Oil goes poof

[adamastone78]

So, I have a 20/20 equinox. All of a sudden, in the past 3,000 miles, I burned 1 quart of oil. No leaks anywhere. Suggestions, comments or ideas?

 

[PoManNox]

Which engine? How many miles on it? Maintenance history?

 

[adamastone78]

1.5L turbo. 74k miles. All suggested maintenance has been done on time, including spark plugs

 

[PoManNox]

Have you owned it since new? If you follow the oil life monitor or go to 5K miles or beyond between oil changes, they unfortunately don't do well and will form sludge on component like the cam phaser solenoids, etc. Sludge buildup can cause the vacuum pump to fail catastrophically and break the exhaust camshaft as well.

If you have done your oil changes every ~4K miles without fail, then you've done well.

If not, you may consider doing so with an oil like Valvoline's restore and protect or Mobil-1 Advanced Clean from here on out. You can have shops do a professional "cleaning" with kits from BG, etc. It's pricey, but could help.

 

[NXR71]

If not, you may consider doing so with an oil like Valvoline's restore and protect or Mobil-1 Advanced Clean from here on out.

Although some people do not care about Dexos certifications, which can prevent LSPI (low speed pre-ignition) with turbo GDI (gasoline direct injection) engines I do. I'd check the GM database first: https://www.gmdexos.com/brands/dexos1_3/index.html

None of the Valvoline Clean and Restore oils seem to be and it's been blamed for causing engine problems on GDI engines by some people (because, you know, some people have to blame anything but their own choices).

Two Mobil Advanced Clean oils do have Dexos certification: 0W20 and 5W30.

 

[Daniel B]

In my 2012 Silverado I noticed a significant loss of engine oil between oil changes. No apparent leaks, no blue smoke under hard acceleration. The cause, leaking oil cooler lines, a known issue leading to sudden engine failure, but not a safety recall.

 

[Chevy Ecotec]

Have you owned it since new? If you follow the oil life monitor or go to 5K miles or beyond between oil changes, they unfortunately don't do well and will form sludge on component like the cam phaser solenoids, etc. Sludge buildup can cause the vacuum pump to fail catastrophically and break the exhaust camshaft as well.

If you have done your oil changes every ~4K miles without fail, then you've done well.

If not, you may consider doing so with an oil like Valvoline's restore and protect or Mobil-1 Advanced Clean from here on out. You can have shops do a professional "cleaning" with kits from BG, etc. It's pricey, but could help.

I second this.

Here's what it can look like when the vacuum pump fails:



If it gets to this point, they will say you need a new engine. When this pump seized, the cam continued to spin, causing the shaft housing to break apart, leaving a lot of metal inside the engine. I was unable to recover all of the metal.