What should be the average consumption of a basic 455 1971 ? Although I do not drive often, I recently had to fill up 1 usg for approx 300 miles. Seems hudge, but the engines starts well, runs perfectly, there are no oil leaks, and there is no smoke at all at the exhaust ! Where do the oil go ? I am afraid I will soon need to rebuild the engine. o No:
compression test You may consider trying a compression test. Allow the engine to reach normal operating and remove all the plugs. Also disconnect the ignition system. Block the throttle wide open and crank the engine over at least four compression strokes noting the results. If the compression is low on the first stroke but builds up on the following strokes; your piston rings are suspect. If it is low on the first stroke but does not build up on the next strokes, your valves are at fault. This may be an extreme, but it would give you an idea of what's going on inside your engine.
The owners manual indicates you can expect excessive oil consumption depending on your driving style. Generally speaking this means high speed driving. You've not indicated any details about how much milage is on your engine. This might help us help you. I drive about 1000 miles a year (most of it fast and hard) but was noticing considerable oil usage. I switched to synthetic after reading that it is much less volatile (higher flash point) than oil from the good earth. Bravo - cut my oil consumption by about two-thirds.
Thanks for these advises. I am going to do the compression test soon and may be I will have a better idea of what goes wrong. (It is like going to the doctor when you feel bad and you know more or less that he will tell you bad news....you delay the visit !) I have no idea of the milage. These cars in Europe often have a doubtful history. I was quite lucky as the previous owners kept mine in the original spirit, without any modification to the body and the engine. If it was imported from the US after the car was old, it can have a significant mileage. If sold new in Europe, people don't drive such big cars often, and the milage can be very low. The speedometer used to show 70000 miles when I bought it, but that does not mean a lot. The idea of Synthetic oil is worth trying it. Once again, if the oil was to go through the rings or the valve, I should observe a lot of smoke, shouldn't I ?
If you are getting oil into the combustion chamber excessively, then yes, you will ahve a bluish smoke. I wouldn't use synthetic oil on an engine that old unless it's a fresh rebuild. Synthetic oil tends to "find" leaks in your engine, and may make matters worse - as far as leaks are concerned. Try a thicker weight oil - like 10w40
