Excessive oil consumption

[OldPilot]

I have just under 40,000 miles on my 2021 SX-P. I’ve been reading this thread and went to go check. I know I’m due for an oil change. Last one was in August around 35,000 miles. I check my dip stick today and I’m a little bit above the L. Not in the middle and certainly no where near the F.

What is considered normal oil consumption?

Kia has some IMHO ridiculous number like a quart in a thousand miles. You're using maybe a quart in 5,000 miles, which as a lifetime motorhead I would consider to be excellent. My '24 Tellie @ 7,000 total miles doesn't seem to be using any oil but I am nowhere near 5,000 since break-in. I hope it will settle in where yours is. I would be a happy guy.

 

[WD80PD]

Kia has some IMHO ridiculous number like a quart in a thousand miles. You're using maybe a quart in 5,000 miles, which as a lifetime motorhead I would consider to be excellent. My '24 Tellie @ 7,000 total miles doesn't seem to be using any oil but I am nowhere near 5,000 since break-in. I hope it will settle in where yours is. I would be a happy guy.

Awesome thanks! I was nervous there for awhile lol Im thinking I have no oil in this thing.. Not a motorhead lol

 

[OldPilot]

Awesome thanks! I was nervous there for awhile lol Im thinking I have no oil in this thing.. Not a motorhead lol

OK, now the heavy lift for the non-motorhead: Check your oil level every thousand miles or so unless you have worrying evidence like a smoky exhaust or a puddle of oil under the car. Then check more frequently. I am endlessly amazed at posts here crying about damaged engines when the poster admits to never have checked the engine oil level.

 

[Kao]

I have just under 40,000 miles on my 2021 SX-P. I’ve been reading this thread and went to go check. I know I’m due for an oil change. Last one was in August around 35,000 miles. I check my dip stick today and I’m a little bit above the L. Not in the middle and certainly no where near the F.

What is considered normal oil consumption?

Kia is saying 1 quart per every 1000 miles is “normal.” My mechanic said that is complete BS in today’s cars running on synthetic oil!

______________________________

 

[WD80PD]

I will absolutely be checking this more often now. Definitely no oil under the car or smoke.. (Been dealing with this with my wife's Cruze ) My Telly runs great but I saw this thread and was like damn I need to keep up with this especially since I drive it like I stole it.

 

[daSNAK3]

Looking to buy a new Telluride for my GF, I am just seeing this forum now and seen this thread, are the newer Tellurides still suffering from the oil consumption issue?

Is the Sorento any better engine wise when it comes to oil consumption or is this happening across all Kia vehicles?

Do you recommend using Kia for financing or getting our own?.. When I used Ford it was pretty seamless and I got 1.9% but doesn't seem like Kia offers anything close to that on the Telluride right now from what I see, looks like the best right now is 4.49%. The Sorento looks like it has 1.9% available, but I really would prefer the Telluride though since it is a little bigger and we have 4 kids. I'm hoping the Telluride is a solid vehicle and the oil consumption is not very common, looking forward to the feedback, thanks.

 

[barwick11]

I have just under 40,000 miles on my 2021 SX-P. I’ve been reading this thread and went to go check. I know I’m due for an oil change. Last one was in August around 35,000 miles. I check my dip stick today and I’m a little bit above the L. Not in the middle and certainly no where near the F.

What is considered normal oil consumption?

I don't know what "normal" is, but personally, I wouldn't expect a car to burn oil, especially with 40k miles. Unless it's a Kia.

 

[OldPilot]

... personally, I wouldn't expect a car to burn oil, especially with 40k miles. Unless it's a Kia.

Well, I guess everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how uninformed. Just curious, what is your hands-on experience with different manufacturers' engines and oil systems and how does that support your conclusion?

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[Diep]

No one knows the true number or percentage of Kia engines with oil consumption issues. For context, the dealership tech that replaced my engine told me that he had replaced more engines in a few years working for Kia than the previous ten years working for other brands. He apparently had been replacing engines affecting other Kia models pretty regularly before tellurides. My 2020 was consuming over 5 qt in about 4k miles and was knocking badly when the engine was replaced at 38k. It has about 24k miles on it since and I think it is consuming <1qt per 5k (I check the oil level religiously now and do oil changes at 5k). My car has also had the awd coupler replaced because of binding issues. My wife and I have owned about 30 different cars (personal vehicles and company cars that sat in our driveway) of Japanese, German and Domestic. This is the first vehicle that required engine replacement and first that required awd hardware replacement.

 

[Point37]

subarus chew through oil...especially when they get into higher mileage...before i picked up my '25 cx-5, my '13 legacy was consuming 1qt every 600mi...my 3 cars prior did not have this issue ('05 mazda 6, '99 honda civic & '87 honda civic)...i'm seeing some oil consumption on the telluride so i'm keeping an eye on it...i have very little faith that this car will get to 200k without needing an engine replacement or having some type of major failure...i hope i'm wrong...i have a feeling this will be our last kia/hyundai...the 1 single warranty item where i had to go to a local dealer (link below), gave me a bad taste for the dealer network and i ended up fixing the issue myself instead of letting them waste my time anymore...the telluride is my wife's vehicle...personally i would only buy from toyota/lexus, honda/acura, mazda and maybe (subaru if they get better) due to good reliability experiences personally and with family vehicles...hard pass on all other brands but there are certain vehicles from other brands that i'm drawn to but can't pull the trigger...i was looking for a used buick regal tourx before i picked up the cx-5 but decided against it for reliability reasons over the long term

Post in thread 'Oil Filter Housing'

Jan 18, 2024

so i brought our '22 with 37k miles into the local kia dealer for a leak either higher on the oil filter housing or on the seal between the engine and the housing (which is what i suspect)...all i know is the source is higher than the pan or the filter cap due to where i can see oil...i wiped it clean and had a hard time establishing the exact source of the leak...i suspect it's temperature dependent...cold outside park it in the garage where it's insulated and then it leaks or when it cools it leaks...it's not consistent...when i talked to the dealer right off the bat tells me they charge...

• Point37

• 

 

[ganseg]

To all the people here who have had catastrophic failure due to oil loss, how often were you changing the oil and do you do a lot of short trips? (One person has answered 7500 miles). I drive 18000 miles a year and change every 5000. I am not sure if that was good enough. When I used a top oil (Pennzoil Ultra Platinum) it was getting dirty looking earlier meaning it was cleaning up after whatever oil the dealer had used the first 54k miles. I think 5 k will be fine with a top quality oil, but I wouldn't go that long anymore on whatever a shop puts in.

I have now done three short oil changes with top quality oil and it continues to be cleaning up after the dealer oil. For people who can change their oil, I would recommend using a top SP rated oil known for cleaning. For people who can't, even 5000 miles is too long between oil changes. My driving was easy on oil and I still had buildup.

 

[OldPilot]

I have now done three short oil changes with top quality oil and it continues to be cleaning up after the dealer oil. For people who can change their oil, I would recommend using a top SP rated oil known for cleaning. For people who can't, even 5000 miles is too long between oil changes. My driving was easy on oil and I still had buildup.

Buildup?

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[MrMCar]

Kia is saying 1 quart per every 1000 miles is “normal.” My mechanic said that is complete BS in today’s cars running on synthetic oil!

Old Skool Toyota's and Hondas, sure.
As a lifetime technician and Bavarian car repair shop owner; it's GOOD. Really.!

There's tech documents (my former car of choice/how I made my living) stating that 600 per qt. and 400 per qt. on the M models is "normal" and NOT a defect. "Normal", on a $75,000+ German car??

I'm a bit older than most. I remember as a kid working on my mom's (1st. generation) Celica Supra. If it was down a quart, it was time for an oil change. Now that we're asking for more and more power out of less and less displacement, consumption issues will be the norm.

Check your oil!!!

I'll paraphrase a colleague of mine:
When I started in this business; engines had 8 cylinders and 4 speed transmissions.
Now they have 4 cylinders and 8 speed transmissions.

 

[Dpeep]

My 21 Telly is at 80000 and no oil light, weird sound, checked and completely dry. No we r in the process of doing an oil consumption test-every 1000 miles, stop on and check it…how long is this process going to take and what are the magic words I say??

Still dealing with this issue 5000 miles later. Started an oil consumption test…came back just under the amount needed to be called excessive. Kia stopped the oil study. Brought I back in and it had consumed an excessive amount but because we weren’t doing the oil study they would t do anything-what?!
I’m so frustrated.

 

[JEL]

*Apologies for the long post* We've also been dealing with oil consumption issues with our 2020 Telluride S. Ours has higher mileage (currently ~103k) but we started observing oil consumption issues around the 90k mile mark (could have been happening sooner though).

We've had it serviced at our local dealership since purchasing it, until our service package expired last year. When it expired, I did the next oil change in September and observed a large carbon buildup adjacent to the oil pan. I had to take the car to the dealership in November for a recall notice and they told me at the time the oil was empty in the car. We had driven about 5k miles since changing the oil in September, so I was shocked. I told them about the carbon buildup but they said they didn't see it. They recommended beginning oil consumption testing, which we proceeded to do every 1k miles.

Each time we brought the car back and tested, it was out of tolerance (1 quart per thousand miles) but the dealership said they needed to document at least 3 consecutive tests out of tolerance before they could open up a case with Kia corporate.

The dealership called me in early Jan. to ask if I'd be open to bringing the car in for a newer type of service to address the oil consumption. They said they'd heard great reviews from a dealership in Raleigh, NC that was able to fix the oil consumption issue on a couple of Tellurides. The service was performed by my local Kia dealership with guidance from a 3rd party consultant, who I spoke with. He told me that the issue is from excessive carbon buildup in the cylinders for GDI engines due to the location of the fuel injectors. The fuel injectors are, from what I understand, directly injecting gas into the cylinders and as carbon builds up in the cylinders they start to block up the heads of the injectors and build up around the piston rings.

The service performed included a chemical agent that burned off the carbon in the cylinders and then ran a couple of fuel injector cleaners. They had a before and after video using a bore scope to show the amount of carbon before the chemical was applied and afterwards. I've gotta admit it was night and day from the images I saw. Unfortunately, the dealership told me after the work was done and they changed the oil that there is now suddenly an oil leak coming from the oil filter housing, which they said will mask any further consumption testing until it's fixed. I have inspected it myself and don't see any leaks but I am planning on getting another dealership to check it. My gut tells me if there is a leak, the genius mechanic at the local dealership overtorqued the housing.

If anyone wants the contact info for the consultant I spoke with, just let me know (I've got his business card). I am cautiously optimistic this work will resolve the excessive consumption issue but I think it'll take another month or two to tell.

 

[MrMCar]

*Apologies for the long post* We've also been dealing with oil consumption issues with our 2020 Telluride S. Ours has higher mileage (currently ~103k) but we started observing oil consumption issues around the 90k mile mark (could have been happening sooner though).

We've had it serviced at our local dealership since purchasing it, until our service package expired last year. When it expired, I did the next oil change in September and observed a large carbon buildup adjacent to the oil pan. I had to take the car to the dealership in November for a recall notice and they told me at the time the oil was empty in the car. We had driven about 5k miles since changing the oil in September, so I was shocked. I told them about the carbon buildup but they said they didn't see it. They recommended beginning oil consumption testing, which we proceeded to do every 1k miles.

Each time we brought the car back and tested, it was out of tolerance (1 quart per thousand miles) but the dealership said they needed to document at least 3 consecutive tests out of tolerance before they could open up a case with Kia corporate.

The dealership called me in early Jan. to ask if I'd be open to bringing the car in for a newer type of service to address the oil consumption. They said they'd heard great reviews from a dealership in Raleigh, NC that was able to fix the oil consumption issue on a couple of Tellurides. The service was performed by my local Kia dealership with guidance from a 3rd party consultant, who I spoke with. He told me that the issue is from excessive carbon buildup in the cylinders for GDI engines due to the location of the fuel injectors. The fuel injectors are, from what I understand, directly injecting gas into the cylinders and as carbon builds up in the cylinders they start to block up the heads of the injectors and build up around the piston rings.

The service performed included a chemical agent that burned off the carbon in the cylinders and then ran a couple of fuel injector cleaners. They had a before and after video using a bore scope to show the amount of carbon before the chemical was applied and afterwards. I've gotta admit it was night and day from the images I saw. Unfortunately, the dealership told me after the work was done and they changed the oil that there is now suddenly an oil leak coming from the oil filter housing, which they said will mask any further consumption testing until it's fixed. I have inspected it myself and don't see any leaks but I am planning on getting another dealership to check it. My gut tells me if there is a leak, the genius mechanic at the local dealership overtorqued the housing.

If anyone wants the contact info for the consultant I spoke with, just let me know (I've got his business card). I am cautiously optimistic this work will resolve the excessive consumption issue but I think it'll take another month or two to tell.

Gary Smith?

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[LGF]

My 21 Telly is at 80000 and no oil light, weird sound, checked and completely dry. No we r in the process of doing an oil consumption test-every 1000 miles, stop on and check it…how long is this process going to take and what are the magic words I say??

Continue complaining about the dry dipstick and engine sounding really bad..make them do another and another consumption test....Email Corporate!
Call Corporate. You are going to need to report and complain until they check the spark plugs and see the carbon buildup. Then they will start the case and eventually get another engine!!

 

[Kao]

i am a new (<2500 miles) owner, so i have to ask: doesn't an "oil" light show on the dash to notify a low oil status?

No, there isn’t a low oil light on the Telly.

 

[Kao]

Just had this issue. Wife stated rough idle when at a stop. Recently she mentioned there is a rattle. Asked if it was inside the cabin or by engine. She said Engine. She did mention the engine oil light came on but after restart it was gone.

I checked engine dipstick and had to do a double take. Slightly some oil barely on the dipstick. I kept checking and it almost had no oil.
49k , 2020 Kia Telluride. I've been changing oil recently at 5k for the last 2 oil changes and using Synthetic too.

I'm gonna monitor if the shaking goes away and rough idle. I did floor it after I added oil and seems to run normal. Is it a MUST to get it looked at or should I just monitor for a week or two?

Get it looked at by the dealership. You NEED to have it documented that the problem started/existed while Under warranty, or Kia won’t replace engine. The sooner they know you are having the problem, the better your case for Kia replacing it. I’m getting mine replaced because I first brought it in at 98k when it was down 7+ qts, 5000 miles after previous oil change. I was getting knocking and shaking of the engine. Took it right in. Now at 116k, they did a true oil consumption test and I’m burning 1-2 qts in less than 1000 miles. So I’m getting a new (reconditioned) engine as well. They initially said I brought the problem to their attention after the 100k mile warranty expired. Despite having an extended warranty, it turns out the extended warranty does not cover engine replacement at all! No matter what tier or how premium your extended warranty is. But because it was documented at 98,000 miles Kia has agreed to replace the engine. GET IT DOCUMENTED WITH YOUR LOCAL DEALERSHIP ASAP!!

 

[MrMCar]

No, there isn’t a low oil light on the Telly.

Just to be perfectly clear for future readers.

There is NO "Oil Level Light" (or level sensor) installed in the Telluride.
You must occasionally pull the dipstick and check the oil level yourself.

There is however a oil pressure warning (Ubiquitous RED Oil Can) light. Observable on each and every startup (part of a self test) that self extinguishes after the oil pressure rises above the threshold.
If/when you see the red oil can light up while driving? Most likely you're in for a major headache.
Most usually this will only happen if you're down to two quarts or less and there's insufficient volume of oil to satisfy the entire engine.