Offroad-Express

Ok noticed that the oil on the dipstick was down to half before setting out over easter, so thought I had better top it up. Having not had the Zuk for long, I wasnt sure what oil to put in it.(it had a castrol gtx 10w30 sticker on the window but it appears to be generic sticker, and thought i'd seccond check, I had never herd of it before)

Headed down to supercheap to look up there book, which didnt have any escudos or vitaras in it !! useless!! So gritted my teeth and went into repco. They told me it should be running normal 15w40 'modern engine oil' and whats more that they had never head of castrol 10w 40, and didnt stock any.

After getting one litre of the 15-40 I headed home and topped it up - it took aprox 200-250 ml for it to be full on the dipstick. 395km later (tarseel and offroad) I rechecked the oil. It was back to half on the dipstick !?! swearing and cursing i put a further 200-250ml in which again toped it up.

Now back home (done 693km now) I rechecked it to find that once again the dipstick shows half

Whats going on?? and is this the right oil to use? My 91 Zuk had done 135000 on the clock and purrs away showing no signs of wear and doesnt blow any smoke. Have inspected engine bay and underside but cant see any oil leeks. Its essentially burning or loosing aprox 250ml every 400km.

Apart form that the Zuk went bloody well off road

some motors just sit a bit lower on the stick, might blow it out the engine breather, burn it what ever but only when the level is above a certain mark.. I've got a 30 ton digger that is a classic for this, if it is filled beyound half it will loose the oil in a matter of hrs and then sit at that mark for weeks
I'd say run it and see if thats the case before you start talking about stripping it down

I had a a Mazda car that did the same thing, stayed at 1/2 from a week after a oil change and for the next 10,000kms.

I would just keep an eye on it to make sure it doesnt go below 1/2

I had not thought about that theory,, cheers. Will definitally continue to monitor and see what the go is.

How do other Suzuki owners find their oil useage? Also what caught my attention was that there is bugger all gap on the dipstick between full and empty.