Engine oil not leaking but decreasing

[villageidiotY2K]

Hi folks, I changed engine oil for my nissan almera turbo last october but low engine oil message shows up on the dashboard and after checking the dip stick it’s on the low.

Anyone know what’s causing this?

it’s not leaking from the oil pan.

It’s been around 4 months and I’ve driven only like 2000km.

 

engine oil brand is pt 20 (pt gas station brand) , I think lower viscosity compared to sae 40 used for my pick up

 

is it due to the cold weather?

[Moonlover]

What is the age and the milage of the vehicle?

 

Is the exhaust smoky?

[OneMoreFarang]

There are a couple of reasons why you might lose oil.

And as far as I know different cars have different typical reasons, especially for that car, why they lose oil.

For that reason, I suggest you find a specialist for your car.

If you want to invest more of your time then maybe look for an online forum for especially your car (not just cars in general) and look what you can find.

 

It's easy for mechanics to point out that you have to do this or that repair. And maybe after you did it, the problem is still there. Be careful how you spend your money on that one.

[novacova]

29 minutes ago, villageidiotY2K said:

Anyone know what’s causing this?

it’s not leaking from the oil pan.

Most commonly is the piston oil rings are worn or sticking by gunk.

[novacova]

Sticking oil rings usually can be easily fixed by removing the spark plugs and pouring a couple few ounces of solvent such as carb cleaner or something like Sea Foam in the cylinders and leave it for a eight hours or so, then place a rag over the plug ports and then turn the engine to flush the solvent, repeat if necessary and change the engine oil before running the engine.

[steve187]

oil should be 0w20, if its going down, then it is going somewhere, if no visible signs then its being burnt in the engine, or going in the coolant

[blaze master]

6 minutes ago, steve187 said:

oil should be 0w20, if its going down, then it is going somewhere, if no visible signs then its being burnt in the engine, or going in the coolant

 

This. Oil is more than likely leaking into the engine.

[DaRoadrunner]

Could be head gasket leak. Open the radiator reservoir cap. View the light reflected in the coolant. Is there a rainbow coloured oil slick floating on top of the water?

 

Remove oil filler cap and oil dipstick. Any signs of a creamy emulsion?

 

Look for smoke and steam coming out of the exhaust.

 

Run an engine compression test.

 

I don't know about PT 20 oil but a turbo runs at high temperatures, ordinary oil breaks down and fails to protect the engine. Turbo engines need synthetic oil which can maintain its molecular structure under heat and load. Shell synthetic is a good choice.

[HighPriority]

If you also changed the oil filter, you may have had air in the filter which after running the engine will result in the oil level dropping initially but stabilizing.

Is the level continuing to fall or is it stable ?

If it’s stable just top it up and off you go. 

[3NUMBAS]

Change the copper gasket at the drain plug every year

[villageidiotY2K]

Car is 4 years old bought as brand new.

25k mileage and there’s no smoky exhaust.

no milky emulsion in the radiator or stuck at oil dip stick.

As I googled maybe it’s burning in the engine and need to change the pcv valve?

 

I had the oil changed on October at a new store that just opened back then called autobacs. Mechanics looked like kids and not even wearing the stores uniform

 

and things like nova suggested I ain’t a mechanic and I can’t even jack up the car. So yeah 

 

just out of curiosity, should u get the car towed if the oil is in the radiator?

[Gobbler]

7 hours ago, villageidiotY2K said:

is it due to the cold weather?

Did you take it to Japan?

[ardsong]

for lubrication oil you better stay with the renowned names of the common brands, Shell, Esso etc. PT is a trading firm with stations to sell fuels and apparently also oils. I would never use PT lub oil , as you donot know where they bought the stuff nor do you know the quality of the lub oil. You engine is to precious to damage it with a low quality lub oil. For fuel PT is fine, as the fuels have to comply with a certain quality standard, for lub oils?

[GmailJen]

I would first check the colour of the engine oil - if any signs of being milky likely to be head gasket .  If you have an auto gearbox like the Toyota Vigo ( big box)  then could be seal leak from engine to gearbox  ( I had this issue -  solution - gearbox out and renew seal )

[wombat]

20 hours ago, novacova said:

Most commonly is the piston oil rings are worn or sticking by gunk.

a tin of Slick-50 or equivalent with Teflon in it would work magic

maybe check to see if its the correct dip stick, (trust me, stranger things have happened)

[digger70]

Engine oil not leaking but decreasing

 

If No Leaks than the Engine is Using the Oil  (Burning )

Causes   Bypassing the Rings and getting Sucked up and burning or Valve stem Seals Leaking and getting sucked Down and burning.

Getting the Proper Oil for that Engine May Help , If not it will Cost you to Repair  Engine.

[MangoKorat]

According to some manufacturers, engines can use up to 1L  in 1000 miles.  However, that would alarm me and I've never seen it in practice in a healthy engine (ex mechanic). The first thing I would do is top it up on level ground and see how it goes over the next 2000km.

 

With 25,000km on the clock your car is unlikely to be burning oil - by the way if it was using 1L per 1000 miles as some manufacturers suggest, you would be unlikley to see smoke from the exhaust. Its not impossible to have a major fault but highly unlikely. As you say, you don't even know how to jack the car up so not being rude but it is entirely possible that you did something wrong when you changed the oil.

 

Did you have the car on level ground?

 

Did you check the level after filling it and before you started the engine? If so, it would have dropped considerably as the oil ciruclated through the engine and filled the filter.

 

As I say, get it in to level ground, top the oil up and check it again in 2000km. When you top it up, wait 5 minutes before checking, when the level appears correct, run the engine for a minute, wait 5 minutes and check again.

[HighPriority]

58 minutes ago, MangoKorat said:

According to some manufacturers, engines can use up to 1L  in 1000 miles.  However, that would alarm me and I've never seen it in practice in a healthy engine (ex mechanic). The first thing I would do is top it up on level ground and see how it goes over the next 2000km.

 

With 25,000km on the clock your car is unlikely to be burning oil - by the way if it was using 1L per 1000 miles as some manufacturers suggest, you would be unlikley to see smoke from the exhaust. Its not impossible to have a major fault but highly unlikely. As you say, you don't even know how to jack the car up so not being rude but it is entirely possible that you did something wrong when you changed the oil.

 

Did you have the car on level ground?

 

Did you check the level after filling it and before you started the engine? If so, it would have dropped considerably as the oil ciruclated through the engine and filled the filter.

 

As I say, get it in to level ground, top the oil up and check it again in 2000km. When you top it up, wait 5 minutes before checking, when the level appears correct, run the engine for a minute, wait 5 minutes and check again.

Thats what I was trying to say but apparently no one else could understand me 🤷🏼‍♂️

[RocketDog]

21 hours ago, steve187 said:

oil should be 0w20, if its going down, then it is going somewhere, if no visible signs then its being burnt in the engine, or going in the coolant

Thank you for stating the obvious, which hasn't been obvious in the reply posts before yours.

 

1. If the piston rings leak the oil is burned, exhaust is dirty.

 

2. If it goes into the antifreeze ports through the head gasket, then it will eventually show up in radiator overflow bottle.

 

3. If it's not burned or in the antifreeze then it leaked.

 

4. It's leaking around the valve cover gasket and must eventually run down over the engine and hit the ground.

Put some cardboard under the car when it's parked and even run the engine for a few minutes. If it leaks you will know it.

 

There are no other possibilities except magic.

[villageidiotY2K]

Thanks for your replies.

if it’s actually leaked into to the antifreeze should I not even drive the car?

As i assume inexperienced so called mechanic at autobacs and the pt engine oil may have caused this.

I’m gonna take it to the nissan dealer to sort this <deleted> out no more autobacs and  pt oil for meh 

 

[quake]

Op, a silly question.

Did you check the oil level after they said they changed it. ?

[Yellowtail]

4 minutes ago, quake said:

Op, a silly question.

Did you check the oil level after they said they changed it. ?

This is a great question. 

 

Top it off with the correct oil, and check it every 500km and see if it goes down. 

 

And make sure you check it when the car is pretty level, and the oil has had time to run down. 

[Mattd]

16 hours ago, villageidiotY2K said:

Car is 4 years old bought as brand new.

25k mileage and there’s no smoky exhaust.

no milky emulsion in the radiator or stuck at oil dip stick.

As I googled maybe it’s burning in the engine and need to change the pcv valve? If there is no blue smoke from the exhaust it is unlikely the engine is burning the oil, apart from rings (which would also cause a significant loss of performance due to low compression), leaking valve seals or worn main / big end bearings can cause oil loss, if it was the bearings you would know it as it would sound like a bag of nails!! Valve seal leak would cause blue smoke from the exhaust.

 

I had the oil changed on October at a new store that just opened back then called autobacs. Mechanics looked like kids and not even wearing the stores uniform Are you sure they actually put the correct quantity of oil in?

 

and things like nova suggested I ain’t a mechanic and I can’t even jack up the car. So yeah 

 

just out of curiosity, should u get the car towed if the oil is in the radiator? You state above that there is no milky emulsion in the cooling radiator (have you checked the radiator itself, not just the expansion tank?) so it is unlikely to be a head gasket, what does the oil filler cap and cam cover look like on the inside? If it is the head gasket there would more than likely be a lot of whitish smoke from the exhaust and the car would overheat, I'd definitely not drive a car with a failed head gasket.

 

[MangoKorat]

On 2/10/2025 at 8:47 AM, villageidiotY2K said:

Thanks for your replies.

if it’s actually leaked into to the antifreeze should I not even drive the car?

At 25,000km, I would very much doubt that's your problem but if you have oil in your coolant. You should get it repaired immediately.

[MangoKorat]

Just read your original post properly and see that you didn't actually change the oil yourself.

 

Nevertheless, don't panic for now.  Top it up as I said in my other post and check it again in 2000km. Most likely you'll be fine but do check if there's any oil, white scum or other discolouration in your coolant tank - doubtfull but not impossible.

 

A question comes to mind - how often do you check your oil?  Has it ever shown signs of excessive oil comsumption before or is it only since you had the oil changed?