This car has 306 000 km on it and runs very well. I use synthetic oil (mobil) due to the turbocharger and the car has always used a bit extra I thought. I check every 2 or 3 days with no change in the dip stick, then suddenly I am down a whole liter or more, with no unusual driving conditions.

I've been trying to sort out the oil consumption since I got the car 2 years ago with the following been checked or replaced along the way:

compression is a bit low (125, 130, 129, 136 PSI) but never oil on the spark plugs.

turbo was rebuilt

no signs of leaking on the front seals when changing the timing belt

replaced the distributor shaft seals

cleaned out the PCV hoses and replaced the oil trap

replaced the oil filter cap gasket, though after a few days there is always an small oily film around it on the valve cover

no signs of black or blue smoke on acceleration

replaced the oil filter adapter O ring

no signs of obvious oil leakage around engine

I even got a UV light and dye, but found it didn't really work. (ie. I tested it by adding some dye to a small amount of oil on a bolt and did not see the glow I was supposed to)

Any ideas where the oil is going? This stuff is expensive.

Al