"HLS" snipped-for-privacy@nospam.nix wrote in news:dxhnk.14879$ snipped-for-privacy@nlpi065.nbdc.sbc.com:
And, I have found, that only happens completely if the engine sits undisturbed overnight.
I've spent the last seven months (covering some 8,400 miles) doing extremely precise measurements of my oil consumption. Each and every check (seven recorded checks so far, many more unrecorded) has been done in exactly the same manner. Precision is critical for anything like this.
Now, I am confounded by one imprecise factor, and that is the actual stick reading, which is done visually against a millimeter-graduated scale I devised for the purpose. I have found that, not only does oil take all night to fully drip down into the pan, but the stick reading is different from front to rear on the stick. In addition, each time you pull the stick to check and put it back, the next reading may vary by as much as 1/2 a millimeter from the previous one unless you wait five minutes or so between stick pulls. In addition to all that, the level indicated on the stick may not be a flat line, but may be concave or convex, this apparently random, but surely tied to something I haven't discovered yet. All this means it is difficult to pin oil level to an exact reading, or consumption down to anything finer than 50 or 100 mile increments.
These are my readings. Odometer is in kilometers, all else is US Imperial: Jan 23/08 - 477,832 to 479,441 - 2,500 mi/qt - avg temp about 10 - 1st thousand on oil Feb 20/08 - 479,624 to 481,233 - 2,175 mi/qt - avg temp about 10 - 2nd thousand on oil Mar 28/08 - 481,975 to 483,551 - 2,500 mi/qt - avg temp about 30 - 1st thousand on oil Apr 17/08 - 483,583 to 485,268 - 2,350 mi/qt - avg temp about 40 - 2nd thousand on oil May 11/08 - 485,721 to 487,373 - 1,650 mi/qt - avg temp about 50 - 3rd thousand on oil Jun 14/08 - 487,963 to 489,663 - 2,150 mi/qt - avg temp about 65 - 1st thousand on oil Jul 03/08 - 489,699 to 491,418 - 1,800 mi/qt - avg temp about 75 - 2nd thousand on oil
This gives me an average consumption of about 2,100 miles per quart. Oil age seems to be a factor in consumption, as does ambient temperature. In a year or so I should have enough data to determine more convincingly the most important factors governing my oil consumption.