Re: oil consumption

[Carl DeSousa <desousa@cisco.com>]

Graham,

> From: gad@advanced-robotics-research-centre.salford.ac.uk (Graham Dalton)

> I'm using Mobil 1 synthetic and its consumption habits are making this a costly problem. I'm begining to wonder whether its even worth changing the oil at all since in 5000 miles I've completely replenished the contents of the sump!.
> 
> Does anyone have any pointers as to what the root of the problem may be?

We had a similar problem with our 87 5000Q.

You can start by switching back to regular dinasour oil.  
Synthetic oils burn faster because more of it gets by the rings
especially during the first cold start.  
The benefit of synthetic oils are better realized in turbo motors anyway.
 
Maybe have a compression check performed too?  

Do you accelerate fast, if you do, it can make a big difference in oil
consumption?  I notice ours hardly burns any oil when the wife drives
it. 

I also notice that the high compression 87 2.2 burns oil where as the
low compression 84 2.2(4000Q with 200k miles) doesn't burn any..
The 87 2.2 is sensitieve to high engine loads= oil consumption but
the 84 2.3 is not...

These are purely observatons from a *small* sample, your conditions
and situation may be different.

Carl DeSousa


> 
> I've also got a steering 'shimmy' at around 85mph and have been told the steering toe-in is slightly out. What are the likely causes of this bearing in mind that the front wheels have already been balanced.
> 
> Thanks in advance 
> 
> Graham Dalton