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I've heard that it's "normal" for older cars to burn a certain amount of oil and that it's not really a problem.
My question is how much is too much? At what threshold does burning oil become a problem for an "old" car and how is "old" defined in this case?
It is actually normal for brand new and modern cars to consume oil.
There is no set number, but as a rule of thumb, it's often agreed that up to about 1 quart or 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles (e.g. out of 6L of oil from the oil pan) is considered to be an entirely normal oil consumption rate; on the other hand, more than 1L per 1000 km is probably too much of an oil consumption.
As others mentioned, this is not to be confused with oil leaks, where the oil leaks onto the ground from beneath the engine -- no such oil consumption should be considered as normal.
If oil is below 3/4 after 6 months or after 10000km then its too much. Are you using the recommended graded oil? Check with Repco or BNT if you have it in your country or your local parts dealer not a mechanic unless its the cars dealership.
I have a 2001 Lexus GS300 with 285,000 km on the clock. I buy six litres every oil change; five for the change and use the remaining one litre over the next 10,000 between oil and filter changes. I think that's reasonable. Pete
