I've just purchased a 2007 Series 2 , 380 ES.
Has 77,000 on the clock, looks good and goes really well.
Looking back through the previous service history today I noticed that at 45 & 60k service the mechanic noted that the oil level was low.
At 60K they changed to synthetic oil, although I don't know what that would do ?

Any clues as to what I should be looking for that would use more oil than is apparently normal ?

So I'm guessing there was no noted leaks. And try go to a little thicker oil??

Is not that un common for syn oil to be used up and also the 380's did have issues with some motors with oil usage. Many of them were rebuilt under warranty, at one stage it was near impossible to get any head gaskets for these as the dealers had reserve on them all for the rebuilds

I would just initially keep an eye on the level and see how you go from there

Thanks for the feedback, you've confirmed what I was going to do anyway.

Thanks for the feedback, you've confirmed what I was going to do anyway.

Also just run your finger on the inside of your exhaust pipe to see if it's bad or what.

Mine tends to use a bit more oil than it used to. It actually seems to use more when its up and down the highway cruising?? Just on 104k at the moment so its due for its major service/timing belt. Should I use a slightly thicker oil as the motor gets older? Or just stick with the recommended but switch to synthetic?

BTW shoud this thread be moved to the dedicated 380 forum?

My Mum is having the same issue with her 07 380 as well. It's done 72,000km and in the past 2 weeks has used 2.5 litres of oil having travelled approximately 1500km in that time. There are no leaks anywhere and no oil has leaked onto the concrete where it is parked and doesn't blow smoke (at least when it's warm when i saw it).

Mal, what were the issues that were leading to engine rebuilds?

Oil consumtion rate is always an interesting discussion. IMHO a drop from Full to Min over a 15 K service interval (ie about a litre or two) is "OK". But that drop can be masked by stop start short city driving in cold weather when moisture condensation can build in sump and hide the oil used in normal driving (oil floats on water). We then suddenly (say after 10 K of stop start when oil loss of 1L has been hidden by water build up), do a long run and evaporate this H2O and think we have used a litre of oil in a few hundred K's but really it has been used in last 10K PLUS 200 K's.

My Mum is having the same issue with her 07 380 as well. It's done 72,000km and in the past 2 weeks has used 2.5 litres of oil having travelled approximately 1500km in that time. There are no leaks anywhere and no oil has leaked onto the concrete where it is parked and doesn't blow smoke (at least when it's warm when i saw it).

Mal, what were the issues that were leading to engine rebuilds?

2.5 litres of engine oil in 1500kms is extremely high for any engine.. I would say worst case scenario 5000kms.

I had an old non turbo cordia and it used to blow smoke.. even then, it only consumed 1 L every 2000kms.

My Mum is having the same issue with her 07 380 as well. It's done 72,000km and in the past 2 weeks has used 2.5 litres of oil having travelled approximately 1500km in that time. There are no leaks anywhere and no oil has leaked onto the concrete where it is parked and doesn't blow smoke (at least when it's warm when i saw it).

Mal, what were the issues that were leading to engine rebuilds?

Car was serviced today. Service Manager told my Mum that 2.5 litres of oil consumption is normal, even if it was over the 10,000km service interval (which it wasn't. It's used that much in under 2000km's). Surely that can't be right?

Also hit her up for a new battery bringing total cost for the 75,000 service to $596.

Car was serviced today. Service Manager told my Mum that 2.5 litres of oil consumption is normal, even if it was over the 10,000km service interval (which it wasn't. It's used that much in under 2000km's). Surely that can't be right?

Also hit her up for a new battery bringing total cost for the 75,000 service to $596.

What a load of crap lol .... mines supercharged & my oil barely moves on the dipstick between changes & come to think of it I have never owned a car that has chewed that much oil between services.

Check the air inlet tract! is the engine "dusted"?

In past lives I had two vehs with high oil consumption

First a Renault 16 TS (Australia's first true 160 kmh cruising car) - if any one can remember back that far!

I bought it second hand and on investigation it was clearly a "dusted" engine with evidence of dust and grime post air filter in the inlet tract - obviously had beeen used without an airfilter element in place. Fixed by an relatively new engine from the wreckers.

Saw similar incidents on constructions machines with air filter faults while building Stuart Hwy in North of SA

Other was a Series one Camira (carby with early emission control EGR (exhaust gas recirulation to inlet manifold) which on strip down showed high ring wear, extreme carbon build up on inlet valve stems but perfect cylinder bores (they got something right!). Fixed by a ring change and and blocking the pipe which enabled EGR.

What a load of crap lol .... mines supercharged & my oil barely moves on the dipstick between changes & come to think of it I have never owned a car that has chewed that much oil between services.

:stoopid: My car has a totally built engine, and as such uses some oil as the tolerances are greater in a forged engine. When it was brand new it used a bit of oil, and my engine builder told me it will always use some oil as that's just what built engines do. But now, with about 10,000kms on it, it doesn't seem to use very much at all, maybe an oil cap full every 2,000kms.

There's definitely something wrong if a 380 is using 2.5L of oil in under 2,000kms.

Check the air inlet tract! is the engine "dusted"?

In past lives I had two vehs with high oil consumption

First a Renault 16 TS (Australia's first true 160 kmh cruising car) - if any one can remember back that far!

I bought it second hand and on investigation it was clearly a "dusted" engine with evidence of dust and grime post air filter in the inlet tract - obviously had beeen used without an airfilter element in place. Fixed by an relatively new engine from the wreckers.

Saw similar incidents on constructions machines with air filter faults while building Stuart Hwy in North of SA

Other was a Series one Camira (carby with early emission control EGR (exhaust gas recirulation to inlet manifold) which on strip down showed high ring wear, extreme carbon build up on inlet valve stems but perfect cylinder bores (they got something right!). Fixed by a ring change and and blocking the pipe which enabled EGR.

Both of these past experiences were on ancient cars suffering problems that are highly unlikely to happen on a 2007 380.

I suspect this is one of the duff 6G75s and as such may need a rebuild ala other 380s

It's a strange one really, the previous 15,000km didn't use any oil at all. I'll be keeping an eye on the oil every week to see if it continues after the service and i'll be doing oil and filter changes every 5-7,000km to see if that helps.

Had the car for two weeks now. Certainly not blowing smoke and no oil usage to speak of.
I'll keep tabs on the dipstick for a few weeks but it may just have been an overly cautious service mechanic in my case.

Both of these past experiences were on ancient cars suffering problems that are highly unlikely to happen on a 2007 380.

I suspect this is one of the duff 6G75s and as such may need a rebuild ala other 380s

True! - so happy we don't have messy egr any more :)

I was living overseas from Feb 2008, 2009 until Sep 10. Didn't have any issue with my very early Series 1 VRX, or hear about the oil issues

What was the problem?

I've just purchased a 2007 Series 2 , 380 ES.
Has 77,000 on the clock, looks good and goes really well.
Looking back through the previous service history today I noticed that at 45 & 60k service the mechanic noted that the oil level was low.
At 60K they changed to synthetic oil, although I don't know what that would

I've had the car for a couple of Months now and checked the oil level weekly during that time.
Hasn't moved a jot...looks like either the synthetic oil is the go or someone misjudged the level at a couple of services.

My Mum is having the same issue with her 07 380 as well. It's done 72,000km and in the past 2 weeks has used 2.5 litres of oil having travelled approximately 1500km in that time. There are no leaks anywhere and no oil has leaked onto the concrete where it is parked and doesn't blow smoke (at least when it's warm when i saw it).

In the 2 months since it hasn't used a drop of oil :)