THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

How much is normal? My 710K burns a quart of oil (Pennzoil SAE 30) every 500 miles. The oil doesn't leak and the engine doesn't smoke. Should I be checking compression, or should I simply change the oil to SAE 40 or Castrol SAE 30 as other forum contributers have suggested in other threads? I have always only used Castrol in all my vehicles except the Pinz. Thank you for your comments.

Hi,

On a personal note, I have found Penzoil to burn in any vehicle I have used it in. I always use Castrol. Just my choice, 10W30 in my pinz....

OK, so I'll search for the Castrol for my next change, and will post results when they happen. Any reason for not using Castrol Syntec? I've read some guys don't like the cleaning effect of synthetics and swear by the distilled oils.

Javier

I've personally never used a synthetic, but I know the topic has been discussed somewhere on this forum a while back, maybe try a search.

tx Dave

Synthetic will bring out leaks that you didn't have before, I use it only for new engines. 500 miles per quart is not bad, I've owned 3 Pinzgauers and all of them used oil.

My oil consumption varies depending on driving conditions. See no reason to run synthetic; the Pinz wasn’t designed for it.

One quart in five hundred miles in a 30 + year old military truck that has no valve guide seals on the exhaust valves and likely worn or none on the intake valves is not surprising.

And if you look at what BMW finds to be acceptable on their new cars....

On a side note, how many quarts of oil do you store under the front floor boards?

As others have said, a quart every 500 miles is not suprising but it is a pain to deal with and keep track of. On the other hand, my 710 has never burned more than a quart every few thousand miles (like never add oil between the yearly oil changes) and after Jim L. rebuilt my 712 it similarly does not need oil through the year. So these engines CAN be rebuilt right to save oil consumption.

BTW, the 712 engine that got rebuilt had nasty, scored jugs and once they were bored and honed properly then the oil consumption (about a quart every 300 miles before, or every other tankful) went away. Replacing the intake valve guide seals beforehand did nothing to reduce the oil consumption.