We do oil changes (Royal Purple) every 5000 miles in our 2006 LR3SE with 195,000 miles on it.
The last few times..using Royal Purple (before it was synthetic Penzoil) we are way down in engine oil.
Instead of 8 Qts it has only 3 Qts.
So now we have to start checking and topping Engine Oil up every few weeks : (
The mechanic says "I don't see any oil leaks..maybe its burning oil.."
Can it be anything else ? We don't see smoke out of tail pipe or serious smell.
Can it be stopped/improved?
If burning oil how longan this engine go one ?
With the oil full in Engine the car engine sounds as quiet as can be.
Thanks

 

I would inspect the intake and see how much oil is in there. I would also replace the PCV valve, maybe it is allowing too much flow and pulling too much oil. If there is a lot of oil in the intake, then its probably the PCV. You will see some oil though, normal. Best to use a scope to look inside unless you want to remove the throttle body. A compression test would be a good thing to do and a good time to inspect the plugs. Running on 3 quarts of oil though, that is not good at all..... For comparison I burn just under a half quart between changes at 7,500 miles with 180,000 miles on it.

 

But don't these cars have an oil level sensor for when oil gets low ?

 

No they do not. They are old school and have a dipstick to check.

 

There is a pressure sensor. But like most engines, if you see the oil pressure light when running it usually means the engine is toast unless you catch it fast.

 

It looks like the PCV Valve was changed last time check engine light was on..maybe 6 months ago..could the part be defective possibly ?
Or if it was defective the sensor would be going on ? Does this mean our engines life is sort of numbered.? We have always took care of it..: )
Though there was a serious issue with highly neglect shoppe we used to go to has us running with no coolant.I felt the Engine suffered that time.

 

No oil in tail pipe..is it possible new PCV Valve is defective ? Anyway to check..(at throttle body ?)
or just get the form PCV $50 and throw that part at it ? Thank uou

 

If it was not an OEM part, it could have failed already. Running without coolant? Running with low oil? I would do a compression test before doing anything else at this point.

 

Does the Oil have to be drained to do a compression test ?

 

A compression test tests the compression pressure maximum of each cylinder. Its done with a tool that replaces each spark plug. In fact all plugs are generally removed during the test then the tester is put in one cylinder at a time. You just need a good battery and preferably on a charger since you will be trying to start the vehicle 8 times to test each cylinder. Its best to remove the fuel pump fuse too. What a compression test will reveal is any abnormalities in the engines ability to compress the fuel/air mixture. This can help by showing potential piston blow-by, valves not seating or blown head gaskets. So if there are 8 cyclers and seven test at 160psi but one tests at 90psi then there is an issue with that particular cylinder. If they should all test at 160psi but they all test at 110psi, there is likely an engine-wide issue. But there is also a general known baseline for the engine when new and if you want to get fancy one factors in altitiute and air temperatures to get the exact expected PSI for that engine. Compression is lost with milage on most engines, so the closer to spec you are the better but a drop across all cylinder is normal so long as its not dramatic.