Warm compression numbers!

You obviously keep detailed records Paul, whilst I am relying on (elderly) memory! The capacity on my dipstick between the upper and lower lines is about 2.2 litres (2.3 US quarts) - so one US quart (300-400 miles) is about halfway between the lines - and I would have thought I would have noticed that rate of consumption. I like to keep the level about half way up - seems to limit rear crank seal leakage.

Helpful to read your consumption figures - thanks.

Frankie

My brother had a Dodge like that. Used a lot of oil. Finally somebody told him not to try and keep it full, but rather in the middle of the range somewhere. Presto, no more oil consumption.

1 Like

Frankie,
I have a small hard cover notebook that I keep in each of our Jaguars to keep track of things like maintenance performed, tire pressure checks, oil usage, fuel added, and more. With five drivable Jaguars and multiple drivers it is easy to lose track of which one received what and when. I don’t have this info digitized in a spreadsheet and so the numbers that I provided came “eyeballing” info from dozens of samplings of oil changes from each of the books over the past 10-20 years of ownership.

When I got each Jaguar I did a check of the dipstick on the first oil change to make sure it was reading correctly with the recommended oil quantity added. They did. I try to keep the oil levels in the bottom half of the hash marks on the dipstick and add 1 U.S. quart when the level reaches the bottom of the hashed area. That quart takes it up to just less than half way again. I check the oil in the morning after the cars sat overnight to get a consistent readings.

These are the numbers for our Jaguars. I have never compared them with others so I have no idea if my oil usage is representative of the population in general, but I suspect that it is.

Most people don’t seem to keep track of things like this but I do. I often find the data helpful in understanding the cars better and sometimes I have found clues to maintenence needed like when fuel consumption went up unexpectedly, some tires needed more air than others, transmission fluid consumption went up unexpectedly, and more.

The general trend for all these cars seems to be towards greater oil consumption over time and with more miles driven. But they still pass CA Smog Tests easily and start and run properly. I do have drip pans beneath all of the cars, but the drops are primarily transmission fluid lately as I need to replace a couple of transmission pan seals again.

Paul

I have the idea that some seals, especially the rope variety included a need to weep a bit of oil. Keep them lubricated…

Catch cans ? And for really bad ones, a diaper !!!

Real old tech. Just let it go where it wants…

Billy and I were really proud that our T’s did not leak oil.

Lots of Permatex red !!!

Carl

We have just returned form a driving tour of Europe and I wanted to share our oil and fuel consumption figures - particularly for oil - in the light of other experiences in this thread. I kept my usual detailed record of fuel used plus a detailed record of oil used as sensibly suggested by Paul Novak above.

We covered 1,950 miles in 2 weeks on a route comprising a mixture of mountain passes, minor roads and autoroutes (freeways). I don’t have a heavy right foot, but we weren’t hanging around either. Average consumption rates for the trip were:- Fuel - 21.7 mpg; oil - 513 miles per imperial pint (850 miles per US quart if my conversion factor is correct). Engine - 1971 4.2 litre in a series 1 Daimler Sovereign (XJ6) with auto box.

Recorded oil consumption for this trip is in line with my general experience of this car (without detailed records) and seems modest compared with the experiences of others reported above - is my oil consumption rate unusually low?

Frankie

1 Like

1 imperial pint equals 1.2 US pints (i.e. US pint is smaller). So, 513 miles per imperial pint is 428 miles per US pint.

Which is the same as Frankie stated but using Quarts.