2007 4 cylinder camry purchased new, oil changed every  3000 miles, using a quart of oil in 1200. The dealer says this is within the normal range. The car currently has 34000. miles. Can this be true? Will this car have a shorter life?

Burning a quart every 1200 miles sounds high to me but if was closer to 1/2 quart every 1200 miles, I'd say that could be acceptable.

Have you asked your dealer for a oil consumption test? That might be needed before they'll offer any "repair".

You have to understand a few things. MOst people do not know how or when to check oil. Next level of oil consumption can be considered normal as low as a qt per 900. This can change depending on driving conditions, styles, etc. On little 4 bangers driven hard a qt per 900 is entirely normal (as long as external leaks are ruled out). Have the dealer check health of the engine (compression, compression balance, fluid inffiltration, etc.) than a consumption test. If they find everything ok and you're using a qt at say a thousand understand what you have and live with it. It will NOT affect engine longevity.

Hi Robin,

I would say the dealer is wrong about saying this is "normal."  You may be losing oil from burning it from bad rings/seals.  This is a serious problem and should be covered under warranty.  However, make sure the oil filter is tight as oil can leak around this too and check for leaks under the vehicle engine.  Lastly, make sure to keep all receipts and be sure the oil is of proper viscosity as recommended in the owners manual and as noted on top of the oil filler cap.

I had a 2001 corolla with the same problem at 70000 miles and had to sell the vehicle at a loss because it needed an engine rebuild.

My opinion is that is excessive. I have a '95 Nissan, '02 Mustang and (up until very recently) an '87 Aerostar and none of them used enough oil to require adding between oil changes.

At 34,000 miles the oil used between changes should be negligible. A quart every 1200 miles is likely due to a leak, and my money would be on the oil pressure sender.

In decades of driving, the only time I have ever had to add oil to a 4 cylinder engine is when my Audi had defective valve seals.

Seems excessive to me. I've never had to add oil to my Saturn's engine between oil changes.

Maybe in 1984 a quart per 900 miles was normal now it's ridiculous.

Never had a car that consumed anywhere near that much oil (in the absence of leaks).

Largest amount that I have noticed was about 1/2 quart in about 5,000 miles.

However, I have read on other forums that dealers and manufacturers tend to dismiss oil consumption as not being a problem unless it is greater than about 1 quart per 1,000 miles.

The idea that up to 1 quart per 1,000 miles is OK is ridiculous.

I can just imagine packing for the family driving vacation:
"Oh sweetheart, did you remember to pack the oil?"

Sorry to ALL but YES qt per 900 in some mfgrs (I think Honda falls in this group) is considered NORMAL as long as all other things are eliminated. External leaks, internal leaks, overall engine health meets specs, etc. So don't shoot ME for telling you the truth. Also sometimes percieved oil consumption is not. It may be the owner mis reading a dipstick, reading at the wrong time, etc. As for tales of NO oil consumption in 5000 miles.........Don't fool yourself. There is NO such thing as NO oil consumption. Many folks who percieve this do so because their engines may be short trippers. So some of the volume they read is NOT oil, it's unburned fuel, condensation, etc. THese same people than get the car out on a long drive and suddenly see oil levels drop. Guess what.......it's just all the garbage evaporating out.

Like I said to the OP. Have the engine inspected and a formal test performed. than jusdge it NOT before.

Sorry to ALL but YES qt per 900 in some mfgrs (I think Honda falls in this group) is considered NORMAL as long as all other things are eliminated.

It is doubtful that any manufacturer considers burning a quart per 1000 miles "normal", because if that were so, plenty of engines would burn off too much oil before the next oil change interval, resulting in engine damage (since most people do not check the oil level in their cars that often, or at all), warranty claims, and poor reputation for reliability.

However, manufacturers and dealers likely consider burning a quart per 1000 miles or some similar amount the threshold before they will actually do anything to fix it under warranty.  Probably because the diagnosis and fix (which may involve taking the engine apart and rebuilding it) is expensive, and it is not obvious that the repair job actually did fix it until the owner has driven thousands more miles.

If there is consistently enough unburned fuel and condensation in the crankcase to read on the dipstick, you might as well keep the dip stick out and put a new engine in underneath it because that engine is not going to last much longer. It is certainly possible, but only on the most extreme end of the short-trip spectrum.

Back in the days of carburetors and stuck floats it was possible to have enough fuel flow past the rings and into the crankcase to cause a backfire-ignited explosion. The grossly distended valve covers which resulted would make an ordinary V-8 look like an overhead cam!

You are correct that there is no such thing as no oil consumption; some oil has to get past the rings and valve stems to lubricate them, but it isn't very much.

A quart every 1000 was the standard cutoff for warranty authorization back when oil change intervals were 3000 miles, but I don't think that is applicable any more. A car using that much oil probably wouldn't pass smog.

Here's a good service bulletin from GM that covers the issue pretty well, and even GM says more than one quart every 2000 miles is excessive.

http://www.pistonslap.com/tsb/010601011A.pdf

I still believe that if the engine is running well otherwise, the excessive use is due to a leak.

YOu know all this arguing with me does nothing for the OP. Let the OP do what I suggested and post back. I am done with this until and when we hear back and he posts what the dealer told him.

Over 30 years of practical experience has shown me that engine oil consumption is anything but normal. I don't understand why car manufacturers get away with telling us that oil consumption is normal. Here's a list of cars I've maintained and none of them used oil between oil changes, the oil level was always at the dipstick full mark. For example, our 2003 Honda Accord with 115,000 miles has 5,500 miles on the engine oil and the oil level is at the dipstick full mark, I just checked it when we got back from visiting my father.

1967 V8 Pontiac Tempest,  1983 Honda Accord (231,000 miles), 1988 Honda Civic (150.000 miles), 1995 Corolla LE (213,000 miles), 1998 GMC Sonoma V6, 1999 Kobota tractor, 2000 Honda Civic, 2000 Honda Accord V6, 2003 Honda Accord LX four-cylinder, 2006 Honda Civic.

Okay, one car a 2002 Ford Taurus LX (116,000 miles) was used by my niece one summer in Denver's record heat. Because I was using Moble 1 extended performance oil I told her the oil would be okay while she was away. However, when she returned the car 3 months later the engine oil had 12,000 miles on it and the oil level was just above the dipstick add mark, but that's less than one quart in 12,000 miles!