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Oil Problem


lexsand
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We seem to have an oil problem in that the oil level was up at the second notch when my son in law put new oil in, now, just 4 days later the oil light keeps coming on and its went down to the first ( minimum level ) notch.

We had it serviced just recently and we had oil put in there then too.

Theres no sign of any leakage and we're puzzled as to whats happening? No oil on the ground when we pull away.

My son in law says it may be "burning oil", but as I have no mechanical knowledge I have no idea what he's talking about.

Any ideas?

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Your car shouldn't be burning oil as such, so if it is that could be the sign of a problem. Does the exhaust seem to smoke a lot ? If so, what colour is the smoke - e.g. white/blue/grey ?

How many miles has the car done ? Have you had it long ?

It only gives off a white exhaust when we start up. Its done 120,000 and its a Y reg. We got it off my wifes son, and I don't think he had problems with it. We've had it since August 08

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We seem to have an oil problem in that the oil level was up at the second notch when my son in law put new oil in, now, just 4 days later the oil light keeps coming on and its went down to the first ( minimum level ) notch.

We had it serviced just recently and we had oil put in there then too.

Theres no sign of any leakage and we're puzzled as to whats happening? No oil on the ground when we pull away.

My son in law says it may be "burning oil", but as I have no mechanical knowledge I have no idea what he's talking about.

Any ideas?

We've put another litre of oil in today and see what happens.

Theres no smell of burning or black exhaust and the orange light isn't on all the time, it keeps going off and on,.

A mechanic told me on the phone that if it were burning oil then thats a big job. Keeping fingers crossed.

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What about how the oil looks (inside the filler cap) and the coolant tank (as Gord suggested) ?

As you say, if it is burning oil then that's not good news :crybaby:

My son in law says that the oil looks perfectly normal, and nothing abnormal looking in those place.

He used to be a motor mechanic so hopefully he knows what he's talking about.

As already said we'll wait until Friday/Saturday and see if the level has gone down again. Its a mystery why it went down in the first place though. Maybe he was in too much of a hurry when he put the oil in the previous week and didn't let it settle?

I noticed when he put the oil in this time he didn't let the engine cool down first. I don't know if thats good practise?

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If he used to be a mechanic then he should be able to tell if the oil cap looks good. May well be that he didn't let it settle down - if that is in fact the case, then the level hasn't gone down at all, it just looks like it has, which is fine.

Yes, good practice to do it when the oil is warm. It's much thinner when it's warm, so it drains out faster making the job quicker and easier.

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My neighbour works on cars a lot and he says the oil we were using is no use in a car thats done over 100,000 miles and has said that could be the reason we are losing oil, it being so thin.

I think its 15/40 he says would be best.

I showed him the Lexus manual and he pointed out that the recommended oil was for cold temperatures, not for ours.

He'll drain the oil and fill it up with 4.5 of the thicker stuff and see if that solves the problem.

Apparantly he's known some other people who had the same problem till they converted to the thicker oil.

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