Highway trips = Burning Oil?

[MustangPaul]

Hi all--

Interesting event. My car, mostly an in-town driver, uses oil when I take it out on the road at highway speeds (75 mph +). Not too much, but it does use some.

Yet, I can buzz around town (mostly under 55 or 60 mph) for 3000 and not use a speck of oil. Ideas?

The engine was rebuilt about 80,000 ago and, generally, behaves.

--Paul

 

[pyroman]

hmmm...I know on my car it always burns oil so I'm used to it, but the more throttle I give it the bigger the cloud behind it. That may have something to do with it.

 

[Max Power]

Quite often, while doing a lot of city driving, a fair amount of fuel wash from the cylinder walls works it's way into the oil. Then when taking the car for a good long highway blast, the gas that has displaced the oil that was burning all along gets burned off.

Unless it's really obnoxious, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[jikelly]

Thats how it started for me. Then my engine begain loosing power and burning more and more oil until I finally pulled it apart and discovered a couple cracked pistion rings. That sucked.

 

[69PaleHorse]

Just curious if you have baffled valve covers? I used to get quite a bit of blow-by going straight into the PCV, and it seemed like it used oil more quickly. If there are no other signs of potential problems such as lost compression, strange noises, low oil pressure etc. I don't know that I would be too concerned.

Oh, and what kind of oil are you running? I know synthetics will find just about any way out of the engine, even pin holes in a cork gasket are not safe from that stuff!

 

[MustangPaul]

Pale--just plain ol' havoline 10/40. No lost pressure, loss of power or any of that stuff. Just down a bit after highway driving.

Thanks, y'all!