98 STS Question: Do they burn a lot of oil??

[OaklandCali]

My mom has a 1998 STS with about 32,000 miles on it. It seems to be burning oil a lot, and I know it could be a gasket or sumthing, you know like a small leak. But she says my aunts seville needs oil a lot too, and she said that somebody told her they just burn oil a lot basically. So I just want to know from other STS/Cadi owners if this is true or should she take it in to the dealer. Every time I look around she says the oil light is on, the dipstick is low (she may not be reading it right), and she's always buying oil and putting it in. Also has anyone had problems with the computer just throwing out "Check Engine Oil" when it really doesn't need any or a change?

 

[Redwingvksm]

Look under the engine. If you see the oil pan covered with oil, you have a VERY common gasket leak. I don't recall what it's called right now, but 99.9% of them up here in the MI area have this leak. The labor to fix that gasket is like 15 or so hours, IF you can find a place to fix it.

And something burning oil? How quick is it going through a quart? They say a quart every 1,000 (or something like that) is normal - anything more you have problems somewhere. When you hammer on the gas do you see any whitish/bluish smoke comming out of the tail end? That's the oil being burnt up right there!

 

[glanga]

Mine burns badly.... 140,000 and its done it the life of the car. Its the nature of it and its a common problem with this car.

 

[taylor414ce2003]

yup burning anywhere from a 1qrt to 2qts every 900-1500 mile is NORMAL generaly caused by the engine not being driven hard enough so carbon build up is a problem-2 ways to fix the problem, put a solution down the cyls and let sit over night and suck it out, or do what I do and put the bitch in 2nd gear once a week and get close to redline-when I got the car oil was being sucked down like water 1qt every 2 tanks of gas now I burn 1qt every 2k miles
the common leak is from the oil manifold,the cost is about $1700 to fix (from the dealer) the engine needs to come out for this repair:mad

 

[OaklandCali]

Thanks everybody for the replies and help. I don't know exactly how many qt's it burns in how many miles or weeks because I don't drive it, and my moms not keeping track like that. I just noticed she has been complaining about low engine oil over and over for a long time. I will check for the leak as soon as I get a chance to jack it up, and once again thanks everybody.