As mentioned in another thread, I had the head gaskets changed on my 2004 Disco. Now ... I have a disappearing oil issue. In a nutshell, after three weeks of driving the Rover, I had to put in four quarts of oil - not smoking and not leaking.

I received my Rover back from the Shop approx Feb 22nd - they changed the head gaskets, coolant hose, and a brake master cylinder. On March 16th, I was driving to the range with some friends when my oil light came on. I immediately pulled into a auto store (that happened to be there luckily), popped the hood, and saw no oil on the dipstick. After putting three quarts in to bring it up to full, I continued on my journey. The next week I was out of town, came back Thursday, and drove the truck just a couple times during the weekend. Monday before heading to the airport I checked and it was a quart low. Now I did notice that the shop only put six quarts of oil in instead of seven (I gave them a case of Amsoil to install in my truck, six were left over). But that still means I lost two quarts in roughly three weeks, and one quart for a weekend's driving.

I have no visible smoke coming out of the tailpipe, and have only noticed a very small drip coming off my oil filter and dropping onto my concrete driveway occasionally.

Any ideas? Could it be something not working from the head gasket repair (heads were cleaned, valves done, and valve seals replaced).

 

This is very common, I'm guessing you just switched to the Amsoil?
Whenever you switch oil brands the gaskets and seals will soak up the new oil, you are not actually loosing oil, it is just being soaked up.
Once everything is full of the new oil it will stop.
My truck did the exact same thing when I switched to Rotella.

 

I was hoping it had something to do with this ... but she's been on Amsoil for the two years that I have had her (about 25k miles). But three quarts worth so far?

 

Remember, head gaskets were replaced, which means new valley pan gasket, new valve cover gaskets...just keep a eye on it, check it every day or 2 until you are satisfied it has stopped or slowed enough to manage once a week.

 

very true - thanks Spike!

oh - and what the hell is going on with the weather up there?! One week it's 80, the next it's freezing! I call my sister (Midland) to rub in how hot it is down here in GA ;o)

 

yes, we envy the hot weather it must be nice to go ice fishing or skying in GA

 

ahhhh ... childhood memories of ice fishing in the Saginaw bay with Grandpa, then warming up to hot chocolate, fried perch, and potatoes.

dang you got me.

 

I don't buy the seals soaking up 4 quarts of oil, can't and won't happen.
Call the shop that did the job, let them know what is going on and have them fix it.
Let us know what you find.

 

I agree with Mike
I don't think the shop put in enough oil. The guy put in maybe 4 quarts then got interrupted and you never had a full crankcase with oil.
If you are losing oil you are:
1) Burning it
2) Leaking it.
3) Or it was never put in - in the first place.

Check - that your oil filter is tight.
Don't laugh. This will cause oil loss.
Sometimes, the little O ring seal for the oil filter gets skewed and just mashed in there.
I would remove the oil filter and inspect.

Oil can also come out of the valve cover gaskets and onto the engine and ground.
Your rear main seal could be leaking.
Which means - when you park in a hill with the front of the truck facing up hill
then the oil can leak out the rear main seal.

If you park on grass - or were visiting a place and then left at night, you would
not notice the puddle of oil.

I am not sure if Discovery II has an oil cooler in the radiator.
If it does, oil could pass into your cooling system - as the oil is 40+ PSI and the cooling system is rated a lot lower.

Check if your antifreeze is looking a bit dirty.

 

Your oil consumption is at an alarming rate... And switching between brands etc will not cause any issues, they are all engineered to work together in almost any mix you can think of. Amsoil is a fine product and unless your engine was full of sludge (which I don't suspect since you were using it before this issue), there is no reason for oil burn off.