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OT: How much oil do you go through?

1K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  to loss 
#1 ·
I just found out via my mechanic that there is a 'baby leak' at the front crank seal in my mother's 1982 300TDT with 148K miles. I believe the car has less than 1K miles on it since that oil change (about 3-4 tank-fulls).

The oil was changed over a month or so ago, and I just checked the level to find that the car was in need of a quart or so of Rotella T.

So, how much is an acceptable amount of oil to be losing in between oil changes, factoring for the leak, and any consumption of oil by the engine.
 
#2 ·
I believe MB says that burning, not leaking a quart of oil every 800-900 miles at the most is acceptable. Anything lower than that is in serious need of an overhaul. Fix the leaks first and see if the consumption rate goes down.
 
#3 ·
The new shop said it would be expensive to fix the crank seal... any thoughts on how much time an operation like that would take? I don't have a lift or anything yet, otherwise I'd just read up well on it, and then do it myself...
 
#4 ·
If it is a very minimal leak, I'd live with it a while longer, clean the area and see for yourself. It's not that much fun to change and there several potential complications you could invite. Takes a special tool or two also. One tip I can give you is leave the seal arbor in place under tension on the new seal for over 24 hours, too little time can cause them to "pop back out"

Basically I don't like pulling off the harmonic balancer if I can help it....
 
#7 ·
where does yours leak from? Driving it 110mph probably didn't help fix the leak.
 
#10 ·
i dunno theres oil on the ground where i parked once, and im low on oil after like a month, and that HUGE trip up to lake george NY

WTF IS UP WITH MY SIG!!!!! it like doesnt show up all the time
 
#9 · (Edited)
I was driving less than 85. The mechanic said its leaking from the oil pan, and from the front crank seal, but he also said it was a minimal leak... just trying to make sure my parents know enough to look at the oil level regularly, and that checking up on it should be enough for now... I'm the only one in the family that routinely checks all fluids and air pressure, and especially so before it gets driven on the semi-regular four hour trips my parents are prone to drive.

It doesn't seem to burn the oil, but again, I couldn't tell for sure knowing that it does have a leak. Just wondering how much you guys allow your cars to leak before some major attention is paid to your engines...

I regularly keep a gallon of that Rotella T diesel oil in the trunk, and usually when I've come home from being away, I find that the diesel needs about a quart... and that quart always makes the engine 'happy.'

Like I said, I had the oil changed about a month or two ago, and the car hasn't been driven all that far... maybe 1,000-1,500 miles...

Not sure if this factors in, but the car wasn't shifting very well before I went after the vacuum leaks... and I don't believe the turbo was working to spec before I cleaned the banjo bolt that runs to the switchover valve... could the car want to leak more oil now that those are fixed? Before the car would shift at about 2500 on hard acceleration before I adjusted/cleaned things... now it's a little rev happy.
 
#11 ·
OK... now I think you're making fun of me, Viper... that's ok... I know I don't know much about these cars... that's why I was asking. It has been driven around town here, where the speed limit is about 35. It has had two short highway trips, and that's about it. Nothing big.
 
#13 · (Edited)
well i cleaned out around my oil cap and between my DOHC's. then two weeks later, theres dirt and dust clumped up by oil around the entire thing again, i think its those large rubber gaskets on each spark plug hole. and you have a deisel so you have no idea what im talking about :surrender:
 
#15 ·
I might lose a quart between oil changes, but I know I don't burn any, well at least very little.
 
#16 ·
My front main seal leaked so I read up on how to replace it and did it. It still leaked so I assumed that I'd done it wrong. I did it again and it still leaked. Crap! I let it sit and looked again. It was an AC compressor mount bolt that had dropped out and is tapped into the cam chain housing. When it ran at speed it'd spew oil around and it would drain out the hole down onto the harmonic balancer and be slung around. I installed and locktited an new bolt in and it doesn't leak. My car hasn't used a quart in 2000 miles and has 265,000 miles on it. The front main seal isn't that hard to replace, especially the second time in a weekend. You might make sure that it is what is leaking. Troy341
 
#17 ·
Good tip, 341! I'll have to take a look at that next time I'm out...
 
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