V8 Oil Flow Question

[GKB]

If my Griff it ticking over, and I look down into the oil filler hole, how much oil should I expect to see flowing around down there?
Thanks Gordon

[BIGMIKE1]

Iam hoping very little otherwise Ive got problems! Looked down the oil filler on mine and don't see any getting splashed about, I know OHV will require less oil up there than OHC but I thought I'd see some splashing about.

[GKB]

Thanks BigMike. I can see a bead of oil about 1/2" wide slowly flowing along the top of the head near the edge of the rocker cover, but I don't have any oil splashing around. Compaired it to my other car which is overhead cam, and that has oil everywhere!

[bomb]

Further to your original question..........

How much oil does the Rover V8 engine 'normally' use ?? I have just done a tour of Europe, and my car drinks about 1/2 litre of oil every 800 miles or so.

The oil pressure is normally about 35-45 psi whislt running, so I think thats looking quite healthy.

Am I correct, and is my engine burning too much oil ??


Thanks.

[V8 GRF]

I'd suggest that you should be getting at least 1000 - 1500 miles per half litre.

Are you using a thin synthetic oil? My oil consumption reduced once I started using a slightly heavier grade semi-synthetic.

[Chimpafrolic]

I have just returned from a tour of Europe, so was able to keep a very close eye on my oil consumption.

I did 2362 miles using exactly three quarters of a litre of Millers CSS 20w/60 semi synthetic.

Seems perfectly acceptable to me.

By the way if you fit the right oil pressure sender you will see the true (higher) oil pressure these engines should run at.

• Hot running over 2000rpm = 60psi

• Hot idle = 45psi

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[bomb]

I have been using Fully synthetic Mobil 1.

Thanks for the info.

[Chimpafrolic]

bomb said:

I have been using Fully synthetic Mobil 1.

Thanks for the info.

So Bomb, if you used half a litre of oil in 800 miles that's about twice as much on my Chim.

My car doing the same 800 mile trip would have used 256ml of oil.

But I still don't think your RV8 using a litre of oil every 1600 miles is anything to worry about.

You say you are using fully synthetic Mobil 1, all Mobil 1 will be fully synthetic.

What you don't tell us is the weight.

Mobil 1 comes in different weights so it would be useful to know exactly what weight you have been using.

I believe the heavier Mobil 1 is 15w/40 which is still a lot lighter than the 20w/60 Millers I use.

This may well go some way to explain why I am using less oil than you.

[E Ponym]

I think that it depends on who built your engine and what spec they built it to.

My 390 has a John Eales "blueprinted" 3905cc engine as was supplied by the factory. It uses up to 1 litre of GTX type oil per 1000 miles - but hardly seems to use anything when the engine is really hot like track days. The concept of blueprinted engines was to choose from available parts and to stack up the tolerances so that everything comes together properly when the engine reaches the optimal temperature.

I would only worry about oil consumption if it gets suddenly worse.

Russ

[Barkychoc]

If you start the engine cold with the rocker covers off not much oil sprays about while its still cold - but as it warms up it thins down and does start to make a bit of a mess especially if you rev it :tw@t:

The oil gets pumped inside the rocker shafts and escapes from the rocker pivots.