If the car's computer is telling you to change the oil at 3,000 miles, then your engine has a problem. Either it is leaking it out, or consuming it badly, either way, the remaining oil gets overworked(overheated) and degraded. Then the computer tells you the oil is at the end of it's useful life. What I'm saying is that you've had a problem for a while.

You've got a 13 year old car, with somewhat high miles, you have to expect some wear. At least you've been changing the oil, some folks never even do that! But the manufacturer is not responsible for an owner's inattention to maintenance.

BTW, we are not in any way affiliated with GM. We are HHR enthusiasts sharing information that we have learned.

 

OK, "copious" amounts of oil on engine, Red Flag, check oil level more often. It ain't rocket science.

 

That's just it, I've religiously maintained my vehicle as I depend on it very much. The oil plug went bad in between oil changes. There is no warning light to let one know the plug has gone bad. I had to take my car in for another issue a month or two after I had had the oil changed and the mechanic told me that the dipstick was registering little to no oil in my engine. This means at some point after my last oil change, the plug went bad without any warning and siphoned all the oil out of my engine when I was driving. There's no telling how long I had been driving with no oil because even the engine thermostat did no show overheating. I used to check my oil once every month or so. There was really no need to do it more often then that. I don't know anyone that checks their oil gauge every day. Now I check it every week because now the engine is burning oil due to the rings being effected because of driving for a period with little to no oil in my engine. I still say it is a bad design by GM and a design flaw not to have so kind of warning sensor go off when that plug goes bad. I've read a lot of posts that say this happens quite often. I'll not be buy another GM product do to their poor design choices.

 

Hey guys, I want a opinion. by 2006 HHR 2.4 has 290k miles on it. Never had issues with burning oil unit 10k miles ago. I always changed my Oil when the indicator light was at 30%. Now its burning 1 quart to 2 quarts very 2 to 3k miles. The first time it happened I did not even notice till i heard engine rattle. And its was down about 3 quarts. Its still runs fine. But is there anything i could do to help with oil burn?


I do not see any oil leaking onto the ground.

Thanks in Advance.

 

Do a compression test then a leak-down test to indicate where the problem is: rings or valves (since it isn't leaking at all)

 

Could try soaking the rings overnight with SeaFoam it MIGHT help.

You probably said the wrong prayers while changing the oil.

 

Remove the air intake elbow from the throttle body, it could be oil sucked out of the valve cover PCV port and down the hose