Oil consumption

[rocket]

Have seen mention in recent threads of twincam oil consumption being fairly heavy.I have had mine 4 years now and it hardly uses any,couple of drips a week and very little thru the exhaust.Is mine a good one or as i suspect just average and there are simply a few that do use more than they should?


Ian

[john.p.clegg]

In my humble opinion you have a good one,mine leaks more than it burns...

John

[alexblack13]

Valve Guides!! They sook oil down the guides and hey presto. Blue reek! They do normally all burn a little and might smoke a bit when 1st started up. That should stop fairly quickly and there should not be lot of smoke. My one used about 1/2 a pint down to Le Mans and back. I understand that's not bad either. leave it for a week and starting it again does produce a good puff of the blue stuff, which has gone by the time I drive off. That will do me!

Anyone using the new Millers 20/60 semi synth? Where can one buy the stuff. I am hearing good reports but can't find it.



Al' ..........

[reb53]

I think you've got problems Ian.

When Colin Chapman was taken to task by a journalist over the amount of oil a road test Elan was using his reply was,
"Of course it uses oil, what do you think is lubricating it ? The ones you've got to worry about are the ones that don't use any....."

Cheers
Ralph.

[peterako]

I think you've got problems Ian.

When Colin Chapman was taken to task by a journalist over the amount of oil a road test Elan was using his reply was,
"Of course it uses oil, what do you think is lubricating it ? The ones you've got to worry about are the ones that don't use any....."

Cheers
Ralph.

Phew....(breathes a sigh of relief!)

Mine uses the 'manual spec' amount of oil (something like a litre/1000km).

BUT I'm pretty sure my valve guides need replacing ... and possibly rings and....

Puff of smoke on star-up etc... But otherwise good.

Peter

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Although it is not very common an increase in the volume of oil can also be observed.
The usual cause of this is dilution through petrol getting into the oil.
A quick sniff of the engine oil will tell you if petrol is present.

Cheers
John

[Andy8421]

I think you've got problems Ian.

When Colin Chapman was taken to task by a journalist over the amount of oil a road test Elan was using his reply was,
"Of course it uses oil, what do you think is lubricating it ? The ones you've got to worry about are the ones that don't use any....."

Cheers
Ralph.

Ralph,

I think the quote was in reference to the FWE Climax engine used in the Elite, not the Ford derived unit used in the Elan.

[richardcox_lotus]

'fraid not Andy, it's a Nigel roebuck quote, which he repeats ad infinitum on every chapman article. (he was a fan, though). It's even in the latest issue of motor sport when he talks about the 1971 season. It's a shame really as I bet he has loads of good chapman material & all we ever get is the same one over & over again.

Richard

[robertverhey]

Hopefully that was Chapman the car salesman talking, not Chapman the engineer. Otherwise that makes me a better engineer than Chapman (which is, er somewhat doubtful!). My twinks don't use oil, don't blow smoke and don't leak

[Andy8421]

Richard,

I stand corrected. Given that the Climax FWE was a shocking oil burner (Lotus even tried to make this a feature in an advertising campaign 'A quart of oil every 300 miles') and that the Elan oil consumption was similar to other cars of the period, I had got it into my mind that Chapman was referring to the Elite.

Old age setting in I guess.

[Allison]

Ian,

I think you can safely say you've got a good one. Never came anywhere close to Colin Chapman but from what I've heard the idea of attack being the best means of defense would be entirely in character - and if someone was suggesting a problem with, in this case oil consumption, you'd expect a robust reply.

Our newly rebuilt engine uses next to no oil; and yes there are those, amongst them our other Elan, which uses way more than they should. Besides if you think you have a problem in not drinking oil - just where do you think this problem manifests itself?

Peter