Oil burn...What are your numbers?

RyanB

RyanB

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What haven't we discussed by now? Curious what everyone's average oil burn is like. 10hrs/qt? Less, more? I notice as the oil ages and breaks down, the engine uses more of it, when compared to a fresh oil change, which seems to go 10+ hours before ever needing to add any.
 
Dunno.

Between shops overfilling, low consumption, and low hours, I’ve hardly had to add between changes recently.
 
I've currently got ~27 hours on this oil and it's near time to change it. I haven't had to add any oil. FWIW, I fly an experimental William Wynne 120 HP Corvair conversion ...
 
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Both engines on the Beech 18 average 1qt per hour each.

T6 a little better (1 qt every 2 hours), but more recent o/h.
 
Wouldn't some of that consumption data depend on whether you're flying local an hour a week vs traveling long distances?
 
Right after an oil change, I get about 10hr/qt. At 50 hrs, it's about 5hr/qt. The decrease is not linear; it drops noticeably around 35 hours, which makes me wonder if I should change the oil more often. What really confuses me about it is that the analysis numbers for an oil sample at 25 hours vs 50 hours are nearly indistinguishable.

Your friend and mine, @NealRomeoGolf, is battling excessive oil consumption right now as his engine nears TBO. I wonder if the "ring wash" procedure prescribed by Mike Bush would help his issue.
 
Comanche 250 with the O540 engine. I'm getting just over 10 hours per quart of airtime. I fill it to 9 qts and refill it when it gets down to 8. If I go over 9, it'll just dump out the first quart the moment I start the engine.
 
Jim K said:
Right after an oil change, I get about 10hr/qt. At 50 hrs, it's about 5hr/qt. The decrease is not linear; it drops noticeably around 35 hours, which makes me wonder if I should change the oil more often. What really confuses me about it is that the analysis numbers for an oil sample at 25 hours vs 50 hours are nearly indistinguishable.

Your friend and mine, @NealRomeoGolf, is battling excessive oil consumption right now as his engine nears TBO. I wonder if the "ring wash" procedure prescribed by Mike Bush would help his issue.
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Last oil change was 3.7 hrs per qt. Now I'm at 3.2 hrs per qt. :eek2:
 
Jim K said:
Right after an oil change, I get about 10hr/qt. At 50 hrs, it's about 5hr/qt. The decrease is not linear; it drops noticeably around 35 hours, which makes me wonder if I should change the oil more often. What really confuses me about it is that the analysis numbers for an oil sample at 25 hours vs 50 hours are nearly indistinguishable.

Your friend and mine, @NealRomeoGolf, is battling excessive oil consumption right now as his engine nears TBO. I wonder if the "ring wash" procedure prescribed by Mike Bush would help his issue.
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Not familiar with the ring wash procedure.
But…
I took all cyls off a 0-320 to find pistons, rings and cylinder walls in good shape even after 1700hrs. Sure I found carbon in the oil ring but others looked good except 3 out of 4 had the rings gaps mostly lined up. Have never seen it in many engine rebuilds.
I cleaned all the carbon off the pistons and rings and put back together. It ran about the same as before which was not bad at all. Leak down numbers were getting worse and were better after the rings were spaced properly. The big difference is it went from 1qt oil per 4 hours to 9-10 hrs per qt. Huge difference, I flew it for 100 hours on the same oil right after I put back together. Then sent it Blackstone and the numbers were the same as a 50 hour change.
Lots of pictures to backup my story…lol
 
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IO-360-A1A on cross countries around 1quart/7hrs(+/-) but when we're practicing approaches or landings it seems to chew through it closer to 1quart/2-3hrs.
 
Mine's around 5 hours right after the oil change, down to about 3 hours after 25 hours when I change it (no filter on my O-290). Compressions are all in the 70s. I'm going to try the ring flush.
 
O-320-D3G in Warrior II, about 12 hrs/qt. After oil change, I had 6 quarts and let the level settle. It usually settles at 6.5 quarts. At 5.5 quarts I add a quart. At 7 and above it blows oil out the breather tube.
 
Gary Ward said:
Interesting…I think I would remove the exhaust system before I got started.
I know Mike don’t like removing clys…on a small Lycoming it is not that hard to pull a cylinder.
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And given the comments about removing the drain because of potential damage to the rubber o ring, I wonder what this concoction would do to crankcase seals. I’d wanna see some confirmed benefits of doing this whole procedure before giving it a try, personally.
 
Gary Ward said:
Not familiar with the ring wash procedure.
But…
I took all cyls off a 0-320 to find pistons, rings and cylinder walls in good shape even after 1700hrs. Sure I found carbon in the oil ring but others looked good except 3 out of 4 had the rings gaps mostly lined up. Have never seen it in many engine rebuilds.
I cleaned all the carbon off the pistons and rings and put back together. It ran about the same as before which was not bad at all. Leak down numbers were getting worse and were better after the rings were spaced properly. The big difference is it went from 1qt oil per 4 hours to 9-10 hrs per qt. Huge difference, I flew it for 100 hours on the same oil right after I put back together. Then sent it Blackstone and the numbers were the same as a 50 hour change.
Lots of pictures to backup my story…lol
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The reason I ran the oil to 98 hrs to be exact, is I had 90 days to return the engine to Lycoming as a core. Man did I have buyers remorse after how well the old engine performed after reassemble because I ordered the rebuilt while putting the old one back together.
 
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Lycoming IO-360-C1C6 (200hp)
After an oil change it's usually 1qt/10h
Once I get up to 25-30h it's about 1.25-1.5qt/10h; and stays at that level until the oil change.
*that's assuming I give it no more than 7qts (8qt capacity). Anything beyond 7 and you're going to be adding a lot of replacement oil :)
 
O320-E2G with high compression pistons. About 10 hr/qt after a few hundred hours on the engine. I keep it between 6-7 quarts of 8 quarts capacity. Seems to be what O-320s like for optimum oil consumption.
 
Once I switched to XC 20-50 my oil consumption was reduced and the oil stayed cleaner for longer. I’m surprised everyone doesn’t use it.

Re: oil, contamination, corrosion… listen and learn.

 
Stewartb said:
Once I switched to XC 20-50 my oil consumption was reduced and the oil stayed cleaner for longer. I’m surprised everyone doesn’t use it.

Re: oil, contamination, corrosion… listen and learn.

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I used to run Phillips 100, when I moved I could only get 20-50. I think the oil stays clean longer and uses a little bit less.
 
Wagondriver said:
I used to run Phillips 100, when I moved I could only get 20-50. I think the oil stays clean longer and uses a little bit less.
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If the oil stays clean longer does that not mean it’s not doing its job as good as the previous oil? After all, oil is not only a lubricant but a detergent for your engine as well. If the oils stays cleaner could that that mean it’s not cleaning as good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
TSIO-520D.....with Phillips 20w50 with CamGuard....I'm pushing 20 hrs so far. The oil is still light caramel....I do run it lean.
 
It means the blow-by is reduced. Blow-by is the primary source of contamination in our oil. XC reducing blow-by is easy to see. Watch how the drips from the breather line are reduced with XC. I've convinced a lot of guys to try that test and all have reported improvement. They all use XC now, too.
 
Mine seems to vary but here lately about a quart every 10-15 hours on my 550. Turbulence makes it worse since my engine has such a shallow sump.
 
Pretty much zero. Gotta love a Rotax. We might go through half a liter in 100 hours.
 
DaleB said:
Pretty much zero. Gotta love a Rotax. We might go through half a liter in 100 hours.
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I was hoping a Rotax driver would comment. Good deal on that!

I don't add oil to my Corvair engine but I change it about 30-35 hours ...
 
Stewartb said:
It means the blow-by is reduced. Blow-by is the primary source of contamination in our oil. XC reducing blow-by is easy to see. Watch how the drips from the breather line are reduced with XC. I've convinced a lot of guys to try that test and all have reported improvement. They all use XC now, too
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Better than AeroShell?
 
Daleandee said:
I was hoping a Rotax driver would comment. Good deal on that!

I don't add oil to my Corvair engine but I change it about 30-35 hours ...
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Yeah… 3 liters of oil and 100 hour oil change interval since we’re burning mogas. I send samples off to Blackstone for analysis, and the reports are always good.
 
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