burned a lot of oil on xcountry road trip , is this an acceptable rate ?
 

hey guys so I recently drove from VA to Southern California and i changed the oil the day before I left. now the drive was about 2900 miles if I count the detour I took in the blue ride mountains and I put about 200 or so miles on it since I've been here so well say 3300 between oil changes.

well I heard it for the first time clearly yesterday going down hill but my check gauge light came on and I noticed today when I was breaking hard my oil pressure went down to about 20. uh oh. now keep in mind I checked it mid road trip but maybe it was too warm but it read fine but looked like it had gone down some. I checked it then today where I was and nothing was on the dipstick. that's really weird. engines still runs like a top ( not exaggerating).

so I go to the Walmart, got oil and a good filter , change my oil in the parking lot and when I drain it .... dear lord . barely getting close to 2 quarts in the drain pan. like 1.5-1.7. that's a lot of burnt oil.

weirdly enough other than 360 fuel mileage my engine doesn't have any plenum signs. trust me I would've known. I went through a lot of steep inclines, mountains and hills on the way here. she got her ass up there without any hesitation. When I was going through the mountains in the desert getting close to San Diego I saw a lot of cars broke down on the side of the road or really struggle to get up on the mountain. not my girl , and I have a tool box with alot of **** in it and all my guitar gear in the bed ( about 200lbs) and my spare tire ( couldn't find a winch so I just chained it upon the bed).

after I changed the oil in my truck I kept my music off all day with the windows rolled down just to listen. all I heard was a beautiful sounding v8. it was quite relaxing with just the rumble actually. might have to do that more often as I normally have my music blasting.

I know when these engines start getting some miles on them ( mines at 160 right now) they start to burn a little oil but its hard for me to justify that much with the way it runs. I wouldn't be surprised if the plenums been replaced already actually. this was a family truck that was well maintained, I know for a fact that the rear end has been touched because the cover is aftermarket.

so yeah idk if that much oil consumption is normal for a long trip like that. I never had oil consumption like that before because ive had it for 6 months. no CEL for anything either like fouled plugs or o2 sensors. I'm in a brand new area and don't know a soul here so if my plenum is in fact done , well im gonna have to pony up for the tools and dive in pretty deep by myself for the first time.

Surely you've got a leak somewhere... Have you looked carefully for evidence of leaks (drips on the ground, oil anywhere underneath)? I've got 275k miles on the original 5.9 engine in my 95 ram truck, never done the plenum (I'm sure it leaks) and I don't lose much more than that. I've had that old truck since it had 30k miles on it and have done little more than basic maintenance on the engine (water pumps die about every 75k miles), hoses, etc... I know I've got few places where it leaks.

Common places to look for oil leaks are valve cover gaskets, timing cover gasket, distributer Oring, or perhaps rear main seal. Also always worth checking around the oil filter in my experience. The good news is that as long as you just check it and put oil in it, it'll probably just keep right on going until you have the time and extra cash to hint down the leak... Mine's been leaking / losing a little oil for at least 100k miles now... Lots of places (ie seals, valve cover, distributer oring) only leak when the engine is running and most leaks are worse when the oil is hot and thin. All oils have seal and gasket conditioners in them, the high mileage version of most have extra of both usually. I dunno that I would run synthetic in it, but that's up to you. Personally, I run shell Rotella 15w40 in my "work horse" engines (my 95 Ram every 300-3500 miles since 1998, ram Van), and my hot rod marine engine, mobile one high mileage synthetic 5w-30 in my other toys (that call for synthetic or produce higher compression and have tighter bearings - couple corvettes, my daugher's modded mini cooper S, etc...). That seems to work well for me, but I know there are many others that will as well...


If it looks like it might be leaking a little oil somewhere and you can't see where, clean the engine (especially the underside) with degreaser, then drive it a couple days and give it a good couple of puffs of baby powder. It'll stick where the oil is and help you see it. Oh, and although I don't want to admit it, I've run mine down to where the oil light came on several times over the years... You probably didn't hurt a thing... ;-)

The valve covers can leak onto the exhaust manifolds, so, the oil burns off there, and you never see it on the ground.

My 96 had a SERIOUS appetite for oil though.... quart every 150 miles. That was only a little bit better than before I fixed the plenum. (and yes, the plenum was squeaky clean afterwards.) So, rings, valve seals, or the valve covers were the likely culprit. Given my truck has over 200K miles on it..... and compression was questionable on the cylinders I tested, my conclusion on mine was.... bad rings.

My 5.2 burns 2 quarts every oil change. Always has, always will.

But if I just picked up a new old rig and drove it cross country, I'd be popping that hood every other stop to check things, especially oil. You may have dodged a bullet but ultimately, this one's on you.

rough crowd... maybe be nice? I gather he's had it for several months and it wasn't apparently using much if any oil around town... I've no doubt he's kicking himself in the ass for not checking it, no need to add more from the peanut gallery... ever made a mistake like that in the past? i damn sure have, lots of em... respectfully submitted...

LOL! I had a 68 chevy truck with a straight 6 that burned oil like that years ago... leaked so bad I put used oil from the cars at work in it (oil changes) to keep from buying new. It burned and leaked so much I didn't bother even testing anything... My diagnosis and conclusion was junkyard 400 small block with new cam, headers, intake, carb and dualpoint...

Try wasting 8 quarts of oil. Poured it in my Hemi, started it up no oil pressure. Shut it down looked around I never put the drain plug or filter on :D

that actually burns less than my truck does mathematically, or close to it....mine burns ~0.75q per ~1000 miles. I have almost 226k on the 95 5.2 v8 ram now...I have my oil change coming up in about 3 weeks and have honestly just been considering going cheap dino supertech oil, it seems well regarded online and I heard dino can actually reduce or possibly stop the oil burning versus synthetic since the molecules in the syn are so much smaller and all uniform. I scored a good deal on some seemingly well constructed Champion oil filters so I'm set on those for a few years. The Chevron Supreme dino oil seems a few cents cheaper than even Supertech dino on my research online for 10w30's cheapest brand

I've run nothing but valvoline max life syn blend 10w30 in the two ram trucks I've had and they certainly get me from point A to B fine, but, dino would definitely safe a few bucks plus possibly reduce the burning, I heard syn is better in extreme cold but realistically me being in the hot and humid south I doubt dino would be a handicap

I've heard newer vehicles from the factory have been burning more than this so I wouldn't worry about it, oil burning/leaking is considered no biggie to many people, I've read a bunch about it on various forums over time, one guy said his burned a quart every 2 weeks but he kept the car many many years and would just top up on oil and it never died

edit- I knew a guy a couple years ago that delivered pizzas in an 01 ram v8, unsure if it was 318 or 360 but I drove it around a little hanging out and it drove fine and that thing needed a whole 5q jug of oil per month he told me, it actually ran low one night and dash was beeping and he popped the hood and poured in some pennzoil platinum oil from the big jug like it was no biggie lol. Maybe dino would have burned a bit less as that platinum oil is fully syn iirc...

I remember you telling that story!

when that much oil consumption per month I'd assume his plenum was totally blown, although it idled fine and drove around town and the highway here at ~55-60 perfectly fine, being new to DIY mechanics and vehicles in general back then I was utterly shocked how nonchalantly he talked about every month on payday he'd just get another 5q jug like it was no big deal, he ended up moving across the country to Michigan I heard, as far as I know the truck still made that trip. It had about ~164k on it iirc.