Bob,
Thanks for the response. I now know I have one more base covered.
I'm sure I'm burning it as well as leaving my calling card. Occasionally I get
a bit of blue smoke on startup and my drippage makes it hard to park when out
and about. It has lead to a couple of embarrassing moments, quickly forgiven
because of the car's coolness factor.
As the car and I build trust and faith in each other, my driving is mostly
short 20-30 miles jaunts. I'm thinking that means I'm loosing more through
dripping than if I made longer trips. Also, the milage in my original post were
SWAGS (wildass guesses), so basically, I have no idea what's going on. I should
take it to my mechanic for a leak-down test.
If you don't mind me droning on ...
I think the rings are good because the compression test I did had good but
interesting results. Starting at cylinder #1 the compression was 165#. From
the there the numbers rose incrementally, 165#, 167#, 170#, .... until the 6th
which had 180#. Is this a symptom or coincidence?
Oil pressure runs 60# at startup and 25-30# when heat saturated. I'm assuming
jet-black oil is customary for these engines.
Regarding oils in modern engines, my daughter's Honda Civic Hybrid runs 0W-20.
Greg
--- On Sat, 6/26/10, Bob Spidell <bspidell@comcast.net> wrote:
From: Bob Spidell <bspidell@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Motor Oil --- ZDDP
To: "Greg Mandas" <gmandas@yahoo.com>
Cc: "Alan Seigrist" <healey.nut@gmail.com>, "healeylist"
<healeys@autox.team.net>
Date: Saturday, June 26, 2010, 11:50 PM
Welcome to the List. Yes, it's
a rehash, but it's a slow news day.
The consensus now is that most 20W-50 oils probably have
(just) enough ZDDP for our flat tappet valve trains
(although some manufacturers may have cut back the amount
from earlier formulations). There aren't any modern,
catalytic converter-equipped cars that use such a heavy
oil--most use 5W-30 or 10W-30 and some Hondas and
Fords use 5W-20--so 20W-50 was apparently exempted
from the new regs (or simply overlooked).
Valvoline Racing Oil--the 'street legal' version--probably
has enough ZDDP that you could use it straight, without any
additive. You'll want to change your oil at
least once a year regardless of how much/often you drive
your car, so you could put in 12 of 16ozs of the additive
when you change the oil, then the other 4oz when you add a
qt. (assuming the additive comes in pint bottles). Or
just dump it all in when you change the oil and don't worry
about it. Or just use the Valvoline and don't worry
about it.
A quart every 3-400 miles is a bit much, even for a
Healey. Are you burning it, or just marking your
territory?
bs
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