from folks who were used to a more 'civilized', tame engine.
The oil consumption issue has been with us since 1997 but with the LS6 it was even more apparent with the higher rpm range of the '01 LS6and aggressive drivers style of driving thru town at 4000 rpm in second gear with a light throttle was the reason some bought the Corvette .

."The severity of the problem is specific to the driver. You can take a car that is a major complaint and give it to another driverthat will get 5000 miles to a quart" , said John Juriga Assistant Chief Engineer for the GEN 3 engine program. The GM Gen 3 engineers did not consider that the usual duty cycle for these engines. The common is that sustained high speed and light -load was not a normal duty cycle , even for the Corvette.The problem is also not a wear issue.


The fix was to swap out the number two compression ring with a Napier design ( scrapper shap) and increase ring tension from 9 pounds to 13 pounds. GM claims there was no loss of horsepower as a result. The oil issue then went from extremes 1 quart to 500 to 800 miles to the normal 1 quart to 1500-2000 miles that the LSx engines were designed to meet.

On the '01 LS6 only was the possible problem with oil consumption attributed to the valley pan baffle not sealed.

I have two C5s , a late production 2000 FRC and even later production '01 Z06 that exhibit very little oil loss between 3000 mile oil changes. The internet conspiracy theories, urban legend, and rumor mutate and spread rapidly. While core issue of oil consumption has factual basis the issue quickly became exaggerated and laced with disinformatiom.

 

THanks for the poss guys. Just guess I'll have to keep some oil in the garage.

 

not to pop your bubble but my `98 burned about half a quart in 5,000 miles and i drive it hard!!....1 quart every 1,000 miles IS excessive!

 

Have you tried a slightly thicker oil?

 

Geez Louise!! A car HAS to use some oil or it is not getting proper lubrication. I can't believe you have never had to put oil in a car. How long have you been driving anyway?

In the old days, drive a car for 10k miles between oil changes and add a quart every 2-3k miles. Now we change it every 3k miles or less and I have to add a quart SOMETIMES at about 2k miles, depending on how hard I drive it during that time. If SOME oil doesn't get around the rings, they get no lubrication, etc, etc.

The only engine that won't burn oil is one that doesn't have any oil in it, like ELECTRIC!

 

Wow, add a quart and drive it. Using a quart of oil between changes is COMPLETELY NORMAL.

Internal combustion engines NEED to burn some oil to work properly.

 

keep in mind cylinder walls aren't smooth for a reason, they are designed to hold oil to reduce friction instead of the rings completely scraping the oil off the wall. the excess oil that stays on the walls are burnt through combustion. now picture this cycle over and over throughout 8 cylinder. Its normal to burn some oil. I usually burn .5qt-1qt between oil changes depending on my driving style