oil COnsumption until 1 qt low

lgjhn said

nm9, I'm a late comer to the thread, but reading thru this: It sounds like he's got the proper bore clearance for the pistons that were used? The OP doesn't have a windage tray in it. It's not leaking it, it's burning it. Maybe improper final bore finish for the rings that were used? Thus not seated properly? As it burns off the oil, the level in the pan gets lower thus not as much is being whipped up by the crank onto the bores so he sees a decrease in the burn? Just tossing out some brain farts here from reading thru this.

Click to expand...

Actually it appears to be the opposite.... the bore clearance is significantly too large for the type of pistons used. Hypers will never expand at temp to proper operating clearance with the cold piston-to-bore clearance that was listed. It is just a bad basis for the engine to start with; if it hurt ring seal, I cannot say for sure just talking about it. But if the bore size is indeed wrong, that is a inauspicious sign for thing like bore finish, IMHO.

As for the oil burning dropping off with oil burning off, the detailed list of mileages and oil use posted by the OP do not show that. It does not prove it either way, but it is not at all clear from the oil use documented that the oil use is ceasing when oil had been consumed.