Oil Consumption

[XGamesJ6]

I have a 2007 Lucerne with the V6 3.8L engine, and every so often i always have to add oil. I was just curious about this, is it supposed to consume some oil, there are no leaks, and i cant smell or see any burning, pretty sure its all good, runs great, just wondering, Im told newer cars have some oil consumption, just curious if im worrying over nothing, it has some miles on, its been broken in, and its been taken on three or four road trips already, very nice ride and reliable. just wondering about the oil. Thanks

[polarzak]

Oil consumption is probably the ONLY thing in my Lucerne that I have not issues with. I change my oil according to the DIC warning, and I don't recall having to top it up between changes. It is a 3.8 also.

[Carwhiz]

HOLD UP! Slow oil consumption has been comming up on several of the series III 3.8L's and it's ending up being cylinder wall is scored. take it to your gm dealer....we've had to replace a few engines under this problem allready. GM produces thousands of these engines and just like any other....once in a while you get a bad apple out of the batch. Now, your GM dealer may say it's normal....but no it's not...they just dont want the mess with it. Reason is...gm pays squat to dealers for warranty issues in replacing engine. You may have to take to several dealers to find one that will be willing to help your car. Get it fixed before your warranty is expired!!

[maxwedge]

I see no mention of how much oil is being consumed here, your advice may be premature, on a modern engine 1 qt at 3-4k can be normal.

[brian 1]

just did some searching,the is a bulletin on this for oil consumpution.#2034062 Some customers may comment of excessive oil consumption on the 3800 Series III engines. An engine that has excessive oil consumption uses 0.9L (1 qt) of oil or more within 3,200 km (2,000 mi).
This condition may be caused by the retaining ring on the exhaust valve stem seal not securely holding the seal on the cylinder head guide boss. If this occurs, the exhaust valve stem seal(s) may move off the cylinder head guide boss and no longer provide a sealing function between the exhaust valve stem and the valve guide.this bulletin covers 06-08 lucerne with 3.8 vin code 2 and 4.

[maxwedge]

Good info Brian 1, it still remains that the OP does not mention any mileage criteria for his comments, to some people a 1qt/4k is excessive and it is not, of course. As you can see there has been no addt'l info from the OP in 3 months.

[Carwhiz]

Of course listen to maxwedge, I looked up the specs on what an engine "should require" and that is: Some customers may comment of excessive oil consumption on the 3800 Series III engines. An engine that has excessive oil consumption uses 0.9L (1 qt) of oil or more within 3,200 km (2,000 mi).

[old.driver]

If an engine does not use any oil, the cylinder walls are not getting lubricated well enough, it is unreasonable to expect no oil consumption at all.

[danielsatur]

See how much oil is being used inbetween oil changes, it could be just a bad PCV valve.

[maxwedge]

Guys, this is a 3 year dead thread. look at the dates before posting, thanks.

[danielsatur]

I guess, it'e better than starting a new thread!