Normal oil consumption?

[John Mc]

The post by ez8 about excessive oil consumption reminded me of something I've often wondered:

What is considered normal oil consumption for a 230 or 251 engine?

Does it vary significantly based on driving conditions: running around at 40-45 MPH vs in-town local driving or "parade duty", towing or hauling heavy loads vs light cruising?

At one point I was running around 1 qt per 1000 miles driven on my 251 engine. Since the time I checked that consumption, I did find I was overfilling the oil a bit (based on measurements with me in another thread, the dipstick tube on my engine is about 1" taller than normal, which holds the dipstick higher). Correcting that and sealing/re-torquing some bolts stopped a very slight drip I had, so it might have changed since then.

[PoW]

All engines burn a little oil.

A quart in a thousand is no big deal.

That is why it comes in quarts...

[ez8]

Interesting. How long is the dip stick supposed to be?

[just me]

Today, my consumption went from acceptable to not. 1QT in 40 miles. First time in ages I was able to run continuously for miles at 40 mph. Puked out the filler tube all over the engine compartment. Blow by has gotten too excessive. The PCV can't even come close to keeping up.
I'll finally have to get off my lazy butt and swap in one of my new engines.

[John Mc]

Interesting. How long is the dip stick supposed to be?

This thread had a discussion of the dip stick for the 251 engine:
http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic.php?p=76402#p76402

[ez8]

Interesting. How long is the dip stick supposed to be?

This thread had a discussion of the dip stick for the 251 engine:
http://www.g741.org/PHPBB/viewtopic.php?p=76402#p76402

"The requested page could not be found."

Is that metric or SAE measurements?

I think the link is broken.

[John Mc]

Link fixed

[ashyers]

I use a bit less than 1.5 quarts between oil changes (3000mi). This is driving the truck at a governed 3000RPM in everyday driving (0-55mph).

If I fill it to the full line it tends to find it's level about 3/16" below that pretty quickly and then stay there for a while.

Andy