1994 940GL wagon, B230FB (non turbo) 2.3L motor, 171,000km

I do my own oil changes and monitor the oil level regularly, checking the dipstick each time I fill the car up with petrol. The oil level drops slowly and steadily over time. I use a dino oil (Castrol Magnatec) and have a totally drip tight motor as regards oil leaks.

It took 5200kms for the oil to go from the full to the low mark on the dipstick after the most recent oil change. I'm not sure what volume of oil this represents as I never top up the oil - when it gets to the low mark I just change the oil and filter. Is this an OK rate of oil consumption ?

I'm not aware of the car blowing any oil smoke out the exhaust. After driving around, stopping the motor and removing the oil filler cap I have noticed that it is a bit fumey in the top of the cylinder head, but nothing excessive. At what rate should a "perfect" motor consume oil at ? Is some degree of cylinder head fuming after turning off the motor normal ?

I wonder if I should I top up the oil and go a bit longer as regards oil and filter changes ? (I do about 15,000 km per year, mostly around town, so do 2-3 oil changes a year under my current method, which does strike me as a bit excessive perhaps.)


John Marshall
Christchurch NZ

Like sumerduckman, I would never let my oil get to the add mark. I think that add is a lot
more than a quart that most people think it is.
--
'96 855R, 95 855, '95 854, 90 744TI 377,000 miles on 7 bricks

if u wanna swap just let me know....thats certainly well in to th 'ok' range

One quart every 5000km is respectable. Changing oil every 5000km is also good. The foaming you get is from driving around town a lot. Short trips don't let the oil get hot enough to burn off the condensed water and other impurities. If you switch to synthetic, you could change your oil only twice a year, or even just once depending on the colour.

Klaus
--
98 V70Rawd(101Kmi), 95 854T(85K mi), 75 164E(173K mi)

I would consider that fairly normal. I think my 87 745 is the exception, in that at 198,000 miles uses 1/4 quart of oil between 4,000 mile oil changes. On the other side, my 96 965 with 133,000 miles uses a quart of oil between 4,000 mile oil changes.
Richard
--
86 740T/87 745GLE/96 960 Wagon

That's roughly equivalent to 1 quart every 3000 miles -- which I would consider low oil consumption for a car with about 100K miles on it! Certainly there are some here with lower consumption... but 1 quart every 3K miles is very respectable.

Jeff Pierce
--
'93 945 Turbo ( one kickass family car ! ), '92 Mercedes 190E (my daily driver), '53 Willys-Overland Pickup (my snow-plow truck/conversation piece -- sold to a loving home), '85 Jeep CJ-7 w/ Fisher plow

Sounds perfect for a healthy motor. both mine do roughly the same.

You should change the oil at 5K IMHO, and if you are pressed with time the best to do would be to wait until the min oil mark, change out the filter only and top off with a liter of oil. At that point, I would say do a max of another 2K kilometers. Then change it all out incl filter again.

If high mileage is in order you have the option to run synthetic, been contemplating it myself for a long long time, but not yet.

Greg Mustang
Montreal
Canada

That much oil usage may or may not be excessive, it depends on the type/grade of oil you are using and your driving conditions.
The difference between the top and bottom marks is approximately 1 qt. I would not let it drop that far, 1 qt is 1/4 of the total amount of the oil in the engine. I always top up when the oil is at about 1/2 way between the top and bottom marks , and use about 1/3 qt as to not overfill.
Some blow by (fumey) is normal on any engine.
I change the oil on my 94 940 every 3000/4000 miles using conventional Castrol GTX 10w30. It uses about 2/3 qt between changes, so that is not far off of what you have experienced.

--
'94 940 na Regina 150k, '86 240 180k Gary Gilliam Sumerduck, Va