Just wandered how much of the Black Gold, Texas Tea seems to be disapearing from the other Minis blistering up and down the highway.
I seem to be loosing about 1/2 qt to 3/4 qt about every 500 to 1000 miles.
No leaks present and I had a friend follow me under various throttle conditions with no somke at all.
Catch can has a little but nothing more than an ounce or so, so is it evaporating or what?

 

bump

 

That seems like a lot unless you have a ton of miles.
Have you checked the oil pan gasket? Mine leaks some but I never have a drop of oil in the garage. Does not make much sense that a leak does not leak at home but I know I have the bad gasket because of the oil residue on the bottom of the car.
However, even with the leak I don't lose near that much. Normally I don't have to add any oil between the 5k changes.

P.S. Where in North Georgia? As you can see I am in Chattanooga and am alway looking for a fellow MINI owner to wrench with.

 

How many miles on your current oil. When the stuff starts to lose its additive package it will burn it. At 8K mine began using oil. I couldn't stand it any longer and changed it. I sent a sample to Blackstone and had my thoughts confirmed. The TBN's were gone, and some other things I was afraid were beginning to happen. No consumption afteward. I set it on the highway and run it 500 miles twice a month at 75 to 80 MPH and my normal driving when home also.
A place to start looking anyway.

 

45000 miles on car and about 1500 on oil.
No signs of any leaks, pan and surrounding area are clean and dry I have had the car for about a month and I took it to Century Mini in Greenville and the changed the angle sensor O ring, oil, coolant flush, brake fluid ect.
I am trying to monitor it carefully but I am a bit stumped. They used the Mini oil and I think the tech said it was Castrol Syntec rebottled as Mini.
I am thinking of changing to another brand but I have not decided to what yet.
P.S. I am in Gainesville almost Cleveland Ga and anytime you want to come down from Nooga the Beer is always cold and the tools are waiting.

 

I am using Mobile 1 for the between changes. Castrol has always been a staple in a lot of garages, but anyone could have a bad run. You never know. If you find out the problem, let us know.

 

A quart every 2000 miles is probably considered normal by MINI, but my car doesn't seem to use a drop in between changes, which I do every 7500 or so. I use Mobil1 5W30, and my car has 15K on it now.....

I don't think these engines take well to being run low, so be sure to keep it topped off, check it every couple of weeks or so.....

 

Sounds like your consumption is high, but not out-of-bounds high. Mini will likely consider it within the "normal" range, meaning they won't fix anything. Oil doesn't evaporate so its either being burned or leaking somewhere and if you have a clean garage floor, that usually means it is being burned. One qt per 1K miles won't have noticeable smoking out the tailpipe. You could try changing brands but I doubt it will make any difference. And oil consumption does vary a bit as an engine ages, so you may find it getting better in a month or three.

It is annoying to have to add oil, but it probably doesn't mean your likely to have further problems. You do need to monitor it more closely if you have a car burning oil at this rate, probably every couple fuel stops.

What do you mean by "catch can"?

- Mark

 

Mark "catch can" as in oil catch can that catches the blow by oil from the intake.

 

Anything more than a quart in 3000 miles is too much if you ask me. I used to get that in an old air cooled VW back in the 60s, and every car since then.

 

So would you recommend spending $10K on a new engine rather than put a $4 qt of oil in every sixth tank of gas?

- Mark

 

Okay, where is this puppy?

- Mark

 

I used to have a 1972 Ford Pinto bought brand new. It was getting only about 750 miles/quart of oil. At that time, I was told by the dealer that it was a normal condition for overhead cam engines. A couple of years later, Ford came out with a service bulletin that the valve stem seals needed to be replaced if excessive oil consumption was occurring. Once my valve stems seals were replaced, then I was not using any oil between changes which at that time was done every 3000 miles.

 

Not on a factory motor, you have to install it.