Why Is My Car Burning Oil?
Motor oil is a crucial element to all vehicles. It properly lubricates all engine components, and it helps cool down the engine. Over time, other engine parts will wear down and allow engine oil to slip into the combustion chamber. This is the reason why your car is burning oil.
To learn more about burning car oil, our team at Ira Mazda has put together this comprehensive guide for all Dedham, Norwood, Foxborough, and Stoughton, Massachusetts, drivers. Let’s dig in.
The Causes of Burning Oil
If you’re experiencing consistently low oil levels, but there’s no visible leak, your vehicle is most likely burning oil due to worn-out parts! When these parts are worn, oil seeps into the combustion chamber and ends up getting burned off along with the fuel/air mixture.
Which worn parts allow this to happen? These three are common culprits:
- Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) System—This vital component eliminates harmful gases generated during engine combustion. However, this system can get clogged, which can cause oil to get sucked into the engine through the air intake.
- Piston Rings or Cylinder Walls—Piston rings form a seal around the cylinder walls to maintain engine compression and prevent gases from escaping. However, when worn, the seal no longer functions properly.
- Valve Seal—This component regulates oil consumption and valve lubrication. However, when damaged, the seal turns into a gateway that oil uses to get into the engine cylinders and the combustion chamber.
How Do I Know My Car Is Burning Oil?
There are many ways to tell your car is burning through oil. For one, you may notice a persistent engine oil light on your dashboard. This sign is a big indicator, especially if you just had an oil change or topped off the oil recently.
If you’re comfortable checking your oil yourself, you’ll notice low oil levels when your car is burning oil. On top of this sign, you may notice these performance differences:
- Weak acceleration
- Overheating
- Lower fuel efficiency
- Blue-tinted smoke coming from the exhaust pipe
Have you noticed any of these warning signs? Call us today to give your car’s engine the care it needs.
Our Engine Care Services
When you bring your car to our service center for engine and oil service, our technicians will get to work right away. They’ll inspect the engine to see which parts are worn, or they’ll try to find what else could be causing the issue.
If the culprit is a worn-out part, they will install OEM (original equipment manufacturer) parts that fit like a glove in your model. From there, they’ll undergo a thorough inspection to make sure everything looks good before closing shop.
If we do not have the parts on hand, you can order the necessary parts online through our parts center! Once they come in, we’ll contact you, and we’ll install them.
Schedule Service Today
We want to get you back on the Dedham, Norwood, Foxborough, and Stoughton, MA, streets on steady feet after taking care of your car’s burning oil. To do so, schedule service with us at Ira Mazda today!