Being slightly low on oil within a "normal oil" change (3000 miles or 3 months with dino) is not too uncommon at all. Even if a vehicle doesn't necessarily "burn" oil or physically leak it, it will still consume some over a period of time. Several quarts low in an entire year doesn't really surprise me... I would recommend physically checking it a little more often



I purchase my truck this summer with 67k miles, completely unsure of what the original owner used for oil (claimed the dealer "put what was supposed to go in it"). Naturally, as soon as I brought it home I gave it an oil change... with Mobile1. This is my first time using a full synthetic.
I too have also have noticed my oil "disappearing". Just like you, its not leaking it or burning it, but when I checked it at about 3-4k miles it was already a quart low. What gives? Is synthetic not what its cracked up to be?




At any rate, I will surely be checking my oil consistently at every other gas up. Man, I bet the Hemi tick was really singing some tunes in your truck... jeesh

 

I'm not sure when it became "the thing to do" to do an oil change every 3k miles, especially with synthetic oil. I know the quickie lube types of places will put a sticker in your vehicle to get it done again in 3k miles but I've never done any vehicle I've owned that often and have never had an owner's manual say it needs to be done that often except for maybe when driving in extreme conditions. With conventional oil, I usually shoot for 5k miles or every 6 months, whichever comes first. But I've been told synthetic should extend that range to 7500 miles or more. I change my own oil in my truck but my wife's Jeep is a bitch to change so I get a shop to do it. I also had them switch her's to synthetic at the last change and even they put 7500 on the reminder sticker that they put in the window that normally says 3000 when they use conventional oil. Since Feb of last year, I put about 8k on mine but, to be honest, even though I knew it had been longer than 6 months, I was surprised to see that it had been a year already since I last changed it. I had to drop everything and make a 1300 mile round trip a couple of weeks ago to attend my grandmother's funeral, so those were miles I wasn't expecting to pile on and pile on so quick before getting an oil change.

Anyway, I'll check it often, top it off when necessary, and keep an eye out for leaks and/or any signs of burning. But my truck stays parked in the same exact spot 98% of the time, so I should have seen something by now if there was a leak. And I know the smell of burning oil and I've never noticed even the slightest scent of it when driving or when the truck has been sitting and idling.

 

I know man but those are the only two places it can go unless someone plays a joke on you and siphons some out or drains some

 

i'm not super familiar with these mopar motors but i imagine there is some kind of crank case ventilation system. if you getting excessive blow-by and/or your pcv valve or something similar in the crank case evac system isn't functioning properly you could be pushing the oil through the CCVS and into you TB or intake depending on how the system is set up.

also every engine burns some amount of oil, and a year is a LONG time to run a motor without changing the oil so it may jut be slightly higher than normal consumption over an extended period of time.

 

I'll just have to keep a closer eye and change it by time instead of by mileage like I used to do. I'm just not used to that much time going by before I hit the mileage limit. It's just strange to me because, as Weed said, there are really only 2 ways to lose oil short of someone removing it without my knowledge - leaking or burning and I've had no signs of either. Truck does and always has run well and the only parts that have ever failed on me was the pcv valve (threw a CEL so I changed it a couple years ago) and the wiper washer pump. I could see a certain loss of oil over a year but just can't see how half could disappear over that time and it really bothers me that nothing sensed that it was that low. I guess it's good that it's still running though. It's paid for me, still looks good, and gets me where I need to go, so I'm happy for now.

 

I still live by my Daddy's rule...'3K or 6 months, whichever comes first because grease and oil is cheap but those metal parts will cost a lot to replace'.

I did an oil & filter change in my RT last week with less than 1K on the oil but it had been 6 months since the last change. Some people say I'm crazy for draining out perfectly good oil but I've never had an engine to fail due to sludge or mechanical failure. Guess Daddy was right!

 

LOL.....My dad taught me the same way bro. And I do it the same way still.

 

I taught myself to go by the owner's manual and have never had a failure either. Certainly can't go wrong every 3k miles except, in my opinion, it's probably too soon. But better too soon than too late. Until recently, I never even had to count the months because I'd hit the miles, especially with conventional oil, well before too much time had gone by. So, I'm in uncharted territory but happy to be there. Just glad I didn't have a catastrophic failure but learned a lesson at the same time and will start checking my oil much more often and will start counting months as well as miles.

 

Yeah, I'm not too sure how much difference the time thing matters either, unless you are doing a lot of short 2- 3 mile runs, and not burning off the condensation. A lot of vehicles sit on the dealership lot for up to a year and they are not changing oil, even with the, who knows how many, test drives. I'm just saying.

 

I switched to synthic at 80k in my truck first 3 oil changes truck wold use a qt. I change every 5k (winter time) 3k in summer because I tow alot