Top Up engine oil!

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 14:21

it might take 1 Liter each month is this normal for a 16 years old Xantia? i remember i read somewhere that there was a fault in early Xantias that they consume oil but it has been Citroen fixed it under warranty, is it possible that mine still has this issue?

XantiaMan · Unread post by **XantiaMan** » 10 Dec 2010, 14:53

That will all depend on how many miles in a month you do?

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 15:08

around 800km that would be 500 miles or so!!

spider · Unread post by **spider** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:06

1 litre for 500 miles is far too much.

Mine hardly uses any at all (between 4,500 to 5000 mile changes) and I don't hang around with it, even at nearly 190K.

Is it actually being burned or leaking ? , I'm tempted to say its leaking on yours...

HDI · Unread post by **HDI** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:09

Can say on my HDI doing about 800 miles / mth the engine uses negligible oil, maybe 1 ltr between 6K oil changes.

VertVega · Unread post by **VertVega** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:15

I agree with above comments by spider. The reason for high oil consumption could be:
- the hardened ring seals, deposits, sludge etc. (burning oil)
- external oil leak (which should be visible under the car)

I apply engine flush before oil change and it kept the valves, pistons and channels clean so far.

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:19

no leak as i checked, if it's burning oil wouldn't there be blue smoke? if so there's nothing like that.

dnsey · Unread post by **dnsey** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:40

no leak as i checked, if it's burning oil wouldn't there be blue smoke? if so there's nothing like that

Well unless someone's pinching it in the night, it must be one or the other

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 16:59

is it possible that it's burning oil without blue smoke??? if so what to do to fix it?!

handyman · Unread post by **handyman** » 10 Dec 2010, 17:50

Hi Ref, the trick to see if you are burning oil would be to get somebody to follow you in another car and observe the exhaust emissions under varying conditions, ie. acceleration, over-run, high revs, low revs, etc. Due to the shape of the Xantia, it is very difficult to see smoke from the exhaust, unless it is really excessive, by which time it is usually too late.

Handyman

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 17:54

handyman wrote:Hi Ref, the trick to see if you are burning oil would be to get somebody to follow you in another car and observe the exhaust emissions under varying conditions, ie. acceleration, over-run, high revs, low revs, etc. Due to the shape of the Xantia, it is very difficult to see smoke from the exhaust, unless it is really excessive, by which time it is usually too late.

Handyman

Hi Handyman thanks for the tip, it's -9 here now and all the cars are smoking

i wonder how difficult could it be

handyman · Unread post by **handyman** » 10 Dec 2010, 18:17

Ref, if somebody is following you, they will see the blue smoke that denotes burning oil, even in the condensation from the exhaust. It is very distinct and chances are, you will already have sooty, oily deposits splattered on the back of the car.

If you are burning that amount of oil, it will eventually contaminate the catalytic converter, so that will be an additional expense.

Is your car petrol or diesel?

H

Ref · Unread post by **Ref** » 10 Dec 2010, 18:23

it's petrol, if so what would be the solution? valves, oil seals, rebuilding the engine?? scary stuff

naffa · Unread post by **naffa** » 10 Dec 2010, 18:30

The Galaxy V6 I had before I bought the Synergie would burn a litre of oil every 200 miles at 70-75 mph, but around town it didn't use any unless I really booted it.

Just shows like has already been said, that you need someone to follow you under varying driving circumstances and observe whats coming out of the exhaust.

Nath

spider · Unread post by **spider** » 10 Dec 2010, 18:53

Ref wrote:it's petrol, if so what would be the solution? valves, oil seals, rebuilding the engine?? scary stuff

I had assumed diesel for some reason.

How many miles ?

As an approximate / rough guess, the XU petrol engines will start to burn oil around 120k (some less, some more. I've seen some at about 150k without excess oil usage so do not worry 'that' much about mileage) due to ring wear amongst other things such as valve stem seals.

You should see it though, if its using a litre in 500 miles it will probably have a smelly tailpipe when warm, even at idle speeds you may be able to see it have a slightly blue tinge to it. At that amount of oil use the cat will not be very happy either, hence me saying are you sure its not leaking...