Oil Consumption (Astra / In General)
 

I took my X reg Astra 1.6 SXI in to Local Vauxhall dealer for its 7yr / 70k service today and asked about how much oil consumption is normal as I seem to be forever topping mine up which is a pain and pricey as they now put Castrol GTX Magnatec 10w40 in, which is £8 a litre.

The reply was "Unless your using more than a litre per 1000 miles then dont worry about it, thats the guideliness from Vauxhall". I find that hard to believe coming from jap cars (subaru and nissan) where Ive never needed to top the oil up between services.

Does this sounds right to other Vauxhall owners. I realise its a older car but still has only just covered 63k.

Cheers,
Simon

Simon,

Mine it totally different (2005 1.9 CDTi 150) but it uses almost NO oil.
Trouble is, at oil change time, it costs a flipping fortune!

A litre per 1000 miles sounds excessive - unless you run an RX8!

My old works astra van (2ltr DI) used about 2 ltrs every 10k, my omega 2.5TD uses about 1ltr every 5k, my old Spec C used 0 ltrs between services, neither did my classic turbo, my mondeo (M reg 1.8 petrol) with 68-108k on the clock used none, my pug 306 diesel used a bit (140k) my mondeo (S reg TD) uses about 1ltr per 3k miles which aint bad, my renault 19 16v had a warning on the window about oil consumption per 1k miles, that needed topping up between services (from new), my (both) 306 GTi-6's never used oil, my renault 19 1.7 GTX only used a bit of oil (about .5ltr per 6k miles).
As you can see, it differs between different manufacturers and engine types, it may just be a common factor on the 1.6ltr GM engine, and unless its kicking out blue smoke and drinking 1ltr per 1k miles, its within the manufacturers guide lines.

Tony:)

Yeah it seems that way. Like I say I never had to top a Nissan or Subaru up so it just feels strange having to top up the Astra every few thousand miles.

Simon

Its not really normal, but its getting to that age and mileage where it would be expected.

Anyway, point to note Japanease cars can burn oil too, all of my mum's 4 Toyotas used oil at some point in their life. Especially the 3S-GE engined ones. As did my Nissan (which being 14 years old was expected, even though it had a very dubious "85000miles" displayed on the clock), sit it at 80-90mph on the motorway it became quite partial to the odd pint of lubricant, as did the 2.0 Primera.

Its just down to the life its had, and how its used and serviced, unless there is a problem like a leak or the valve stems seals have gone its a case of living with it and keeping it in check on a regular basis so not to let it run too low.

Check the oil grade its running on, by rights it should be running on 10w-40, But what you may or may not be aware is that many new vauxhalls use thinner oil, which could be what your dealer is putting in instead out of habit, or that is all they stock these days. This in turn could make a worn engine burn even more oil.

But look on the bright side, your topping up with fresh oil, which will replenish the aging old oil in the sump between services :)

Quite the opposite - they only use Castrol GTX Magnatec 10w40 instead of the previous GM stuff.

Cheers for all the input guys. Seems I was worrying about nothing but better to be sure I guess.

Thanks,
Simon

Sorry, I missed the Magnatec bit in your first post, however I think you can get it a bit cheaper than £8 a litre; even halfruads do 4litres of the same oil for £25 which works out at about £6.25 a litre. Should help reduce running costs a tad. :)

Fiat Coupe, used more oil than petrol.