Back home, safe and sound

Back home in eastern Pa., with 2,371 miles logged on the B.

Once I got the new generator in, it ran great with no problems. Ran a little hot on the highway runs (212°), but it was real hot out, and didn't seem to affect performance.

But now the car seems to be consuming mass quantities of oil. I brought four quarts with me, had to buy four more and borrowed a fifth. So that's nine quarts of oil it went through over those 2,371 miles. I had to add a quart of oil about every 200 miles.

Folks following me on the road say the saw a little smoke puffing out on acceleration, but nothing I could see looking in the rear view, and I started watching. I checked around the tail pipe, and there's a very small amount of oily residue on the bumper and panel above it, but nothing that's big, black and obvious.

No drips or puddles at all under the car, and nothing obviously leaking in the engine bay.

Where's this oil going to? Oil pressure when running at highway speed hangs just above or slightly below 60. (But seems to me it used to be more like 70 up to 80.)

Kim, is your oil cap vented??? If not you could be blowing oil!! If you were burning that much oil, you would see it!! Believe me!! :o)

I think it's burning. It if was blowing in the engine compartment wouldn't you notice oily film over the engine?

You were running at high speeds, for a prolonged period of time. Hopefully just valve seals. If you're not up for a complete rebuild (which will be recommended here shortly I'm sure) try a can of those "stop oil burning" snake oils you get from your local auto parts. Couldn't hurt.

I wouldn't sweat the oil thing until you see how it does now that you're back home and back to your normal type of driving. I had a similar experience.
Back when I was young and dinosaurs roamed the planet, I made a middle-of-the-night run from Chattanooga to Memphis in my Midget - 350 miles in 4 hours. In a car with an advertised top speed of 92 MPH. With two gas stops (7 gallon tank!).
I made the second gas stop when I noticed the oil pressure was way low. Since the car only had 23K miles and had never used any oil (and I was, obviously, in a hurry) it didn't occur to me to check it. I think it was 3 quarts low!
I had the car for a couple of more years, and it never used a drop of oil between changes before or after that extreme run. I chalked it up to the sustained high rpms, the oil probably being abnormally thin due to the heat being generated by that kind of driving. The thinned out oil probably got past the valve guides, the rings causing it to burn a steady diet of Castrol - but not enough to cause the mosquito-fogger effect in the exhaust.
Since your car was running hot, your oil was probably running pretty thin. Just keep a eye on it and hope it was "just one of those things" :-)

I had a similar experience with my old 71 XKE. Being young and on leave from the navy, I did a 22 hour non-stop run at about 75-80 ( this was during the 55MPH Carter years). Every 200 miles, I would pull in for gas, put in 10gallon of gas, and 1/2 to 1 gallon of oil. (luckily the sump held 12 quarts.)

You wouldn't believe the looks you get from the gas station attendants.

I kept the car for 6 more years and never used more than a quart every five or six hundred miles.

Ed

OK, Joe, that's good to know. I was planning to keep an eye on it. now that I'm back to normal driving conditions. (On the way back, we were doing 300 to 400 miles a day. at least half of that at sustained 70 mph on the highway.)

Other than a couple of other overnight weekend car show trips, I'm sure not going to be doing any driving like this for some time!

Glad you're back. That's what Gary was using up too. Maybe you should check that cap and do a compression test. Your car is a stock engine, right?

My 77 used 4 quarts from Townsend to Huntsville. When I got home I found the hose from the oil filter to the block had cracked with age. I replaced it with a new one and now (with 80,000 miles on it) I only leak (onto the drive) about a quart of oil every 4,000 miles. Good Luck!

Kim,
Glad you are home safe & sound. And that the return drive did not have as many adventures?? as the outbound one.
Pics soon??
Regards, Graham

Glad you made it home.

Really enjoyed the ride.

Thanks for all your efforts Kim and Chas.

I didn't have any adventures with my car on the way home. It was just everybody else we were riding with!

Photos coming soon. We took so many, I need to finish going through and editing them. Should get that done today.

Congratulations on your trophy Kim. Job well done. What does Charles think about mgbs now?