RE: oil usage

[MSV96 <MSV96@aol.com>]

In a message dated 1/8/98 Michael Williams wrote:

<<On my 4kQ, there is little oil usage at all.  I use mobil 1 synth, and 
maybe, just maybe i will have to top it up 1 quart by the time i have 
gone 5000 miles.>>

Since I owned that car from 124k to 163k miles I can concurr with what Michael
says. I changed that car from my old standby Dino juice (Kendall GT1) to try
Mobil 1 for the first time at around 155k. The car always had oil changes
every 3500 miles or less, both by the first owner (who ran Dino) and myself.
I never saw ANY change in consumption like I was lead to believe would occur.
All I noticed were MUCH quieter lifters and a smoother running engine. I was a
skeptic at first but was immediatly sold.

<<So, as far as i can tell, my car likes synth, and i am keeping it that
way...>>

That was my experience too.

On my new-to-me 87 5kcstq I changed it over to Mobil 1 right away (at 135k) so
I have no baseline of what consumption was before. Now I have put almost 7k on
the car and it is using about 1qt per change interval (3500 miles) which I
don't consider abnormal (based on experience of owning 7 Audi I5 powered cars
for the past 10 years).

When I had 911's I was told that as low as 1qt per 700 (yes hundred) miles was
not unusual...mine got better than that there can be some oil usage even in
modern engines and it isn't the end of the world.

Consumption alone would not sway me from using Synthetic oil...cost may
(espeically on a 12qt sump P-car), but consumption no. I don't buy in to
longer change intervals and still change every 3500 miles...I just can't shake
that old (and not so bad) habit.

Mike Veglia
87 5kcstq