Steve, a little oil usage is no big deal, unless it starts causing other issues, like fouled plugs, oxygen sensors, and such. I figure I might have a little when I get to over 200k as well.

With no under panels, it must be quite a bit easier to change the oil. I do it at home, and remove the big front one, and replace a couple of the clips every time. Once I removed the front one and left it off due to a stripped nut on the front that needed repair. During this time, my wife hit a flooded spot in the road, where a bunch of pine needles were floating on the water....(This is my best guess after my best interpretation of my wife's "Near Death" experience of that late night drive home in a rain storm.) From the amount of damage and where I found pine needles, she must have floated this baby for a bit on that washout. The pressure the water caused from under the car nearly removed the left middle cover, as it was folded under the car and dragging, the remainder of this one was packed with pine needles, and so was the other side. the needles were a solid block, just like you had swept the forest, and shot it under the car with a water cannon. If there was a place water could go, after being blasted at the bottom of the car, there were pine needles. They were packed around every exhaust heat shield, in the brakes, sticking out of the cracks in the wheels, the cracks around the headlights, the space between the inner fender and the body of the car. the area in front of the radiator was pretty full, and I'm sure there are still pine needles somewhere I couldn't get to. I could have filled two five gallon buckets with all the wet needles I pulled out of the cracks. And one grabbed handful was a bit squishy, and there was a dead bird in that handful of forest debris. So now, I keep all the panels in place. And I never said a word to my wife about it. although, she felt bad when she found out I grabbed a dead bird with my bare hand.

 

Agreed on the oil burn. I'd like to address it if it's as simple as a PCV issue. I had to replace the front O2 sensor and plugs upon acquisition. It currently has an active P0420 upper cat code displayed. The O2 sensor and cat failures could be attributable to the oil burn, though not likely.

I have a new "OEM" grade Magnaflow cat ready to install and a spare rear O2 sensor. I'm going to hold off until a few months before emissions are due in October.

For oil changes, I pull the front wheels up on small ramps. In the '06 with the panels, I have removed the short panel in the front and only need to drop the front of the large panel concealing the oil and trans drain plugs (two screws). I use a brick to prop of the front of my drain pan to keep it nearly level.

The one without panels is a piece of cake.

That's a pretty amazing story. Glad everything turned out okay!

Steve