Ok so a couple days ago, on my home from work, I noticed when I hit my brakes pretty hard (thanks to people not knowing how to pull out of a driveway..-_-) my low oil light would come on for a second and then go off again after I would accelerate. I couldn't emulate this any other way aside from basically slamming on brakes. I also have a decently steep driveway which I sat on for a minute and the light never came on either.

Anyway, next morning check my oil level and notice that their is the slightest drop on the dip stick. I was at my 5000 mile interval anyway so I took my grandfathers car to go get some oil and a filter.

When changing the oil I didn't notice any leaking from the oil pan or the filter and when I drained the oil only about 2 quarts (probably less) came out of the oil pan.

I've always ran full synthetic and generally change at the 5k mark (give or take) and never had the light come on before. I have a MMW header (2 years) nst pulleys (2 years) injen cai (3 years) and a trd axle back (4 years) just to add for reference. But like I said - never had this sort of issue before and my oil levels were never this low.

Am I just being paranoid or could it be a bigger problem?

p.s. I'm also right at about 58k miles.

 

If the car wasn't on an incline, and you got just 2 quarts drained, I'd have that checked. Burning 1qt between oil changes is said to be the normal limit, more than 2qts sounds like a problem. I'm at 90k and I put 4qts in and get about 3.8qts back.

 

yeah...i'll see what happens with this batch of oil and just keep an eye on it. I plan on taking off most of my mods over xmas break so i'll see if that somehow changes things. Thanks man!

 

Check to see if there is a leak by the pulley. Lack of torsional dampening of the crank could have bit you.

 

None of the mods you have listed would affect oil. Unless the NST is somehow horribly installed.

 

yeah i figured...I just thought I would mention it before anyone asks lol

 

Ok so I thought I would ressurect this since it's been about 3200 miles since my last oil change with Mobil 1.

Same thing happened last night - slammed on brakes and oil light came on and at one point stayed on for about 15-20 seconds. Came home and checked the oil and NOTHING was on the dipstick. Decided to check this morning since I was tired last night hoping maybe I just wasn't noticing it and same thing..no oil on the stick. I checked once when the engine was hot and once when it was cold.

No burning, no leaking, pulled off the radiator cap and didn't see any of the white "Crud" that I read is associated with oil getting in the coolant. Don't see any oil around the head..any ideas? Anything else I can check? ugghh..I almost bought an s2k the other day and now I am thinking I should have just ____ing got it..

 

you might want to do a compression/ leakdown test. If you are not leaking oil (which you would see) the only place for your oil to go is for it to burn off, and while 1 qt low is normal ish between oil changes, it sound like you might be more,
how much oil did you add to bring it back up to level?

 

I added about 3/4 of a quart of oil we had laying around and it BARELY ended up on the tip of the dip stick..nowhere near the first dot.

Would it be possible it's burning without creating any smoke or making the oil black?

 

i would have just gotten it just to have it!!!

 

Their were a few factors that kept me from getting it but mostly it's because I can probalby get more for it private party than carmax was offering..even with this supposed oil problem.

just fyi - I added about 2 quarts of oil and it's back to the normal level and I am approx 3400 miles since my last oil change. I have a planner so I am going to keep track of the oil checks every other fill up or so. This might be the shove I need to get into a new car

 

more than 2 qt in 3500 miles seems a bit much, and its hard to say why you dont see much smoke, checking oil level every week is prob a good idea, and then check your compression/ or have someone do a leakdown test to see if you are losing oil from your rings or valves.

my tc blew its first motor at 40k and dealer said there was no oil left in it and it didnt burn off or go into the cooling system, it was pretty much a mystery to them. lol where did the oil go then? had to have burnt off really really fast,

they never did tell me if they found out why. but at least i got a new motor. (only mod i had was lightweight pulley)

 

40k? Wow..at least you were in warranty

 

your pcv valve could be stuck open and you could be burning the oil off that way.

 

I will check it out..but wouldn't I notice if that were the case? I dont have any power loss, idle issues or acceleration issues..the car runs fine.

 

Dude, totally not paranoid. I needed to change my oil this weekend so I went to go check it and there was barely any oil on the dipstick and I have a 2010! I was ____ed to say the least b/c like everyone else said, there has been no indication of burning/leaking/etc. Crazy! So I changed the oil and going to keep an eye on it. I use Royal Purple 5W-20. Thinking about changing b/c this stuff is expensive and maybe a little excessive for a DD

 

My car just went in to the dealership for a new motor because of rod knock.....car had zero oil in it!!!! This seems to be a huge concern with this vehicle. Should we start a petition or something? My warranty is up in a few months so if my car has this mysterious oil burning problem again I will be screwed. I am gonna be honest that I have lost confidence in the motor of this car and my car only has 27K on it.

 

Well at the end of the day we are supposed to check our oil every so often anyway so I doubt any kind of petition would do any good. Personally I am considering just selling the car and getting something else.

 

True and I agree about considering getting rid of it. I am thinking the same thing. I mean, I know I need to check my oil but consumption should be minimal on an engine with less than 22K on it and no sign of leaks. Oh well, a couple more oil changes and if it persists, its gone!

 

Since you are well within warranty just take it in or something...that's what I would do..since I am out of warranty I am not going to really bother