So i've been having some issues with my lancer here of late, I purchased my 03 Oz with 4 miles on the odo, on my first oil change i switched to royal purple 10w30 and have been using it ever since, last august was the first time this ever happened, all the oil went M I A. no leaks, no smoke, nadda....so i added oil to her and she ran beautiful, when doing oil changes tho i noticed that she is losing oil somewhere...about a week ago, it happened again, all 3quarts low...i talked to a repair shop and they suggested to try returning back to regular oil and using this stuff called Sea Foam. So i tried the suggested idea, i've been running for one week on this stuff and noticed i've lost a little bit of oil...does anyone have any possible idea of what is going on???? i'm avoiding taking it to the dealer but it's appearing that is going to be the only choice...

 

any mods? anything else going on with the car? ive used royal purple too but ive never had it dissappear before.

 

I would try switching back to regular oil. Synthetic oil is too "slippery" to allow proper seating and break-in of the rings. As a result you will get excess oil blowby into the combustion chambers, hence your obvious oil consumption. Although I would still check for leaks. Jack up the car and look for any slight film of oil sludge that may have built up somewhere. Try using UV oil dye as well (for leak detection). I think you should use regular oil for at least the first 5000-10,000 miles.

 

yea go back to regular ive heard issues with lancers having problems with synth oil there was a big post about this somewhere.

 

does this include the '06? cause I have the maintenance warranty on mine for synthetic oil.

 

Have you checked (run your finger or a rag around) the oil pan bolt and oil filter? Did you make sure to put the little plastic ring (gasket) on the oil pan bolt? Also, check the spark plugs to see if there is oil or residue on them.

 

The car has NO leaks what so ever, i did however switch back to the regular oil and have been running it for 1 week, i noticed a slight drop in teh oil amount, i'm going to add a little bit more and keep running it and hope that the seals seat themselfs.

just curious, has anyone done any serious engine work ? i've been thinking about tearing down the block and just purchasing new pistons and rods anyway, the aftermarket ones that RRM offers, how complicated is the procedure?

 

My car just started doing the same thing recently. I've always used synthetic mobil1. The oil is not the problem. I believe it's the valve seals and piston rings. I don't notice any smoke either and i also have no leaks. I have one question for you though. Do you drive really hard alot or tap the revlimiter doing burnouts? I noticed driving regularly i dont burn oil... but when i'm hauling through town and smoking out the parking lot sitting in first gear banging teh rev-limiter at work... thats when i lose oil. Check your exhaust tip, i bet it's really black and wet. I asked the lead tech at my work for his opinion so we ran a compression test, checked my spark plugs, and everything. The plugs were lightly ashed which means i was burning oil but it was in small amounts.. .that's why i saw no blue smoke, and i was getting esxcessive blow-by which means the rings are starting to go. So tomorrow after we close up shop, i'm going to stay late and replace my valve seals and piston rings. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

i've had my car since 2002. Been Running synthetic ever since and about to hit 60k w/ no problems. I tend to change up the oil depending on the climate and season. Summer time I run full synthetic since it gets hot outside. During the winter I run 4 part synth and 1 part regular blend. It keeps a good blend inside for longer wear and not needing to worry about changin the oil so often.

( u don't really need to change your oil every 3000 miles. You can push it to about 7k maybe 10 at times.)

 

my car did the same thing 2002 OZ, with 105k on it. the oil is not leaking it's burning in with the gas, doesn't matter what oil you use, your valve seals/vaulve alignment is bad. look around $60-700 to get replaced @ the stealership.

 

From all i know the issue between using Synthetic vs Dino oil in lancer pertains to Turbocharged lancers. The argument was that the synthetic has a problem flowing through the oil pump at high demand high RPM driving, or something like that. I'm tryin to go off memory. I had synthetic in before i turbo'd my car and i never lost oil like you do. I'm runnin 20w50 dino now with the turbo and i have oil blowby through the turbo (turbo seals are shot) but i'm only dropping a quart of oil every like 3 weeks or more. Nothing like you are having. I'd really definately take some stuff apart and check out your rings. i'm willin to bet you are havin blowby and a lot of the smoke is comin out at higher rpms whiel you're moving so you cant really see it...

 

So you're saying I can't run Synthetic while running turbo in my lancer?

I'm running synthetic in my N/A now, but now that I"m going turbo, should I go back to Regular? oil thatis...

 

Its recommended by RRM. no one has really proven either way, but i'll still stick with dino oil while turbo'd

 

I just don't feel like going back to regular oil once turbo'd. I don't want to run into issues. Plus, I see all the EVO guys running Royal Purple and that's synthetic and they have no problems.

 

Its important to check the lancer oil weekly, they go through it like water in the desert.