[Steve Harriott]

My 1991 164S burns about a quart of oil every 500 miles or so (more so with "spirited driving"!). This car currently does not leak a drop. I guess my question is, how quickly will this condition progress (assuming I don't drive it too hard, etc.)? In two years will it be burning a quart every 200 miles?

Any insight would be appreciated!
Steve

 

[Alfisto Steve]

My 1991 164S burns about a quart of oil every 500 miles or so (more so with "spirited driving"!). This car currently does not leak a drop. I guess my question is, how quickly will this condition progress (assuming I don't drive it too hard, etc.)? In two years will it be burning a quart every 200 miles?

Any insight would be appreciated!
Steve

Probably will be still burning same amount as my B has been using oil since day it was new and probably uses a qt every 500 miles or more now.

In relative terms compared to engine rebuild oil is cheap!

 

[Steve Harriott]

Thanks Steve - that sounds like good news to me. I'll just stock up on oil and forget the re-build for now.....

 

[Del]

My 91S used a qt of oil every 400-500 miles of city driving, about 800-900 miles highway, when I bought it at 40k miles, is still the same at 155k miles now. Nothing has changed or improved that consumption, I just live with it. Seems 91S's tend to be that way. Must have been a bad batch of valve stem seals that year.

Mechanic suggested that one could buy a lot of oil for the cost of head rebuilds. Decided to go that way. Maybe someday I'll redo the heads, but in no hurry.

10/12/12 (Have been told by my mechanic that the problem is actually bad oil rings on the 91's).

 

[CMalfa]

My 1991 164L has used a quart of oil every 500 miles since I bought it 3 years ago with 48,000 miles on it.

Up to 55,000 miles now.

 

[Del]

I predict it will be the same years from now. The 91's evidently had a really bad batch of oil rings. Alfa should have covered this, like most Japanese car companies would have, but then again, they are Alfa. They just say, hey, you bought it, it's your now, your problem, not ours, we meant it to be that way.

My bro owned a Toyota van with ~150k miles on it. Toyota replaced the crankshaft after the front pulley fell off. Toyota said 'mea culpa", that evidently they had heat treated the crank wrong. Although I wouldn't buy a Toyota, that impressed me then.

BTW, the 767 is my fav commercial plane to fly on, as my wife and I take advantage of the 2 abreast seating, ie, one aisle seat, one window seat. Didn't do any structural analysis on the 767, but did on the 27, 37, 47, 77, and service engr on the 27 and 57. Boeing is still selling new 67's (a tough and still productive plane), and now will sell the new tanker based on the 67.

 

[CMalfa]

It's a small world Del.

I got called out today on my first domestic trip since back on the MD-80 after B-767 international and I just flew in to rainy Seattle, going for a cold, wet run and then some Pike street salmon and beer.

Just like I remembered.

 

[Del]

Yup, that rain we get makes the salmon grow big, yum.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Yup, that rain we get makes the salmon grow big, yum.

I guess it has been 16 years since I was doing the Seattle Salmon scene, Lake Washington locks and Sand Point O club, etc....

 

[SpiralArchitect]

This week I found most of the oil had disappeared. The oil level on the engine was on low and the second jug of oil I had was already empty because I had to top up the oil so often. I had enough of that brand.

So, I went to another shop and found BP Visco 5000 10w40 semi-synthetic for 22€ (4 liter jug). I'd been paying 35€ for the 5 liter jug of the other brand.

Two days ago, I changed the oil for this new one. Now I don't have low pressure issues, it goes up to 4 bar at 2000-ish rpm, whether cold or warm. The valves sound quieter too.

Will see how much oil it burns from now on. I did have little leaks on the exhaust side valve cover and drain plug but it's all fixed now.

 

[Steve Harriott]

Thanks, maybe I will give that BP Visco product a try on the next oil change.

By the way, I did recently have all of the valve guides replaced in this 164, had valves adjusted, and new head gaskets. It doesn't leak oil anymore (through the two bad head gaskets), but the new valve guides don't seem to have made a whole lot of difference in the oil consumption. Still about 1 quart per 500 miles. I can live with that, I guess!

 

[AlfaDue]

This week I found most of the oil had disappeared. The oil level on the engine was on low and the second jug of oil I had was already empty because I had to top up the oil so often. I had enough of that brand.

So, I went to another shop and found BP Visco 5000 10w40 semi-synthetic for 22€ (4 liter jug). I'd been paying 35€ for the 5 liter jug of the other brand.

Two days ago, I changed the oil for this new one. Now I don't have low pressure issues, it goes up to 4 bar at 2000-ish rpm, whether cold or warm. The valves sound quieter too.

Will see how much oil it burns from now on. I did have little leaks on the exhaust side valve cover and drain plug but it's all fixed now.

What was the "other brand?"

 

[SpiralArchitect]

What was the "other brand?"

Sorry for answering your question so late.

The other brand was "amalie elixir synthetic", by amalie oil company. I looked on their online store but couldn't find the exact same product. I'll be changing to BP on the Citroen too if the oil burning slows down. If I remember correctly, I still had three liters left over from changing the oil on november. I spent all of that on top-ups.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

I did find a technical datasheet in Spanish for that particular oil.

ACEA A3/B3, A3/B4
API SL/CF
MB 229.1
VW 505.00,500.00
Rover
Porsche
BMW Special Oil

"Elixir Synthetic 10W-40 is recommended for the new generation of GTI and TDI engines." Not mine I guess.

 

[AlfaDue]

No problem. Thanks.

 

[DSpieg]

Oil additives to reduce oil consumption?

I'm soon to be the proud owner of a '91 164s. I'm fully expecting it to burn the "usual" quart every 500 miles, but would like to improve that if possible.

Thinking back to my GTV6 days, when that car started burning oil past leaky valve guides, I added a can of BG MOA (Motor Oil Additive) to the oil, and to my amazement it actually worked. No more blue exhaust during hard acceleration and oil consumption returned to its previous (not too bad) rate.

Has anyone tried this product (or another oil additive) in a '91 164 to see if it has any effect on oil consumption?

 

[jc96]

never tried the MOA but I absolutely love the 44K fuel cleaning system and tank additive. ciao chris

 

[DSpieg]

The 44K is a good product in my experience too, but the topic here is oil consumption....

 

[jc96]

Let me try this another way. "based on the positive experiences I've had with BG products, using the MOA might be worth a try. I've not personally tried their MOA but swear by thier 44K fuel tank/system cleaners". Consming a quart every 500 miles of oil might sound excessive but not something I'd personnally fret over so long as the engine is tight and not burning it to excess. As a side note and a little off the topic of excess consumption, I think salmon as noted on page one don't consume much oil as they're full of it and the triple 7 is one fine airplane. Ciao Chris