Oil consumption

I forgot to mention that CHT (0n #3) reads 350-360 and sump oil reads 180-200 in this colder weather(32-50F.)

Joel

What do you have for a crankcase breather system?

Is the breastplate tin (the tin behind the fan belt pulley) oil-wet at the bottom, especially after a blast on a highway?

It doesn't have to blow blue smoke to be using oil, and 1 qt/1K miles is a bit high, but I'm thinking if it's not breathing right it might be forcing oil out through the breather tube(s).

A quart of oil every 2,000-3,000 miles is better.

Gordon,

The crankcase breather is a flexible hose from oil filler  down to the atmosphere and the breastplate is oil free.

Joel

Just a guess on this.....   Many converted Mexicrate engines suffer from oil consumption because the piston / cylinder set used was Heco In China....

Tolerances were not as tight as Mahle and other German manufacturers....

The harder and longer you push the engine, the higher the consumption.... 

You are probably burning some oil and some is being blown out the vent hose....

Pat Downs engines (1915cc/120hp) normally don't use enough oil to register between oil changes....and gas milage with IDF 44s can be up to 32mpg hwy and 26/27 in town.....

A quart every 1,000 mi. is a little much, but how much is a tear down and cylinder replacement????   You might just want to live with it till it goes thump....

Just my .02

A quart every 1000 miles is on the high side.

One of the rings in my 2275 was cracked and the engine went through about the same amount of oil, per 1000 miles, as yours.

With mine, I couldn't see any smoke, but I could usually smell it.

One test is to do a zero to 30 mph maximum run and look in your rear view mirror.  With mine I could see a thin cloud of smoke that wasn't visible during normal driving.

My F-case 1500 with an estimated 200k miles on it was using about a quart every 2000 miles when I pulled it last fall. I'd usually add about a pint at 1000 miles and then it'd be down a pint on the change at 2000 or 2500.

Doc--the MPG numbers are pretty low too--I'd expect 24-29 mpg  which is what I got with my 1915.  Might be running rich but I don't know what running rich has to do with oil consumption. Is this something new or pretty much as it's always been?

Either way, it's not a horror story, but could be improved.

Your cylinder head and oil temps seem to be in the ballpark.  My own CHT runs 250 and oil is the same as yours.

Do a visual inspection under the engine for any wet oil spots. Front will indicate main seal (crank) issue, middle could be drain plug issue or cylinder/case seating (or case halves sealing), rear could indicate pulley seal. One quart loss indicates a problem worth solving sooner than later.

Jack, those are cool running heads you have there.

What CHT gauge are you using?

Dude's got a Type 4. 

Ron--The CHT gauge is a Westach 4 1/4".  It is calibrated at 76 degrees which means that if the outside temp is 86, the 10 degree difference has to be added to the reading.  So a 250 degree reading at 86 degrees is really 260. I just worry about what the actual reading is and look for big jumps in the value indicating I have left a towel inside the engine compartment!   This happened once climbing the Tehachapt mountains in CA and I spotted a dramatic climb in CHT to way over 400 degrees and I knew immediately that someone (me) left a papet towel in the engine.  I know the CHT gauge  saved my engine that day.

My CHT readings ahave always been low compared to  what I have been taught.  Jake says that:

Normal is 325-375 degrees

Warm is 375-400 degrees 

Hot is over 400 degrees

So my reading is about 125 degrees lower than normal.  The sender is a ring on the #3 spark plug.  The engine uses a Setrab oil cooler and maybe that unit is over-cooling.  The engine runs fantastic and I get great MPG so I'm not going to worry the lower reading.  

Oil temps never reach 190 even in the hottest days at interstste speeds so basically I have a cool running engine.

Jack, I have a Westach CHT gauge too. 

My type 1 engine also had low CHT temps.....but really high oil temps.

I guess we're both fortunate to have low CHTs.  

Yes, and now I'd like to get my oil temps down to normal.  With a tear down/rebuild and two Setrab fans mounted in the front I'm hoping my high oil temperatures are a thing of the past.

We'll see.