Oil Usage

[SteveG]

My car doesn't smoke, but pushes about a quart of oil about every 200 miles or so.

What kind of oil usage are you experiencing?

SteveG

[chetbrz]

That's sounds about the same for my old motor.  Also I have a very dirty exhaust.., lots of carbon black but no smoke.  When it has been sitting for a while and I start it up it usually leaves a black soot mark on the ground under the exhaust pip.  Mine exhaust blows down toward the ground.

Chet...

[29plycoop]

The rule of thumb says black smoke or soot means too much gas. Could be a leaking carb float, cold spark plugs, carb set too rich or weak spark. Good luck finding the black monster.
White smoke is a symptom of problems with oil.   - Rich

[chetbrz]

The rule of thumb says black smoke or soot means too much gas. Could be a leaking carb float, cold spark plugs, carb set too rich or weak spark. Good luck finding the black monster.
White smoke is a symptom of problems with oil.   - Rich

Rich, You're right.  The carb I have is not correct for the car and does leek a bit.  Hopefully I will be getting to this car this summer. 

Chet...

[SteveG]

Chet - My experience is the same as yours in that my tailpipe points down and blows out black soot on start up. but it is clean running afterward.

I also have an old Stromberg (UL?) carb in place of stock. It's gotten a little long in the tooth, but the car starts right up and runs so well I think I'll let that dog lie!

I am running 20/50 wt. oil. What are you running?

SteveG

[chetbrz]

Hi Steve,

I haven't driven the old girl very much last year because the car really needs some restoration work.  My motor knocks and has a pretty good edge ring around the cylinder walls.  The old car sounds a lot like George Bailey's old car from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  I picked up a freshly rebuilt New Style Model U engine from a guy who received it when he purchased his PA.  He didn't want it and I am always interested in usable parts.  The story goes that it was rebuilt by a 90 year old Chrysler Engineer.  I drove the round trip to Detroit to pick it up.   Great story and if I use it I will pop the head and oil pan and inspect it prior to firing it up.  I would probably revert it back to a thermal-syphon style engine.  The way it is now with the water pump the hoses would not bolt up to my existing water ports. 

In answer to your question I am running a Tillotson carburetor and generally use straight 30 or 40 weight oil (Rotella).   Considering the quick usage I would use anything available if I needed a quart.   Generally leaning toward the heaver grade. 

Chet...

[imoore]

hi steve,
i drove my car for 310ish miles round trip  that was at 45-50MPH continues only stopping for refuel.
i only noticed a slight blue haze on start up after a fuel stop. but developed a massive oil leak out of timing gear cover.
After the end of the trip the drivers side bonnet had oil runs all down and the oil level was half on the dipstick. can't remember how much oil it took. but thought it was good for an old bagga
the drive included a few steep hills. Was an excellent endurance drive. really made the engine shine in terms of strength and reliability.

Now back to your case. have you checked the plugs. they give u a good indication to which cyls are burning oil. if the are wet or have any build up. i would suspect that cyl.
in a perfect engine combustion world the porcelain should be white- light brown tan.
you will have a little oil weep past valve stems as they are not sealed
Ian

[SteveG]

Thank you guys for the replies. I love to hear stories about these old Plymouths. That old rebuild sounds very interesting.

I've had mine a couple of years and probably put around 1500 miles on her. These old engines are darn tuff. I took a compression test and it ran 57 to 60 lbs. across all 4. The plugs get a little nasty after around 400 or 500 miles. The porcelain looks pretty good buy the electrode has a bunch of thick hard gray black stuff adhered to it. I just run them thru the plug cleaner, pop 'em back in and go another 4- 500 miles. These are very tough old engines. I suspect the rear main seal is leaking because some oil drains out the hole in the bottom of the bell housing, but not too bad.

She runs about 30 lbs. oil pressure after a minute at start up and then 25-28 after running awhile.

What pressure do you guys see?

SteveG