I have to say, I'm 74, owned a lot of cars. You will find one that just doesn't get the oil mileage you expect. As long as your car has no performance problems, I would let it go, but watch to see if it gets worse. I can't say it's worth the money to do a year down and spend the money for a rebuild. I have owned a number of cars that I had to put a quart of oil every 1000 miles. Now, if you want to keep your car forever, and it's really bothering you this much, do a rebuild. That's the only way you're ever going to find the oil loss. I noticed, it seems you may not think the valve seals are the problem. That leaves, the valve guides. It's possible with 80,000 miles they need replacing. Cheaper to do that then a complete rebuild. Sorry I can't be of more help. VET
Sorry? You have been of great help. I appreciate your comments. You are right. I own my Riv since late 2005. Oil consumption has always been the same. I was just thinking why some go 2500-3000 miles on a quart and some only 700 miles. To me it does not look like one engine is in a better condition than the other.
The other thing is how it was broken in when new. Varying speeds and some full throtte seat the rings nicely whereas driving like a little old lady (not the one from Pasadena) doesn't set it up for good ring seal.
Maybe someone on the forum can help me. I have always been under the impression that car's cam and engine were broken-in at the Buick factory before sending them off to the Dealerships. Don't know where I got this idea from? I know that modern day cars are put on a dyno to check engine performance and possible engine issues. I can't say all manufactures do this. I saw the BMW factory do this (TV show). I remember my dad after buying a new Buick Wildcat said to me, well you want to go with me while I break-in the engine. I said, what are you talking about? He said, when you get a brand-new car, you run it up to 110 mph and after you do that, it will always be a fast car. As I got older, I knew this was BS. I love my father, but he had no idea what he was talking about. It's a wonder he didn't blow the engine. LOL
Test fired at the factory before final assembly? Yes. See https://www.v8buick.com/index.php?threads/another-assembly-line-question.377044/ "Broken in" before dealership receipt? No. And VET, your father wasn't too far off! Spirited driving helps new piston rings seat. Lazy driving does not. See: https://www.us.mahle.com/media/usa/motorsports/mms-break-in-recommended-procedure-web.pdf Devon
Back when I was a teenager, my brothers and I worked in my dad's Buick/GMC dealership. You can thank us for the proper break-in procedure. We drove those new cars into the shop and washed them, got them ready for the lot then drove the snot out of them around the block.
Heavy throttle, high cylinder pressure, followed by high manifold vacuum (coasting). High cylinder pressure forces the rings into contact with the cylinder walls, leading to good seating/sealing. Then high manifold vacuum during closed-throttle coasting brings oil up the side of the piston to wash the wear particles away. This is distinct from high RPM. The RPM can and should be moderate although the cylinder pressure needs to alternate between high and low.
Devon, thank you. That's what I like about this forum, someone always has an answer. Devon, my father has always been a speed freak but never drag raced. We were going through NC and he was speeding. Redneck police at Rose Hill, put him in jail. They wouldn't take a credit card for bail, however. my mother having lived through the Depression had the cash. I've had a fair number of new cars and I was never told to be careful and do the "Break-in" procedures. That included a new Corvette. So, I had to assume, that the auto factories were doing these procedures. Who remembers the 1961 Buick 215 ci Alum engine? Ever wonder WHY Buick dropped the Alum engine? I may have a clue. My father bought one, Buick was using Prestone coolant. According to the Owner of the Buick Dealership, the Pestone was eating up the Alum block. That's what happened to my father's Buick. Dealership was good and gave him a brand new Buick Special, cast-iron engine. You can see Buick later-on dropped the Alum heads too, I believe the Prestone damaged the heads too. In 1961, Buick unveiled an entirely new small V8 engine with aluminum cylinder heads and cylinder block. Lightweight and powerful, the aluminum V8 also spawned a turbocharged version, (only in the 1962–63 Oldsmobile Jetfire), which together with the turbocharged Corvair Spyder, also introduced in 1962, were the first ever offered in passenger cars. It became the basis of a highly successful cast iron V6 engine, the Fireball. The all-aluminum V8 engine was dropped after the 1963 model year, but was replaced with a very similar cast-iron block, aluminum head version for one year, and then in all-iron versions. Bore spacings for all variants of the SBB are 4.24 in (107.7 mm). Read this article about Prestone coolant: problems with prestone coolant and aluminum 1182 Views4 Replies4 ParticipantsLast post by s10ls, Jan 22, 2006 Jump to Latest s10ls Discussion starter · Jan 22, 2006 i am asking this question for my dad. i was over in his garage helping him with some few things on his hotrod and he asked me to do some research on this problem for him. anyways, hes got a built, cammed, high compression 392 chrysler hemi in his 41 chevy hotrod. he pulled it for a rebuild and when he disassembled it, all of the aluminum parts that contact the coolant were being eaten away. he has a dual 4 barrel manifold and it turned it into a paper weight, hes swapping to a single high rise and would like to know why this is happening. he originally used prestone with water, he then flushed it and used prestone with distilled water. the motor is grounded like a mofo so i doubt its electrolysis. he is switching to a product called evans cool when he gets it ready to start back up. if anyone has any other suggestions on what could be the problem feel free to chime in before another manifold is wrecked lol! thanks
When I first got married way back in the 1800s I had a part-time job after work to help give us more money. I worked at enterprise Rent-A-Car at the airport. Hell yes I beat the crap out of every car I got into. Had to drive it from the lot when it was brought back to the fuel station where they filled it up and cleaned it up. And I would drive them back to the lot. They had lots of early 80s Monte Carlo’s with a 4.3 L engine. This one Monte Carlo would do burnouts with no problem. I used to tell everybody this is the Herby of the Monte Carlos!!! I drove lots of them, but this one was special!
So for this engine doing stop and go traffic and doing highway speeds is not enough for a break in when new? It needs to be pushed hard when warm and varying speeds all the time for how many miles when new?
No. Not ideally. Maybe ten heavy-throttle/coasting cycles on a new engine, after the flat-tappet cam has been broken-in and perhaps a fresh oil filter if heavy moly-based paste was used for cam/lifter prelube. The first two or three throttle/coasting cycles make the most difference. In a perfect world, this'd be done on an engine dyno; but who has an engine dyno? In the real world--as alluded to by other posters--the first couple of cycles was probably done on a new vehicle by the Dealership tech that got assigned to "prep" your new car. I tell folks to drive ~20 miles out-of-town on a lightly-traveled highway so the running gear is fully up to operating temp. Turn around, disable the transmission kickdown if applicable, so the automatic trans won't downshift under heavy throttle. High load, not high RPM. Get to high gear, open the throttle as much as practical and accelerate to ~3500--4000 rpm. Coast back to high-gear starting speed. Repeat until it stops being fun. Don't get a "speeding" ticket. If you have troubles with the fresh engine, (overheating, oil leaks, whatever) you're facing town and getting closer, so the tow truck will have an easy time pulling you back. But we don't screw-up our rebuilds, so there's no need for worry...right?
When I broke in a new motor of my own, I looked at a bunch of procedures and reasoning why. The high load followed by deceleration after cam break in was the most trend common and made the most sense. I found a Mercedes break in procedure that I followed as best I could in a car vs on a dyno. They started at 40% of max redline rpm increasing by 10% per run until 80% of max rpm was achieved all at 80% throttle with closed throttle decel in between to seat the rings; then no driving at constant rpm for the first 500km. I did 5 heavy acceleration runs increasing the rpm by 500 each time, followed by coasting back down to the start rpm.
When you say deceleration do you mean you shift down from D to L2 or just foot off throttle and braking? What i meant with new i meant new back in 1969 when these cars were new. In a new Riv was no tach installed so i am sure people just drove it without thinking about doing a proper engine break in time. They probably drove it carefully cause it was new.
