Oil Consumption for 37 Terraplane

Unknown

What kind of oil consumption rate should I expect from the engine on a 1937 Terraplane chassis. The engine seems to run very well but uses about 1 qt of oil every 150 miles. I was wondering what oil use rate could be expected from an engine that was overhauled 30 years and 16,000 miles ago?

[Deleted User]

Jim, I think a quart every is quite excessive. Maybe a quart every 1000 miles. Jon Battle should be able to answer this for You. Hopefully He will chime in on this one.
Bob

Jon B

That's way too much for a 16,000 mile Hudson engine. Have you done a compression test? Is there an oil leak? Was the car re-ringed with stainless steel rings?

Unknown

I have just finished running the compression check you suggested. With the engine warm I read: #1, 119lb; #2, 120lb; #3, 120lb; #4, 120lb; #5, 119lb; and #6, 100lb. I added about 2 teaspoons of oil to #6 and it only increased the reading to 104lb.



I don't find any oil significant droppings under the engine after it sits in the garage, but I notice that the copper oil line that goes from the oil pump to the oil warning switch is always wet with oil where it enters the switch. Could this be leaking oil when the car is running on the road but not when stopped?



Also the spark plugs looked normal when I removed them for the compression check. None where wet with oil.



Please let me know if this information helps to explain my very high oil consumption.



Thank you for your help.

Jim Ott

[Deleted User]

You could definitely be losing oil through the switch! I've had that very thing happen on my '78 New Yorker, where I was losing a quart every 200 miles! Replaced the sending switch, it fixed that, now it loses no oil at all between changes.

Geoff

If you were losing that amount of oil it would be evident under the car, and along the frame. Have you done a vacuum test? It could be that the rings havenot yet bedded in properly, but I doubt it. If the wrong rings were installed this would cause the problem. You must use cast iron rings, preferably with spring-backed oil rings in the thrid groove. However, if it was rings, I would expect to see smoke out the exhaust.

Geoff.

Unknown

Geoff C., N.Z. wrote:

If you were losing that amount of oil it would be evident under the car, and along the frame. Have you done a vacuum test? It could be that the rings havenot yet bedded in properly, but I doubt it. If the wrong rings were installed this would cause the problem. You must use cast iron rings, preferably with spring-backed oil rings in the thrid groove. However, if it was rings, I would expect to see smoke out the exhaust.

Geoff.

Geoff,



What is a vacuum test and how can I perform it?



The engine was rebuilt in England by a firm that no longer exists. I do not have any information on the rings that were used. I sometimes do see a little exhaust but it is not blue-white.



Jim

Jon B

This probably won't be of any help, but when my car's engine was rebuilt (prior to the Nashville national meet) stainless steel rings were used (or so I believe). Despite being newly rebuilt, the engine required one quart of new oil approximately every 150 miles. I could see no visible smoke coming out the tailpipe. The car was re-ringed subsequently, using standard cast iron rings, and now -- nine years later -- its oil use is negligible.



If your car does have stainless steel rings, I've been told that one can put fine amounts of fine scouring powder down the carburetor, to cause the stainless steel rings to "wear in", but frankly I'd be afraid of the stuff getting into the engine bearings and causing them to "wear out".

Geoff

jimott wrote:

Geoff,



What is a vacuum test and how can I perform it?



The engine was rebuilt in England by a firm that no longer exists. I do not have any information on the rings that were used. I sometimes do see a little exhaust but it is not blue-white.



Jim

You need a vacuum gauge into the intake manifold, for instance, where the wiper connection is. You should have a steady reading of 17 to 21 if the rings and valves are good. However, if the engine has not donw many miles, perhaps it needs to bed in. If it hasn't improved after say 1,500 miles, you will need to strip it down and see what type of rings it is fitted with. Hudson initially used pinned-in-position rings, and if ordinary rings are used they do not easily bed in and can cause oil consumption problems.

tigermoth

jon, just my two cents, but i agree with your assessment of the idea of adding abrasive to the cylinders. i would not put ANY abrasive down the carb or any where else near the engine. that story reminds me of one matt joseph told in skinned knuckles a few years ago..as a young restorer he was just finishing an over haul of a V-12 and an old boy stopped by the shop and put a couple of hand fulls of "a special powder" in the oil filler. said it would aid break in. it was graphite and it ended up blocking all the oil ports and the engine ground up. regards, tom

[Deleted User]

On my Chrysler, the leaking oil pressure sending unit was NOT an obvious leak, and their was nearly no oil on the shop floor. There WAS oil atop the transmission case, but that was it. Replaced it, and what I thought initially to be an oil consumption problem, was gone.



Might be the same problem on your 212, maybe not.

junkcarfann

A compression test and/or vacuum test will not always pinpoint oil consumption via the rings, as the compression rings may be functioning, while the oil control rings are not.



We had a Clark forklift with a Continental 6 cylinder that had great compression, started all the time, had plenty of power, but blew smoke like a smoke machine. It consumed gallons of oil, yet ran fine.