Oil Consumption

How many quarts of oil do you add between oil changes?

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Rotero

Rotero

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Rotero
I have a oil-thirsty Lycoming TIO-540 (~1000 TTSN), must add a quart every seven hours. Everything else looks very good. Strong power, temperatures by the book, good compresion on all cylinders, not foul plugs problems, easy start, no external leaks, ...but still I am a little worried. What is your experience with oil consumption in your engine? (Normalized to 50h service interval)
(Please share engine model, TSOH, consumption)
 
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My "new" (to me) engine is a model of modesty, and in the initial 31 hours I've had it, I've added only two quarts. IO520.
 
Actual answer is 4-5, we change oil every 50 hrs. O-540, fixed pitch, 250HP.
 
I've owned my 182 for just over two months & have logged around 35 hours in it. I've added 3 quarts of oil. 450 SMOH but it only flew 200 hours in the last 16 years.

I knew the low-use engine was a risk but at the annual the inside of the engine looked good & the compression was also good.

I'm happy with the oil consumption. 0-470's like oil.
 
saddletramp said:
I've owned my 182 for just over two months & have logged around 35 hours in it. I've added 3 quarts of oil. 450 SMOH but it only flew 200 hours in the last 16 years.

I knew the low-use engine was a risk but at the annual the inside of the engine looked good & the compression was also good.

I'm happy with the oil consumption. 0-470's like oil.
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What cylinders do you have?
 
BillTIZ said:
Actual answer is 4-5, we change oil every 50 hrs. O-540, fixed pitch, 250HP.
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:yeahthat:

Very consistent with what I am experiencing with my pair of 250 hp Lycoming IO-540s.
 
saddletramp said:
I've owned my 182 for just over two months & have logged around 35 hours in it. I've added 3 quarts of oil. 450 SMOH but it only flew 200 hours in the last 16 years.

I knew the low-use engine was a risk but at the annual the inside of the engine looked good & the compression was also good.

I'm happy with the oil consumption. 0-470's like oil.
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What do you mean by O-470s liking oil?

A quart every 11-12 hours is not high oil consumption.
 
Fearless Tower said:
What do you mean by O-470s liking oil?

A quart every 11-12 hours is not high oil consumption.
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My past experience flying 182's for part 135, USFS, & US Fish & Wildlife it seemed like 0-470's used more oil than other engines I've flown. Don't get me wrong I think it's a great engine.

When I said my 182 had used three quarts in 30 hours isn't quite accurate. It started with 12 quarts after the annual & now I keep it around 10 quarts, So in reality it used 5 quarts in 30 hour now that I think about it. I'm still okay with that.
 
saddletramp said:
I've owned my 182 for just over two months & have logged around 35 hours in it. I've added 3 quarts of oil. 450 SMOH but it only flew 200 hours in the last 16 years.

I knew the low-use engine was a risk but at the annual the inside of the engine looked good & the compression was also good.

I'm happy with the oil consumption. 0-470's like oil.
Click to expand...

Ours burns nearly none. Less than a quart per oil change if done at 25 hours. Maybe add a quart if we went long. Usually not. Stick reaching the add Mark means we are overdue to change it so we do.

saddletramp said:
My past experience flying 182's for part 135, USFS, & US Fish & Wildlife it seemed like 0-470's used more oil than other engines I've flown. Don't get me wrong I think it's a great engine.

When I said my 182 had used three quarts in 30 hours isn't quite accurate. It started with 12 quarts after the annual & now I keep it around 10 quarts, So in reality it used 5 quarts in 30 hour now that I think about it. I'm still okay with that.
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I bet if you're filling to 12, two of those are all over the belly. Might want to get under there and see. Or do two or three more oil changes and it'll be obvious that the belly is a black mess by then. (Ask me how I know! LOL!)

We typically never go above 10. No point. We just end up degreasing and washing it off the belly later. If we go 9 plus CamGuard we see nearly zero loss overboard. We've even experimented with 8 plus CamGuard for a while just to see where that overboard blow by "knee" was in the numbers. Stick sits just above the add mark at 9+.
 
Rotax 912 - Zero added between oil changes, ever. 50-75 hours between changes.
 
In the Cherokee It seems to stay at 6qts indefinately. But fill it to 7 and it will be back to 6 in about 4 hours. Fill it to 8 and it will be back to 6 in about 5 hours.
 
My Lycoming O-360 uses a quart every 10 hours. I put 50 hours/year on the plane and change the oil in the spring and fall. So I add two quarts between changes.
 
One quart every 6-8 hours on C-85 with 1100 SMOH in my Cub. About one every 20-25 in the O-320 on my RV-4, which has almost 1000 hours since factory new. O-300 with 400 SMOH with new crank on my just sold Swift has about a quart ever 15-20 hours.
 
Isn't this kind of a useless poll without knowing the oil change interval?

I mean adding 4qts when you change the oil every 50 hours is a significant difference from 4qts when you change the oil every 25 hours.

Wouldn't asking "how many hours between adding a quart of oil" been a bit more useful?
 
How can any one know what's normal when you don't know what you are working with? These could be some yard mech's reworked chromed cylinders or new, who knows.
 
denverpilot said:
Ours burns nearly none. Less than a quart per oil change if done at 25 hours. Maybe add a quart if we went long. Usually not. Stick reaching the add Mark means we are overdue to change it so we do.



I bet if you're filling to 12, two of those are all over the belly. Might want to get under there and see. Or do two or three more oil changes and it'll be obvious that the belly is a black mess by then. (Ask me how I know! LOL!)

We typically never go above 10. No point. We just end up degreasing and washing it off the belly later. If we go 9 plus CamGuard we see nearly zero loss overboard. We've even experimented with 8 plus CamGuard for a while just to see where that overboard blow by "knee" was in the numbers. Stick sits just above the add mark at 9+.
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When I bought the 182 the previous owner added the 12 quarts. I think he wanted it full when I flew it home.

I know about the BBS (black belly syndrome) I spent three hours last weekend on a creeper. It's shinny white now.

I presently keep it between 9 - 10 quarts.
 
donjohnston said:
Isn't this kind of a useless poll without knowing the oil change interval?

I mean adding 4qts when you change the oil every 50 hours is a significant difference from 4qts when you change the oil every 25 hours.

Wouldn't asking "how many hours between adding a quart of oil" been a bit more useful?
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Got it.
Edit. Normalized to 50h service interval
 
Two or less for my Cherokee O-320. I fill it to 6 and keep it there. Anything over that gets puked out the breather tube.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Two or less for my Cherokee O-320. I fill it to 6 and keep it there. Anything over that gets puked out the breather tube.
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So true...same experience with my IO-320-D1A. Makes cleaning the plane's belly a lot easier! I've done it once in 75 hours, and the amount of oil there was minimal.
 
BarryCooper said:
Hmmm maybe I should try that. I keep mine at seven, adding a quart every 20 hrs
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At the flight school I went to, they kept the Cherokees at right around six quarts, maybe a little less. Check your engine manual just to be sure, though.
 
Not that I'd ever fly on the minimum recommended quantity, but for my engine that's two quarts (!). So I feel pretty good about six. :)
 
I change oil at 50 hours. I fill it to 10 Qt and add one when it gets below 9, usually only once before the next change so I'm actually consuming around 2 qt in 50 hrs. I've got around 800 hrs on the engines and the consumption's been about the same since break-in completed.
 
I change the oil and filter every 50 hours (engine is Continental O-470) and put in 10 quarts and it always shows 9 on the dipstick. about 20-25 hours later it shows 8, so I add a quart. Anything more and it spits it out and covers the belly. Engine has about ~750 hours, and I have owned the plane and put the last 250 of those on and it has been exactly the same the entire time.
 
ytodd said:
I change the oil and filter every 50 hours (engine is Continental O-470) and put in 10 quarts and it always shows 9 on the dipstick. about 20-25 hours later it shows 8, so I add a quart. Anything more and it spits it out and covers the belly. Engine has about ~750 hours, and I have owned the plane and put the last 250 of those on and it has been exactly the same the entire time.
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My dipstick doesn't show quarts at all. When did they start that?
 
About a qt every 15 hrs if you don't fill past 7qts, changing oil every 30, the TSIO360 seems to like being at the 6 qt level and will stay there for about 12 - 15 hrs.
 
What type of oil do you use? I have been using Aero Shell 20/50W for many years. A friend uses Phillips 20/50W and swears by it. He claims using the Phillips oil consumption has decreased to half vs using Areo Shell that he used for many years. He also claims less plug fouling with the Phillips oil as well. He is flying a Scout with O360 on wheels and floats. I think I'll give the Phillips 66 20/50W a try next oil change.
 
AKBill said:
What type of oil do you use? I have been using Aero Shell 20/50W for many years. A friend uses Phillips 20/50W and swears by it. He claims using the Phillips oil consumption has decreased to half vs using Areo Shell that he used for many years. He also claims less plug fouling with the Phillips oil as well. He is flying a Scout with O360 on wheels and floats. I think I'll give the Phillips 66 20/50W a try next oil change.
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It's good stuff. I've been using it for the last 30 hours or so. Engine is pretty new, and oil consumption after break-in with Aeroshell was low, and continues to be with Phillips.
 
AKBill said:
What type of oil do you use? I have been using Aero Shell 20/50W for many years. A friend uses Phillips 20/50W and swears by it. He claims using the Phillips oil consumption has decreased to half vs using Areo Shell that he used for many years. He also claims less plug fouling with the Phillips oil as well. He is flying a Scout with O360 on wheels and floats. I think I'll give the Phillips 66 20/50W a try next oil change.
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Phillips is also significantly cheaper than Aero Shell.
 
ircphoenix said:
I should check that too. I thought 7 was a good number. Time to try 6.
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Mine has a "happy spot" at 6 quarts, it will remain there for the entire oil change interval. But I will fill it to 7 quarts if I'm going to be on long x country. (4 hours+)
 
On my O-300 I've had it below 5 Qts but I'm not comfortable with that. Anything above 6 is a waste. I fill it with 8 qts at oil change and she basically won't rest until she's thrown 2 qts overboard. My engine is incredibly smooth, but it loves to leak. Pushrods, valve covers, tach cable, mag seals: never all at once, just whenever I think I've nailed one leak it moves to the next site, *sigh*.
 
MY IO520 has about 200 hours on it. It will register about a qt low after 20 hours, but I wait until the 25 hr mark to have it serviced. That is probably more frequent than is necessary, but hey, it can't hurt, can it? The only two times I added oil was when I was on a cross-country vacation of around 40 hours total. I added a qt around the 20 hour mark and then had the engine serviced when I got home.
My only question is that the oil barely starts to turn slightly dark, even when I 40 hours between changes. That either means I have a really clean engine or the oil isn't removing the dirt. I use Aeroshell 100Plus.
 
JOhnH said:
That either means I have a really clean engine or the oil isn't removing the dirt. I use Aeroshell 100Plus.
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One of the rentals I'm flying uses that in summer. It's pretty dark toward the end of the oil change interval. So I'd lean toward "you have a clean engine". It'll definitely hold crud.
 
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