sealcoater1 Posted November 16, 2008 Report Share Posted November 16, 2008 Just purchased 2001 Deville with Northstar engine. It is using one quart of oil every thousand miles! This could drive me nuts in terms of checking the oil level. Is this normal? I'm very disappointed and would like to return it to the dealer. It was a one owner car and very well maintained, 70,500 miles. Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimD Posted November 16, 2008 Report Share Posted November 16, 2008 One quart per thousand is not excessive; just annoying. And there is an oil level monitor that places a message on the DIC when the oil level is two quarts low. Even when the CHECK OIL LEVEL message appears there is still approximately 5 quarts of oil in the crankcase. A regular dose of wide-open-throttle therapy can reduce the oil consumption. Simply place the gear selector in 2 at a highway speed of ~~ 40 MPH and full throttle the engine up to a little over 6,000 RPM then get off the throttle and let the engine compression brake the car back down to ~~ 40 MPH. Repeat several times. Do not rev the engine to the point where the PCM will force an upshift to 3rd. If the PCM causes the upshift, you will not experience the high vacuum loading on the rings which is very beneficial. A few practice runs will teach you when to get off the throttle. You cannot harm or damage anything with this procedure. And the 1st time you do this WOT therapy, keep one eye on the mirror to observe the brown cloud coming from the exhaust. That cloud is the carbon buildup that used to be in your combustion chambers. Jim Drive your car. Use your cell phone. CHOOSE ONE ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digital_dad Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 There are many posts on this forum about why this, and many zero tolerance modular motors, engine uses oil and why it is good. Because of this oil usage I noticed that my oil remains much clearer and carries a significantly reduced gas oder for many more miles than other american engines I've had. This resultiing in me changing my oil much less often then I do in my Silverado which will have black oderous oil by 4,000 miles. I was just at the store today to put another 2 quarts in my trunk for the months to come. I stopped checking when I change my oil in this car and now just do it when either my oil looks darker than I like or about six months which varies from 5,500 to 8,000 miles on an oil change. I do however, out of curiousity, check my oil percentage meter every once in a while and I have never went past 40%, but some on this board do take it to near 0%. Last notable mention outside of the common issues our Caddy's have, yours like mine has issues with the Cat's getting clogged up with build up and they are not cheap so the above posted WOT is almost a requirment to give more life to your Cat. These accelerations heat the cores up to break up the crap that builds on them. I don't know everything that changed in 2002 models on but head bolts and Cat changes were some, and I could be wrong so do some of your own research. Hope this helps Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyG Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 was just at the store today to put another 2 quarts in my trunk for the months to come. I stopped checking when I change my oil in this car and now just do it when either my oil looks darker than I like or about six months which varies from 5,500 to 8,000 miles on an oil change. I do however, out of curiousity, check my oil percentage meter every once in a while and I have never went past 40%, but some on this board do take it to near 0%. You should stop wasting your money. The color of the oil has absolutely nothing to do with its effectiveness in preventing wear, it's perfectly fine even if its black. In fact it is designed to do exactly that, suspend unburned fuel and carbon deposits in the oil so they can be filtered out. This is why they have detergents in them. Learn to trust the GMOLM (oil life monitor). Unlike simple timers, this computer considers many factors, WITH A HEALTHY CUSHION, to ensure trouble free, economical and ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY engine service. However, if this type of maintenance program makes you feel better, then continue it by all means. To the gentleman with the oil usage issue. Make sure you are not overfilling the crankcase when you add oil. The engine will give perfectly satisfactory performance with the oil level at the ADD mark when checked HOT. Overfilling starts a circle of events which increases oil consumption over time. You must break this cycle by checking your oil HOT, not overfilling, and by following the WOT procedure. Remember too that the oil level light will not come on as you are driving. It is a one time check prior to reaching operating temp upon startup. Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimHancock Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 Just purchased 2001 Deville with Northstar engine. It is using one quart of oil every thousand miles! This could drive me nuts in terms of checking the oil level. Is this normal? I'm very disappointed and would like to return it to the dealer. It was a one owner car and very well maintained, 70,500 miles. Help! We had the same problem - one quart every 800-1100 miles. It started when we bought it at 72k miles and finally, at 146k miles, we realized what the problem was: the catalytic converter was stopping up. After $189, our oil usage dropped to one quart every 1800 miles, the car has more power, our gas mileage increased by 9MPG AND we did not have anymore "soot" on the rear bumper between car washes! Hope this helps... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodybyFisher Posted June 18, 2009 Report Share Posted June 18, 2009 This is an interesting thought. For over 70K miles you had a bad cat?, and it did not negatively impact engine performance enough for it to be serious? It is true that there was a high percent of bad cats in the 01/02 time period. I am not sure how a bad cat however could cause excessive oil consumption. The exhaust system from the cat forward would have an increase in pressure and heat, but not great enough to kill the engine's performance Maybe the increase in heat, overheated the oil and thinned it out? This does not relate to the Northstar, but here is an interesting experience http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0da999/220 Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1 >> 1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/ Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coolnesss Posted June 19, 2009 Report Share Posted June 19, 2009 Hmmmm - I have a 2002 Eldorado - and it had a bad oxygen sensor for a coupla thousand miles. It was replaced. But now, I have knocking under mild load - I wonder if that can be a bad CAT? The car has 30k miles on it. Any opinions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.