oil consumption

i heard this a couple of times now , and i am going to try that
thanks for the info guys

 

here is a update , last week i had to make the same trip again 100 miles ,
this time i lost a 1/4 of a quart oil , so that is a lot better , i changed the valve cover gaskets and there was no leak anymore there
the car did great again and next week i get my plates so i can finally drive it around the neigbourhood

i am a happy man

 

I was taught that a quart every thousand miles was not excessive but that was on cars in daily service.

Engines need regular exercise. Starting it up in the garage every few months is not the same. I was sure my Stude was junk after I got it running after a 25 year sleep. The smoke out of the tail pipes was horrendous. Some Marvel mystery oil and several road trips of more than around the block freed up the gum and varnish on the rings. The heat cycles break up the gum. I drove it 200 miles yesterday and was not embarr***ed by any sign of oil smoke.

I'd add a quart of MMO or Rislone the next time you need a quart. It's not a cure for broken rings but it does clean up years of deposits. It is quite normal for old cars with road draft systems to have wisps of smoke at the the oil fill tube breather when it's running in the garage. We have become used to PCV systems eradicating those vapors on modern cars. The vapors are still there. They just get ****ed away before they are seen.

In the dark ages the "attendant" would check your oil and bring the stick to the drivers window to show you every time you g***ed up.

 

Your last trip at 1/4 qt per hundred miles multiplies out to 1 qt per 400 miles. So not to bad for a worn engine. remember metalurgy wasn't far removed from the days of the Blacksmith when the car was built so some loose tolerences are to be expected.

In this discussion you never mentioned what the oil presure was. Also an easy way to check the condition of rings is to do a dry/wet compression test of each cylinder, and a good way to check other internal engine condition is by hooking up a vac*** gauge and interpreting the readings.

read and heed what the gauge tells you.

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/186.cfm

 

the pressure is good , nicely in the middle of the gauge and always steady ,
compression is good in all cilinders , the pressure does not get up when i add oil to the chambers , so the rings should be ok.
vacuum gauge needle is perfectly still .
i honestly believe this engine is in good shape , i was a bit worried about the oil consumption , but that is much better now

 

the compression should increase with oil added to the compression check, the fact that it doens't suggests worn rings. Which would lead to smoking.

 

i am not sure i agree with that , as far as i know the pressure goes up if the rings are worn because of the bigger piston to wall clearance and the bigger ring gap