Here are
some numbers for those who are interested in "real world" data
on oil consumption, etc. The oil used is Mobil-1 synthetic 20W-50.
The oil
in my '94 was changed on February 21, 2008 at 21625 miles. It was changed
next on September 22, 2008 at 23510 miles. That's almost exactly 7 months
and just 1885 miles. But these were all short-haul, in town, traffic miles
-- the worst kind, in my opinion! The drained oil measured just 24 ounces,
but that is misleading because I didn't completely fill the engine in
February, being impatient with the awkward position of the filling funnel
and a really cold concrete floor in the garage! That fill was about an
ounce short.
Had the Feb.
change been a complete fill (0.85 U.S. quart = 27.2 ounces) the engine
would have used about 3 ounces of oil (valve guides, rings; no visible
leaks outside the engine itself.) As it is, I estimate less than 2 ounces
were actually lost, or about 0.0011 ounce per mile. Since at least some
of that was WoT (about 60 to 62 mph) that does not appear unreasonable.
How is your Helix engine doing in this regard?
Incidentally: I find it best to mark the outside "viewing port" on the oil bottle at the 4.8 ounce level (as near as I can estimate) to make it easy to fill the engine to that odd 27.2 ounces without frequent testing. The fact is, I can barely see fresh oil on the teeny little dipstick anyway, so I don't trust it.
Drop me a note with your comments and experiences: byewaybill-at-gmail.com
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Bill Laudeman; all rights reserved. Page updated
Monday, September 22, 2008 13:36
Eastern time.