I bought my 2004 discovery less than 3K miles ago and at the time it had a freshly rebuilt motor with less than 500 miles on it. About 1K miles in the check oil light came on and when I checked it said I needed to add two quarts! When it reached around 2K I changed the oil and checked it for any weirdness like big chunks of metal, pistons, wooly mammoth bones etc. floating in the oil, coolant, etc. It looked good as expected- so I continued on.

Yesterday, the check oil light came on and I pulled over checked the oil and it was VERY low. I keep one of those big jugs of synthetic, some coolant and stuff in the vehicle for emergencies or if see someone stranded that needs help so I had plenty of oil to put it back to the right levels but it took about 3 quarts. I then crawled around underneath, looked around the engine compartment and as before I did not see any leakage or places where oil was building, streaming, etc. No sign of oil in the coolant. I am stumped!

This Discovery had a lot of work done to it and the engine compartment and underneath all the wayback to the back wheels looked pristine and aside from a bit of trail dust it still does. So I assume it should be pretty easy to see if I was blowing that much oil. I don't have drops or drips in the parking spots at work or anywhere else to include the garage. I looked everywhere and can't find any places where oil is blowing out over the frame or any other components on the underside of the vehicle. I have never seen anything like this before where so much oil is disappearing but there are no signs.

I am assuming that there isn't a hazing routine where you guys sneak in to a new owners garage and remove oil or shorten the dipstick slash make the check oil light come on. Any other ideas? # quarts in less than ~1K miles seems a bit excessive

I saw a few other threads just now (couldn't find doing a search) where it is discussed that synth oil sometimes seeps in to places and therefore makes the oil go down. If that is the explanation that is great but doesn't seem very likely- someone else mentions LR says you could lose a quart every 600 miles or something and if that is about normal that is fine too but again seems weird.

 

I had a new factory replacement block installed way back ago and the dealer at the time put synthetic in it and it burned a quart of oil every 800 miles for its entire 160,000 mile life.

Not sure what to tell you other than I would not put synthetic oil in one of these.

What weight of synth is in it?

Good luck, but you may have already set the process in motion for a lifetime of looking at the dip stick every week.

 

I'd do a compression test. Unlikely to be an issue given it's a new engine, but anything is possible.


Also, as asked, what weight oil are you using? Check out the service link in my signature.

 

Rings don't seat well with synthetic oil.
If the engine was broken in on synthetic, it may be burning the oil, and slowly enough that there isn't visible smoke in the exhaust.

 

First, Check your oil level more frequent than when the light comes on. I would check daily. Second, I understand and share in your pain. Search my posts which include a rebuilt rebuilt motor. Start with the simple, no visible leaks so check the inside of the pcv valve hose on the passenger side if it’s wet with oil. From there check the spark plug condition. From there it gets more involved. Only three possibilities - leaking, sucking thru intake/valve guide seals, or burning thru the rings.

 

That is GREAT news- I said to my wife the other day-
Dearest wife, you know what I need in my life? She said: No what dearest husband? I then said- I'd love to add a quart of oil to a vehicle every week or so but I don't want the hassle of having to remove a quart.

Then I said- my love, I'd also like you to smack me in the head with a brick while I am adding the oil. She replied- Why certainly snookums ANYTHING you want involving a brick and your head I am happy to help with.

God she is helpful!


Thanks- I am using 10-40w. I'll run a compression test this weekend see whats what..

 

Thanks- I feel like I am back in the early 70s when every time we stopped for gas Dad had the oil checked.