Consuming Oil!?!

[Tyglesias]

My 2020 RAM 1500 has been having issues since I got it 1 year ago. Last winter from a cold start I would intermittently get a very rough idle (seemed to be missing), engine light came on, brought it in and they fixed a vacuum leak. Issue continued intermittently until weather got warm. Just happened again last week, engine light came on, brought it in, it had a multiple misfire code. They checked plugs and coils, everything was fine. Found out it was 4 qts low on oil! Oil starvation was causing the misfires. I asked where is the truck burning or consuming oil since no leaks were evident. They told me since I was 3K miles overdue on oil change (full synthetic, still 15% oil life left according to my truck) the truck used 4 qts. Sounds like total bs to me. So I brought it home and am waiting for the problem to start again, and will be checking the oil. 4 qts is a lot of oil to just "disappear". Any ideas? Or similar issues? I don't think there is any way a new engine with 13K miles should consume that much oil because it was "overdue" for an oil change.

 

[Richard320]

Who changed the oil last? They may have underfilled it. And since it sounds like you never check the oil level, you'd have no way of knowing you started off low.

 

[Choate]

I don’t see how low oil would cause a misfire

 

[Richard320]

I don’t see how low oil would cause a misfire

Oil pressure is what works the MDS and the VVT. If they engage, and the spark timing and fuel are modified, then they fall out all the sudden, or erratically, you get a misfire. This is part of the reason we have a 7 qt oil pan and not the 5 qt that used to be standard on V8s.

 

[Tyglesias]

Same dealership changed the oil. Now that I suspect (know) something is wrong with it, I will be checking the oil. As soon as the level goes down, which I know will happen, I'm bringing it back.

 

[Tyglesias]

Oil pressure is what works the MDS and the VVT. If they engage, and the spark timing and fuel are modified, then they fall out all the sudden, or erratically, you get a misfire. This is part of the reason we have a 7 qt oil pan and not the 5 qt that used to be standard on V8s.

Would losing 4 qts cause the oil pressure to drop?

 

[MarvsAMartian]

My 2020 had a similar issue but thankfully didn't throw any codes/check engine lights, and definitely not that much oil! No visible leaks and no obvious reason for it to just burn oil. Check your coolant. Mine was low as well. Not empty, but damn near it.

 

[Richard320]

Would losing 4 qts cause the oil pressure to drop?

Sure. Go around a corner and the oil pump will start sucking air.

 

[SD Rebel]

I don't think these engines are known to consume a lot of oil, I do an annual oil change at about 5,000 miles and I don't see any noticeably oil loss on my truck. These trucks take exactly 7 quarts from a long drain and filter change, there is no way you are losing that much oil without any visible smoke or very obvious leaks.

I suspect that they screwed up your last oil change and under filled it. Since our engines don't have a low oil light, it's probably easy to miss if the tech was distracted during your oil change or the oil metering system they use to fill the crankcase wasn't working right.

As mentioned, check your oil level immediately after an oil change, or even better, do it yourself. This is why I don't let the dealership do an oil change on my truck, the bottom wrung tech working on your truck could care less about it and can make many mistakes that will only hurt you in the long run.

I highly recommend you take note of this whole thing with the dealership, I would be talking with the service advisor about potential damage that could have been done with my engine and how they were going to make it right, like an extended warranty beyond the 5yr/60k. You should also consider sending off a sample of the oil on the next oil change to Blackstone Labs to see how your engine is doing.

Honestly, hearing stories like this really pisses me off.

 

[Tyglesias]

Sure. Go around a corner and the oil pump will start sucking air.

But this only happens on a cold start

 

[Richard320]

But this only happens on a cold start

I musta missed that.

Well, then, I'm stumped.

 

[Choate]

My 2013 Silverado 5.3 guzzled the oil. It was bad. Put a tune on it that disabled the MDS (can’t remember what Chevy calls it) and it slowed it way down but I haven’t heard of these oil consumption issues with Ram thankfully

 

[cevans6318]

My 2020 RAM 1500 has been having issues since I got it 1 year ago. Last winter from a cold start I would intermittently get a very rough idle (seemed to be missing), engine light came on, brought it in and they fixed a vacuum leak. Issue continued intermittently until weather got warm. Just happened again last week, engine light came on, brought it in, it had a multiple misfire code. They checked plugs and coils, everything was fine. Found out it was 4 qts low on oil! Oil starvation was causing the misfires. I asked where is the truck burning or consuming oil since no leaks were evident. They told me since I was 3K miles overdue on oil change (full synthetic, still 15% oil life left according to my truck) the truck used 4 qts. Sounds like total bs to me. So I brought it home and am waiting for the problem to start again, and will be checking the oil. 4 qts is a lot of oil to just "disappear". Any ideas? Or similar issues? I don't think there is any way a new engine with 13K miles should consume that much oil because it was "overdue" for an oil change.

as someone else said, since you don't check your oil level, you really have no way to know how full it actually was after it was serviced. I work with techs that put the recommended amount of oil in for that car and then they ship it without checking the level. Its possible whoever did your oil change didn't fill it to the correct level. If the oil level was at the bottom of the dipstick, 3-4 quarts may bring it back up. Every engine is different though. But I would of assumed you would of received a warning on the cluster if you were that low. Before you jump the gun on thinking you have an engine issue. correct the level on the dipstick and drive it. check the level again in 1000 miles. and don't ever think just cause your engine has 13k miles that it won't have an issue. I have seen transmission fail at 100 miles in car. I have seen spun bearings on engines with less then 10 miles. A score on a cylinder wall that developed from a abnormality in the piston surface will cause your engine to burn oil. some engines last 200k miles, some don't last 10 miles.

 

[cevans6318]

Sure. Go around a corner and the oil pump will start sucking air.

your engine would have to be damn near empty for your oil pickup to suck air. most oil pumps have the pickup at the bottom of the oil pan. if you are that low on oil, you will get notified in the cluster that your oil is too low.

 

[SD Rebel]

your engine would have to be damn near empty for your oil pickup to suck air. most oil pumps have the pickup at the bottom of the oil pan. if you are that low on oil, you will get notified in the cluster that your oil is too low.

I was under the impression our trucks don't have a low oil level light. You would probably get a low oil pressure warning if you had so little oil. But not a low oil level like most other vehicles have.

 

[cevans6318]

I was under the impression our trucks don't have a low oil level light. You would probably get a low oil pressure warning if you had so little oil. But not a low oil level like most other vehicles have.

I don't know the setup that these engines have. I work on Mercedes and the cars only have oil level switches. if the level is too low, you will get a warning. If you lose oil pressure, you won't ever know until your engine locks up. I would assume dodge would have oil level switches.

 

[SD Rebel]

I don't know the setup that these engines have. I work on Mercedes and the cars only have oil level switches. if the level is too low, you will get a warning. If you lose oil pressure, you won't ever know until your engine locks up. I would assume dodge would have oil level switches.

I wish, all my previous vehicles had this feature, but not on the Hemi RAM for some reason. Here is the section in the manual....

 

[cevans6318]

These trucks take exactly 7 quarts from a long drain and filter change, there is no way you are losing that much oil without any visible smoke or very obvious leaks.

Having that thought process is why people underfill engines. Just cause the manual says it takes 7 quarts does NOT mean it will only take 7 quarts. you drain the engine when its cold vs when its hot, adding 7 quarts when its cold may fill the engine to the correct level, but adding 7 quarts to the engine that was drained hot, may not even register on the dipstick. This is why most vehicles tell you to drain the oil when the engine is hot, so you drain most of the oil. If the vehicle calls for 7 quarts and the tech who did his oil change drained the engine when it was hot and only filled it back with 7 quarts and never checked the level, could very well have been 2-3 quarts low when the engine was cold. also filling the engine back up thats hot, you need to take into consideration expansion. when i refill an engine thats hot, I will fill the level about max spec on the dipstick so when the engine cools down, it will be at the correct level.

 

[SD Rebel]

Having that thought process is why people underfill engines. Just cause the manual says it takes 7 quarts does NOT mean it will only take 7 quarts. you drain the engine when its cold vs when its hot, adding 7 quarts when its cold may fill the engine to the correct level, but adding 7 quarts to the engine that was drained hot, may not even register on the dipstick. This is why most vehicles tell you to drain the oil when the engine is hot, so you drain most of the oil. If the vehicle calls for 7 quarts and the tech who did his oil change drained the engine when it was hot and only filled it back with 7 quarts and never checked the level, could very well have been 2-3 quarts low when the engine was cold.

No way. How can you possible underfill your engine if it has a full capacity of 7 quarts?

I can understand overfilling, because you didn't do a proper drain. But if you put in exactly 7 quarts, there is ZERO chance you can underfill this engine.

Overfilling is an actual concern. If you drain while cold, you can easily leave too much oil in the engine since it didn't drain properly, so when you put in 7 quarts it will be overfilled. Dealerships do this all the time, especially if they only run the engine for a couple of minutes, it won't show correctly on the dipstick and look low. Then they overfill.

But no, you cannot underfill this engine or any engine, regardless of hot or cold, if you put in the full capacity as per the manual. There is no way to hide or loose 2-3 quarts of oil because of temperature. It actually goes the other way, and overfilling is the concern. The most common error by oil change places is 1/4 to 1/2 overfilled.

 

[cevans6318]

I wish, all my previous vehicles had this feature, but not on the Hemi RAM for some reason. Here is the section in the manual....

View attachment 113280

I don't understand why manufactures can't add both. would be nice to know if my level is low but also would be nice to know if I lose oil pressure.