Community Forums

FLYING BUTCH · 11-24-2014, 05:31 PM

07 c15 cat. 50,000 miles. Is it normal to use 7 quarts of oil in 6000 miles? Seems excessive to me. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Safe travels all

AFChap · 11-24-2014, 05:35 PM

Absolutely not normal regardless of what engine you have.

palehorse89 · 11-24-2014, 05:37 PM

Sounds excessive to me......Do you use/do a oil testing?? Any oil anywhere? or is the engine just using it? Is your dipstick right with regards to oil in the engine? Over-filled/under-filled? ...Just asking questions.....

**pasdad1** · 11-24-2014, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLYING BUTCH

07 c15 cat. 50,000 miles. Is it normal to use 7 quarts of oil in 6000 miles? Seems excessive to me. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Safe travels all

I have heard of this happening when the crankcase is overfilled. There are discussions here on IRV2 about recalibrating the dipstick.....the dipstick is installed by the coach builder,NOT the engine builder, and is sometimes not calibrated correctly.

Rook · 11-24-2014, 06:16 PM

That much oil usage would be "visible" somewhere....either engine smoking from the exhaust or a leak somewhere, or being blown out of the "slobber tube". Do you have any of these? Rook

Papa_Jim · 11-24-2014, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLYING BUTCH

07 c15 cat. 50,000 miles. Is it normal to use 7 quarts of oil in 6000 miles? Seems excessive to me. Thanks in advance for any opinions.

Safe travels all

It is not normal to consume this amount of oil, although it is possible. Because it is a diesel engine, oil consumption much higher than this can occur with no apparent smoke or other symptoms.

Is this engine new to you? Or not new to you and it is suddenly using oil?

It could be the turbo-charger.
It could be a plugged crankcase ventilation system.
It could be damaged rings and/or cylinders

Jim

bigdog · 11-24-2014, 11:11 PM

I am having a serious blow by problem,but have had very little oil usage. I have used probably 2 qts in 4K miles. I have gone from blackish smoke on startup after sitting several days to a gray smoke and the blowby just showed up after a three week 5K trip at a reststop just before we got home. I'm still thinking that I have too much in the crankcase even though the dip stick shows good. I'm going to let it drop another qt and see what happens to the blow-by.

Mr_D · 11-24-2014, 11:16 PM

On our ISC the engine always uses oil till it gets midway between the full and add mark. If I fill it to that point I don't burn or throw any out.

FLYING BUTCH · 11-25-2014, 05:24 AM

Coach is new to me. It does not smoke and I do not see anyplace that it is leaking. I had the oil changed 7000 miles ago. Had a c-12 and it used about half what this one does. ????

**pasdad1** · 11-25-2014, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLYING BUTCH

Coach is new to me. It does not smoke and I do not see anyplace that it is leaking. I had the oil changed 7000 miles ago. Had a c-12 and it used about half what this one does. ????

Call Caterpillar give them the serial number of your engine and find out how many quarts of oil it is supposed to take. Very possible the oil change place you just took it to overfilled by 7 quarts, and the engine purged itself of the excess. If the oil level is now correct, you should see very little oil consumption from this point on. You can also make a bottle to catch oil that comes out of the slobber tube......IRV2 members have had discussions with photos on how to make one.

gatorcq · 11-27-2014, 07:06 PM

First ID which sump you have 19 or 22 Qts. The you can calibrate the Dip Stick

1) drain all oil
2) remove filter
3) install dry filter
4) add oil minus 2 qts
5) Mark Dip stick this is the full mark
6) run engine for a few minutes
7) Let sit for 5 minutes (oil drains into sump)
8) mark dip stick this is the Add oil mark.
9) add the 2 remaining qts.
10) you're done.

By the way, don't add oil until you reach the Add Oil mark

palehorse89 · 11-27-2014, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatorcq

First ID which sump you have 19 or 22 Qts. The you can calibrate the Dip Stick

1) drain all oil
2) remove filter
3) install dry filter
4) add oil minus 2 qts
5) Mark Dip stick this is the full mark
6) run engine for a few minutes
7) Let sit for 5 minutes (oil drains into sump)
8) mark dip stick this is the Add oil mark.
9) add the 2 remaining qts.
10) you're done.

By the way, don't add oil until you reach the Add Oil mark

I would use caution with #3 and advise against it..........

FLYING BUTCH · 11-28-2014, 06:03 AM

Thanks everyone for all the info. I'll start over to make sure what is going on.

Safe travels everyone and thanks for all your replys

Steve Ownby · 11-28-2014, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigdog

I am having a serious blow by problem,but have had very little oil usage. I have used probably 2 qts in 4K miles. I have gone from blackish smoke on startup after sitting several days to a gray smoke and the blowby just showed up after a three week 5K trip at a reststop just before we got home. I'm still thinking that I have too much in the crankcase even though the dip stick shows good. I'm going to let it drop another qt and see what happens to the blow-by.

What are the symptoms of excessive blow by? Are you seeing smoke out of the road draft tube or active oil dripping? You might hang a catch bottle on the bottom of the vent tube and see how much oil is present. If you truly have excessive blow by, that's a major symptom of a dusted engine.

Steve Ownby
Full time since '07