does anybody here know if early cars use more oil than the new cars? i don`t mean old worn engines , but new from the factory those days it seems i am losing oil , it does not leak out , and it is not burned up , my plugs look very good , no oil deposits and i think that only leaves the cranckcase vantilation , it does blow out some smoke but i think that`s normal and a cranckcase does not burn oil last week i ran the car about 100 miles and i lost half a quart of oil is this normal? b.t.w. this is how the front of my car looks now
Somewhat excessive, but not too bad. My uncle bought a new '65 Plymouth that burned a quart every 500 miles. Chrysler would do nothing unless it used a quart every 300 miles. Bill
Got any pictures of the engine?Oil don"t just disappear,either burns or leaks.Whats with the blacked out part in the picture of the frontend?
Seems to me that we were always adding oil to our cars, back in the 60's (driving 50's). Wasnt something that worried me then. I would bet that the open crankcase vent was the problem.
the blacked out part is a kind of illegal license plate here is a picture of the engine , it looks much better now i do not mind adding some oil now and then , but i like to know if it is normal , perhaps it is the cranckcase ventilation but if i lose the oil there it should leak out , right?
The drill back in the 60's was check the oil every time you filled the gas. When it's more than a 1/2 low add another quart. But we had the advantage of buying reclaimed oil in 2 gal cans. So it was very ecconomical. If the engine is orig, it might be burning oil without really seeing clouds of smoke. At night do see a slight fog behind the car in the headlights of a following car? Heavy oil vapors out of the breather should smell like oil. Normal blowby and condensation escaping shouldn't have a strong oil smell.
the engine is original i also think it may need some time to get "loose"again it has not run for a long time at the moment i can not drive it because it has no registration yet
I think the general rule of thumb back then for most engines was if you did better than a thousand miles on a quart of oil you were in decent shape. Most guys changed oil at 1000 miles on their cars in those days as a lot of them didn't have filters and the bypass filters weren't/aren't all that great. Flatheads may just use a bit more oil because they don't have seals on the guides and a bit of oil might get sucked up the intake guides when they get worn.
ok , but if half a quart of oil gets sucked up the intakes in a distance of 100 miles my plugs should be dirty , at least a bit as far as i know this engine is in overall good shape , good compression , no compression loss , no worn piston rings , it runs great and has good power , oil pressure is good , temp is good but it has been standing for a long time , my guess is it could be ut to 40 years , the brake oil in the brake cilinders was turned in to powder and i thing it takes some time for oil to do that . so perhaps it is just a matter of running te car for some time and mayebe it wil get better on its own
You got the right idea on this going away. I had a SBC that smoked when coasting, This is a 1970 engine that has 30,000 miles. And has sat for years at a time between uses. It cured itself. And is still running fine whenever I need it.
A quart in 100 miles seems a little excessive to me. I don't recall anything using that much unless it was well worn. But it was common for the gas pump jockey to check the oil when he filled you up and if it needed it add oil. It was not uncommon for a car to use a quart every second to third fillup. Like as has been said most folks changed oil between 1000 and 1500 miles. It would not be uncommon for your car to use oil for a while and then get better after a time if it has been sitting quite awhile. Things in these old engines seem to loose there seal from sitting. But they also have a tendency to seal back up after they get run a bit.
next week the car has to go for a second inspection , after that i get the registration and plates then i finally can start cruising . i am going to get some miles on it and see what happens
a dried out seal is possible , but then again there should be something leaking on the outside somewhere and i see nothing
Tolerances in the new autos are very precise, not like the old days when a couple thousandths difference in parts was normal. Older cars even with a freshly overhauled engine will consume more oil than the newer cars. It used to be that using a quart in 600-1000 miles was considered normal, not sure what would be today, as I do not own newer vehicles. ---John ---John
The next time that old poncho seems to be down a quart resist the urge to add oil and just keep an eye the level by checking frequently. You may find that it doesn't go down any more some of those old girls just have a level where they seem to be comfortable. If I remember correctly those flathead straight eights held a lot of oil.
old poncho it holdt 5 quarts oil , i will keep an eye on it , i always do with all my cars. i am just not used to the early 50 cars , and over here in the netherlands are not many people that own one so there is not much info
Yes, it should. But it might not be enough to be real obvious. A rear main seal and a timing cover seal that has not been used for as long as those will not be in good shape. A real close look around that little hole in the torque converter (or clutch) cover and the bottom of the damper seal in front might be worth it. Just some possibilities.
We have a similar issue with trucks in our transport co. As they get older and tolerances get looser they use a bit of oil, have a bit more blow by and at times just like to run at a lower level. We ask our drivers to monitor the oil useage and only top up when necessary.In a lot of cases we find the trucks will lower the oil level and get to a position where they run for a long time with no change - almost as thiough they extra space left by the oil being lower lets the pressure dissapate easier. Also these older engines are not tight on their clearances and will use/consume more oil than what we have come to expect from a rice burner
Put some miles on it, see how it does. If it starts fouling plugs or making noticeable smoke, then you might want to do something about it (overhaul the engine). Just keep a few cans of oil in the trunk and check the oil level whenever you fill the gas tank. Hopefully it's not your only car, and you won't be driving it every day to work.... To answer your main question, yes, it's been my experience that modern cars go forever on a quart of oil, while older ones need oil added regularly.
had a friend with a '53 Buick (V8) in '59 who told me he would run it a qt low as the first quart would be gone in short miles and after that it would not use any more oil....go figure....may just be the way some engines work ??
The flatheads didn't have much trouble with oil passing through the guides. The oil has to go uphill, and all they get is a little splash lube. You could have stuck rings or loose bearings flooding the cylinder walls. If it's running good just keep putting oil in it. If it's bugging you pull the head and look at the cylinders. If the pan comes off easy it wouldn't take much to push the pistons out, hone the cylinders, and put new rings in it. Back in the car's day it was very common to grind valves and even bore the block with the engine in the car.
i discovered a part of my oil problem , i have a leak at the rear valve cover , and it leaks on my exhaust pipe by way of a bracket. i am not sure if it is the complete problem , but it is part of it for sure today i received a complete gasket set , so i will change the gaskets and see what happens
yours sounds like mine except mine is original. i changed the rope seal, but the new one leaks like a stuck pig.
Years ago I had a car that wanted to burn a lot of oil, but not real noticeable either... My Father in Law told me to let it get down two quarts then fill back only to the one quart low mark, and run it like that... Seemed to help....and I drove it like that for quite some time.... BUT I am only giving my opinon...don't do it because I said to.... Cheers,
The Jalopy Journal
