Your car cannot function without an adequate supply of clean oil. Starving your engine of oil will quickly destroy it—not in a matter of days or weeks, but often in a matter of mere minutes. Unfortunately, many people treat oil loss as a relatively minor issue. While losing a little oil won't hurt your engine, it's critical to understand why it's happening to avoid causing much more severe damage.

However, one potential point of confusion for many drivers is the difference between oil leaks and oil consumption. Although both result in a loss of oil, they have very different causes and solutions.

Understanding Why All Oil Loss Isn't the Same

Your car's engine shouldn't normally consume any significant amount of oil. While your oil system isn't technically a closed loop, it's relatively closed. Oil circulates through critical engine components, but it never leaves the system. Oil loss typically means leaking from a hose, gasket, or another component, or your engine is burning oil.

Oil burns when it makes it into the combustion chamber. Under normal circumstances, the piston rings prevent this from occurring. Piston rings don't (and can't) form a perfect seal so some engines will burn a very small amount of oil. However, this "normal" consumption is usually impossible to notice with regular oil change intervals. More significant consumption often indicates an internal problem.

Recognizing the Difference

Telling the difference between a leak and oil loss should be easy, right? You know you have a leak if you see a puddle on the ground. Unfortunately, leaks are rarely so easy to find. Most modern cars include underbody splash guards, which can collect and redirect dripping oil, preventing you from noticing. Other leaks may only occur while the engine runs so that you won't notice any drips in your driveway.

Likewise, you shouldn't expect to necessarily see smoke from your tailpipe if you're burning oil. Although oil that enters the combustion chamber will pass through the exhaust system, the amounts are often small enough to go unnoticed, especially from the driver's seat. As a result, the oil may seemingly "vanish" without any trace.

Dealing with Oil Loss

How much oil loss is too much? The answer, unfortunately, is any amount. If you're adding any significant amount of oil between oil changes, your vehicle has an issue you'll need to address sooner rather than later. Both oil leaks and oil consumption can cause severe problems. While consumption often indicates an underlying mechanical issue, leaks are also important to address.

Ultimately, any oil loss puts your engine at risk. If you don't know the source of the problem, it's possible to lose oil much more quickly than you might expect. Severe oil loss while the engine is running can cause significant damage, sometimes before you can pull over and shut the car off. Addressing the problem once you notice it is always the safest option, even if you don't see any leaks or smoke.

Take your car into an auto repair shop to learn more.