where did my oil go?

[RLDSL]

Honestly I think Tennessee and Arkansas might have it worse than us with the heat. Here, it's pretty hard for the actual temperature to get above 100 and we usually have afternoon showers and thunderstorms, having said that the heat index is a huge burden here, but this starts to get off topic because the heat index of course has no effect on non living things like engines and oils.

No Joke, Yesterday, when I walked into the parts store, they were handing out ice water, and told me it was 117 with the heat index, it was WELL over 100 without it. Been trying to get the vehicles ready for a trip and been having to start working at 5:30 am each day and stop by around 11 or it gets too blamed hot.
Unfortunately that heat index really does have an effect on dead things. Fuel systems start going more haywyre and cars with computers can reach underhood temps that cause fault temps causing them to shutdown

 

[RLDSL]

One thing on these and any other diesel, My BSometer starts going off when I start hearing about engines that don't use a drop of oil, because it is built into their design to consume a certain amount of oil to lube the valve guides and the top rings,, and I don't care how functional your breather system is , a certain amount of volume is going to be lost in oil vapour, it's just the nature of the beast unless you have an oil trap rigged on the thing

 

[Goofyexponent]

One thing on these and any other diesel, My BSometer starts going off when I start hearing about engines that don't use a drop of oil, because it is built into their design to consume a certain amount of oil to lube the valve guides and the top rings,, and I don't care how functional your breather system is , a certain amount of volume is going to be lost in oil vapour, it's just the nature of the beast unless you have an oil trap rigged on the thing

what would be a proper amount of oil to be used? My truck only uses 1/2 to a full quart per 3000 miles. Usually, it's never the full quart, but that depends on the brand of oil. The cheap oil I ran made her burn 2 quarts per change.

 

[RLDSL]

what would be a proper amount of oil to be used? My truck only uses 1/2 to a full quart per 3000 miles. Usually, it's never the full quart, but that depends on the brand of oil. The cheap oil I ran made her burn 2 quarts per change.

Considering your climate , for a tight engine, that's pretty good. Most diesel engine manufacturers figure an acceptable consumption figure of 1 qt every 800-1200 miles believe it or not, and this is from new. Cooler climates consumption is generally less hotter climates generally higher.
Your experience with cheap oil is pretty normal. That cheap stuff will gobble up in any engine. it is never a bargain.You need something in your crankcase that isn't going to vapourize on you simply from the heat of the engine block

 

[Goofyexponent]

Considering your climate , for a tight engine, that's pretty good. Most diesel engine manufacturers figure an acceptable consumption figure of 1 qt every 800-1200 miles believe it or not, and this is from new. Cooler climates consumption is generally less hotter climates generally higher.
Your experience with cheap oil is pretty normal. That cheap stuff will gobble up in any engine. it is never a bargain.You need something in your crankcase that isn't going to vapourize on you simply from the heat of the engine block

Considering the pervious talks about oil pressure and now the oi usage, I do believe I have a TIGHT, TIGHT engine. At 205*F idle, I have 26 PSI oil pressure. No smoke at idle, no roughness and no coolant consumption.

I thought with almost 250 000 miles on her, that she would start using some "expendables", but I guess these are really tough motors. That, and my truck lives an EASY life as a commuter on city streets at or under 35 MPH now.

 

[NapaBavarian]

I hadn't thought of that, actually I think this is Supertech brand oil. That might explain some of it. How do you guys feel about Delo? I can get it for cheap. Like, 12 qts for $25.

Become a dealer! Here it's 12 quarts for $32, Dello has the highest detergants, always a good choice, but some engines use more, Dello and Rotella are both top choices.

 

[82F100SWB]

My 6.9 will use 1-1.5 litres of oil in 10,000 km with the 0W40 in it, put even good quality 15W40 in there, and in 5000 it's chewed up a gallon. My Cummins I have never run anything but 0W40 in, and it's useage is around the same, usually a litre of make up oil in 10,000. My PSD is 7000km into it's last oil change, and has used about 1/4 of a litre.
My work D-max doesn't appear to use any... I just did the first oil change on it since I got it, got it showing 75% oil life remaining, 16,000km later(About 2.5 months) it asked for the change... Won't be running it that long again, I'm almost 5000km into this change(in 3 weeks...) showing 85% oil life, and it hasn't moved on the stick yet.
It too will be getting 0W40 in the fall, I'm going to see about selling the boss on running synth in it all the time, with the mileage I put on there it will probably pay off with extending engine life.
Pretty much everyone here who owns a diesel runs a 5 or 0W40 synth at least in the winters, you are guaranteed no starts if you don't.

What was extremely strange was my old Super Duty(00 7.3,) ran it 20,000 on one change once, I actually did oil analysis on that truck, don't have the paperwork anymore, it had used about a gallon in that distance, but, had only just started to turn the oil brown... Never seen another one that kept the oil that clean.
The Perkins 4.236's we have in our GPU's here at work won't turn the colour in a 200H change interval though. That's the only other diesel engine I've seen that didn't turn the oil black in short order.

 

[Devilish]

Check your cdr. You could be throwing oil into your intake which wouldn't be noticible at highway speeds

 

[smolkin]

CDR came in today. $91 total with tax, including the grommet. I figure that's about the cost of the oil I would burn up in about 2 years, and a lot cheaper than a new engine. I'll pick it up as soon as I have a spare moment (A/C season is at hand!) and hopefully will replace it this weekend.

It has been uber-hot here, too. Record high temps, not enough rain, just the humidity. My poor truck's OEM temp gauge is never below M while the sun is up...all day long I pass by gassers broken down on the side of the road, but my old battering ram will still run cool(ish) when down 5 qts of oil! Damn if these aren't tough trucks.

Oh, and the Delo...I don't have a hook-up, I just happen to live near a Walmart that is stupidly discontinuing Delo...so the gallons are $8 a piece. Anyone else's Wally World doing this? Could just be a local thing.