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Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 8:08 am
by john1957
My wife's car now sits in garage waiting for new engine after 48000 kilometres.
First service done 20000. Now I've found out service key not reset in fact turned off. Oil light indicator does not show when ignition turned on. Nissan are blaming my wife for not physically Checking oil on dip stick.
What lady gets under bonnet to check fluid levels?

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 9:56 am
by MikeGC
Sorry for your misfortune but I educated my daughter to check oil (and coolant and tyre pressures) at appropriate intervals when she started taking driving lessons and she still does those checks 14 years later

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 1:32 pm
by gvmdaddy
Totally agree with MikeGC. Totally the drivers responsibility to check oil level. Never take the word of a dealership salesperson, always familiarise yourself with your own vehicle and it’s owners manual.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 1:57 pm
by gloucester
My 1990 Citroën XM had a very convenient oil level gauge on the dashboard which activated every time it was started and was infallibly accurate. That was 28 years ago.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 05, 2018 9:40 pm
by Deleted User 3871
I had Citron CX that did a similar thing in 1990. The temperature gauge was the oil level gauge for a moment when the ignition was turned on. Were going backwards with Nissan and a lot of other car makes, Mini are just as bad.
gloucester wrote: Sat May 05, 2018 1:57 pm My 1990 Citroën XM had a very convenient oil level gauge on the dashboard which activated every time it was started and was infallibly accurate. That was 28 years ago.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Fri May 18, 2018 8:41 am
by chrisw99
For anyone who tops up their 1.2s on a regular basis, I've discovered this oil to be really good, and only £7 a litre on Amazon...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

Much cheaper than the £15 or so in supermarkets. 5W40 ACEA A3/B4 exactly as specified in the manual.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Fri May 18, 2018 12:30 pm
by m112
I'm still doing 3k test, but may give it a shot in the future.

How much yours is losing for 3k?

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Fri May 18, 2018 1:12 pm
by chrisw99
I've not really kept track of it because it never lost a drop until the 3rd service, so I'm of the theory that they may have used 5W30 instead of 5W40. Thinner oil, easier to seep past seals etc.

All I know in October 2017 at the 3rd service they filled it about 4mm past the max mark. I check it monthly and it didn't change much, until in March this year it was about a third below the max. It took me a full litre to get it back up to just above the max. Checked it a couple of days ago and it's getting down to a quarter below.

I'll keep a closer eye on it from now. A lot of people say it's 1 litre between the min and max marks, but if that is the case why did it take me one litre to get it back to the max.

I also notice the user manual says : It is normal to add some engine oil between oil maintenance intervals depending on the severity of operating conditions or depending on the property of the engine oil used. Which is interesting because the sudden onset of it seeming to use more oil has coincided with a change of circumstance which means I'm doing lots and lots of little short trips and sitting in traffic more.

I also need to change my mindset - I'm one of these who likes to keep it at the max mark at all times, but anywhere between min/max is considered "normal" according to the manual, and knowing that overfilling can cause even more problems it may be safer in the long run to keep it in the middle of the acceptable range rather than instantly top up.

EDIT: I just googled and found this...

A modern typical 4 cylinder engine may have the following volumes:
Absolute minimum: 1L
Dipstick Min: 2L
Dipstick Max: 4L
Over-fill: 4.5L

Immediately after or during running a significant amount of oil can be ‘hung up’ in the engine and the level will appear lower than if it has been sat for a little while, take heed of the manufacturers recommendations as failure to do so can result in over/under filling.
If you are operating anywhere between min and max on the dipstick you are good and there is likely to be very little difference in performance or anything else. Be very wary of operating outside of these boundaries as you have no idea what kind of safety margins you have (if any).


Which is interesting. 2 litres between min and max fits in much more with my experience of having to add more than I expected. And also reinforces my new outlook of keeping it in the upper half rather than actually at max.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 9:30 pm
by chrisw99
After reading what I put in my last post... "immediately after or during running a significant amount of oil can be ‘hung up’ in the engine and the level will appear lower than if it has been sat for a little while", I did a test.

I normally check it about 2 hrs after I get home from work, and I did this again last night and it was about 5-6mm below the max mark.

But I then checked again today after it had been sat a full 24 hours, and it was only 2mm below the max mark.

So it looks like at lot of oil does get "hung up" and takes a very long time to settle in this engine.

Re: 1.2 DIG-T - Oil loss

Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 10:30 pm
by gvmdaddy
chrisw99 wrote: Sat May 19, 2018 9:30 pm After reading what I put in my last post... "immediately after or during running a significant amount of oil can be ‘hung up’ in the engine and the level will appear lower than if it has been sat for a little while", I did a test.

I normally check it about 2 hrs after I get home from work, and I did this again last night and it was about 5-6mm below the max mark.

But I then checked again today after it had been sat a full 24 hours, and it was only 2mm below the max mark.

So it looks like at lot of oil does get "hung up" and takes a very long time to settle in this engine.
An hour or two is sufficient for all of the oil to make its way to its lowest level.