My XJ8 tends to use at least a quart of oil between changes which I do every 5,000 miles or so.

I don't see any drips on the garage floor, so where does it go? Does my car consume oil? If so, is that normal?

I do remember reading in the user manual that it's normal to add oil between changes, but how much is normal?

 

OldMike:
You have a non Nikasil engine, so you need to watch what engine you are comparing your oil use experience to. My MY '02, XJ8, also a non Nikasil engine, uses about 1 qt between 10000 mile oil changes on Mobil 1 Synthetic. It has about 180,000 miles on the clock. MY XJRs (both of them are Nikasil engines) use less even though they have the same or more miles- I suspect it is the Nikasil. Some amount of oil passes the rings and is burned. Your oil use sounds like it is high normal.
How many miles are on the clock?

 

1 qt per 5000 Km is nothing to worry about. If it were 1 per 500 Kms, I'd pay attention.

 

I have just over 90k on the odo, and it's going through about 1 qt every 5k miles.

 

I change my oil at 3000mi ints, and I never lose more than .4qt per change
with the exception of the time I did a track day on my oil,
where I had consumed what seemed to be a over 1/2 qt on that next oil
change. 1qt per 5000 sounds normal enough for a quad-cam V8 in my opinion.

 

I really appreciate all the input on this issue -- it gives me some peace of mind! I'll be changing the oil tomorrow eventhough I just put a quart in it yesterday -- probably put 100 miles on the car since then so it wasn't all for nothing.