My 8 stopped burning oil?
 

I took it into the dealership for an oil change at 95k. It's 97k now, been through probably 5-6 fill ups and the oil level is the same :dunno:

But since that oil change, it turned to winter weather. Does that make a difference?

Are you driving the car hard enough? If you're "grannying" it, it won't really consume much oil. Give it a couple of hard runs and see it suck oil. If your car's OMP wasn't working I'm pretty sure your engine would be blown by now.

Yeah, I've been red lining once a trip and I played in some empty parking lots for a bit (with the snow and all)

But even if I'm grannying it, wouldn't it use some oil?

It's possible that you do have an OMP problem. It's usually the cause of no oil consumption, and it WILL blow your engine in time. You can premix to assist in saving it, but might want to have the OMP checked out.


It would be painful if your engine waited another 3,000 miles to fail on you....

You should be burning some amount of oil regardless of how the car is being driven. Get it to the dealer asap it could be a problem with the OMP. This could be a serious issue.

no way its not burning oil.
did you check right after the oil change?

I tried this so I'm basing it off experience. The car doesn't "burn" much oil if you drive it like that. I too got a bit alarmed. Then I reverted back to spirited driving and lo and behold, the oil consumption went up like anything.

Premixing is your friend, you can always increase the longevity of your engine by premixing.

Ok, I let it go for another fill just to make sure I wasn't trippin
and yeah, it's at the top line, same as it was before.

Theres gotta be another way to check this because I don't feel like paying the dealership $80 for them to tell me nothing's wrong cause I'm 99% sure that's whats going to happen.

This happened right after the oil change too, is there anything that could have gone wrong during that change? I can't imagine anything at all, I mean it's just draining the old oil then putting new shit in.

Nobody has heard of this happening before? Cause if I'm the only one, then chances are theres probably nothing wrong and it's just taking in very little oil...

Most of the "not burning oil" in the past has turned out to be non-regular checks, with an overfill on an oil change between.

OMP failures are not common, but they DO happen, it's a mechanical / electrical device after all. (also wonder if OMP failures have caused engine failures, and repeat engine failures because the OMP is never fixed)

I would suggest contacting Ray (Charles R. Hill here on the forum). I believe his OMP failed shortly after he got his 8, and should be able to discuss it better with you.

that is strange but i think its more a reading issue than the omp?

Hate to say this but I have filled my 8 3 times now and have not needed to put oil in it :( Had it for about a month and oil level is fine still

what you can do is start the car, let it warm up. rev a couple times and go back smell the exhaust. it should smell like burning oil. also clean the exhaust tips and drive it, mines dont take 2 days to be coated with carbon.

What's an OMP? I'm assuming it's an oil something pump, but I have no clue.

oil metering pump
its actually not a pump more like a solenoid that controls how much oil gets injected in to the engine depending on throttle opening and rpm.

I had the same issue recently with my 2004 Rx8. It seem not to burn oil during my weekly commutes to work, even though I would redline it daily. Then I had a track session one weekend. I checked the oil and it was a quart low, so yes oil level depends on how you drive it.

If you have driven it 2,000 miles and the oil level literally hasn't changed at all then it may be worth the $80 to be sure everything is ok. The 8 engines completely rely on oil to work properly. If your oil level hasn't moved even the slightest bit then your engine hasn't gotten any. Your engine not getting any oil is not good at all ha.

I don't really even see how the engine could have made it that far without blowing if it hasn't used any oil. Are you sure you are reading the dip-stick right?

not necessarily in 2K miles. I've heard of folks running their Sohn adapter tank dry for extended periods like this will no ill effect. (CRH)

it is a positive displacement pump. and its based on rpm, load

I have had my 8 for over 4 yrs n the oil consumption has been very low. There r periods I drive it hard n periods I don't, but my 8 just doesn't burn as much oil as alot of people on here claim there cars burn. Runs as good or better thn the day I bought it. I might put a total of 2 quarts in it between oil changes. Sometimes only 1 quart. I check it prob every 3-4 weeks or so. At first I checked it weekly due to reading about the rotarys thirsty oil consumption but after a while I didn't bother cuz didn't need it. Always had plenty of oil. But to be fair i dont put very many miles on my 8, maybe an ave of 200-350 miles a month tops. Just my experience but i wouldn't get too worried about it.

Edit: forgot to list that I change my oil typically every 4k miles and my figure of 200-350 miles a month is an average, so there r months I'm a bit over that n vice versa jus want to clarify before people start churpin :)

If you change your oil every 4000 miles, and add a quart once or twice between changes, then you are adding around a quart every 2000 miles at least. He is up to the point where you would usually be adding a quart, and his oil level hasn't dropped at all.

Thanks for everyone's help, I think it's ok now.
Just for reference, I'm in Canada so I was talking in km not miles.

Anyways, 2 days ago I checked and it was still the same so I decided to do a lot of high rpm driving since it didn't feel like anything was wrong. I figured if it's still burning oil, I'd make it burn a shitload so I can tell for sure if it is or isn't.
(Plus no check engine light or any other indication that anything was wrong so I felt pretty safe)

I checked yesterday and it ate a LOT of oil. I'm talking a little more than half from the very top line to the first dot.

That is quite a jump but I figure that if it's eating oil, I'm good so thanks again for everyone's input while I went through this strange ordeal~

I have also been trying to figure out if im insane when it comes to my oil, Currently im on my third fill getting around 17mpg and i haven't needed oil at all. my driving tends to be in the 2-3k rpm range most of the way to work due to traffic though I redline it on some of the open spots couple times a day.... this past fill up im driving at a higher RPM range in traffic 3-4k rpm with some harder driving in between to make sure my OMP is working...

Funny how two of the most common complaints on here are :

does not use enough oil
and
uses too much gas

maybe lines are clogged:dunno:

Don't get me wrong im not complaining about either doesn't use enough oil or it using to much gas, I bought my 8 completely okay with 14mpg just because its an awesome ride. my issue is when it goes from using a regular amount of oil to not using any... then I get worried.

Imo you should Premix immediately as a "life jacket" untill it is figured out how about/why the engine is not using any more engine-oil.
Premix (i.e. in your case 1/2 oz per gallon) cannot harm your engine at all, eventually it will prevent the starvation of your engine.............
You will hear the difference in smooth idling/running as soon as you started with Premix...........
Best regards, Ruud