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Old 11-19-2003, 06:48 PM
300EE320 300EE320 is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: California
Posts: 327
Manufacturers of new cars have to balance the choice between bore wear and horsepower lost to friction, with oil consumption. It all comes down to low versus normal tension oil rings. The happy medium is the use of some oil, while keeping power maximized. When I think of it this way, I am happy to add oil on occasion knowing that I'm not loosing power to friction.

On your car, it may very well be that a gummed up ring land is not allowing one or more oil rings to do its job of sealing, or it may be that the oil rings have lost tension over the years.

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about it. But I would run cheaper oil if I was consuming it.
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