500 miles to a quart of oil used. What would you do?

1 quart every 500 miles isn't THAT bad. I'm not sure about Ferraris off-hand but for example BMW allows 1.5L / 1000KM within specifications on modern M engines within their warranty periods. That's 1.59 quarts in 621 miles.

If your were my 328, and it was driving ok, I would probably hold until the next major maintenance interval / belt service, and pull the engine and have it rebuilt then. But if it's no longer driving great, why not do it now?

 

There are so many variables here...what type of oil? Has it gone worse recently? etc, etc...if it has gone worse, then...you know the answer better than I do.
This prompted me to check my '89 GTB: on Shell 10w60 synthetic, it is half-a-liter (= 2/3 of a quart) after 3.200 kms, which is 2.000 miles. Or: let's say a quart for 3.000 miles, as for today, on this oil.
So a quart (which is 0,75 litre to us metric folks), every 500 miles (= 800 kms) seems "rather high" to me: 6 times more than my '89 GTB, taking the type of oil into account?
I would say "nothing to worry about" per se YET, but if it does get more, time to think about it.

Rgds

 

STP? ( am I aging myself?)

How many miles are on the car?

 

When was the last time the vapor separator was serviced?

15% by most yardsticks is not considered high and does not account for 1qt/500 miles even if it was all 8 cylinders. If one cylinder was responsible for 1 qt in 500 miles you couldn't keep a spark plug in it.

I'd be real sure the oil is being properly filled too.

 

I'd drink STP before I ever put it in a car.

 

My advice is to take the car out for an extended Italian tuneup. How long has it been since its last valve adjustment? If it hasn't been within the last 5-10 thousand miles, do that after the Italian tuneup. Then recheck compression and leakdown on all cylinders again.

 

Brian being in the loop, I defer...
(But...if it doesn't get worse, and has always been there, it's not that urgent would be my conclusion)
What type of oil?

Rgds

 

Never serviced an oil seperator?

No wonder so many have turned to garbage. It is the functional equivalent of a PCV valve and proper crankcase breathing is dependent on its proper functioning.

Without proper crankcase breathing there is no way rings can do their jobs. no matter their condition. Their operation depends on a vacuum in the crankcase. A wet sump motor has no chance otherwise.


Does it have a good functioning cat? If so you'll never see smoke. 80-82 308s burned a lot more than that and never smoked, they just covered the rear of the car with soot.

 

FWIW, the owner's manual for my 89 says

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That was a maximum and only stated so they could avoid warranty claims. I drive the crap out of ours and I never use the dipstick because I don't need to.

In reality the cars never lived down to that standard unless something was wrong. Not since the 4 valve engines anyway.

 

I'd put a borescope down the spark plug holes. If that much oil is getting past the rings the pistons will look wet and the circumference will be washed down and look like bare aluminum.

 

Just curious, he reported no running issues and only notable compression related issue is 15% leakage in one cylinder only which isn't that bad. How is a valve adjustment or an Italian tune up going to effect anything related to the complaint?

 

I use Mobile 1 0-40 in all of them without issue. Because of the well known oil starvation issue many over the years with wet sump 308s and 328s have intentionally over filled them by a quart or so when used in a track event. The extra oil will burn off pretty quickly. All that is known. Id reread the book on proper oil level testing and retest being scrupulous about the test method and retest it for a while with absolute consistency. And do it yourself, not the client to be absolutely sure there really is a problem.

 

vapor separator service? Is there a good post on this subject? Test/repair/replace? Every day is a school day in the 308 forum

 

it was intended as a joke. I can remember using it last around 1974, it had the consistency of glue.

 

This is news to me also. I guess it's something I should have known. Is there directions on how to do this somewhere?

 

Well it is on the list of items to be serviced. It became obvious to us in the Ferrari business they needed attention far more often that Ferrari said. It should also be obvious mileage was not the important factor, time was.

 

Stop using full synthetic, go with 20 / 50 Valvoline Racing mineral, and I bet that stops , or is reduced significantly Its worth a try .My car has 105,000 miles and burns 0 oil.

Big G

 

At one point , a long time ago, I was not aware that a shop my car was at changed my oil to mobile one. I can remember the oil becoming less than full in under 1000 miles, which has never happened before. I removed that oil asap, went back to the 20/50, now after 3000 miles, my oil is still full. I have to say, Im 1000 % on top of how my 89 runs, 105,000 miles and 24 years. It has not lost any compression. or power, and blows no smoke at all. Synthetic oil, I have heard, can just burn up in the combustion chamber , with no visible blue smoke. I found the same issue on my 1400 Suzuki Busa Big bore. I never ever use synthetic in any of my bikes other than my 3 Ducatis, its that simple. I use full syn in my truck and Q50, but they are new vehicles, and are made for this type of oil.

Big G

 

"If you have an older engine or your seals and gaskets are starting to deteriorate, synthetic oil can often be the culprit when it comes to high oil consumption and you’re left with a low level of oil. Switching to a conventional oil will often stop any minor leaks. Read also: 5 Causes of Car High Fuel Consumption in Gasoline and Diesel Engines "

Google

 

Oh noes... Another oil thread
Liqui moly MoS2 10w40
Looks like used oil, slicker then snot. Semi-synth. It's the one oil I use on the old classics, esp my old mercs.

2nd the comment Brian made about the air oil separator. I've been toying with mfg a replacement unit that uses air velocity and centrifugal separation to filter vs media. That's the more common approach today. These engines really need crankcase vacuum to operate well.

 

Quoting "Google" as an authoritative source? Seriously? Or, more properly, get serious. If you have an actual source, fine, but "Google" is not it. By the way, an actual knowledgable source will report that the myth that synthetic oil causes oil leaks was debunked a couple of decades ago - it's simply not true since synthetic were reformulated to eliminate that issue in the 1970s.

Gordon