Burning oil going to hurt other things too?

[Skunksmash]

My 87 TBI 5.7L burns oil, but not a whole lot. I mean I assume its burning it, cause it doesn't leak a drop but every time I go to change the oil, it seems to be about 2 quarts low. On the dipstick, its not quite to the "Add" line, but its almost there. Maybe a 1/4" inch away from it. There is never any oil spot in the driveway where I park the truck, and looking at the underside of the engine, it seems bone dry. Not all greasy and oily like some are.

So of course the oil is going out the tailpipe. My question is, do I need to worry about anything else? Is the burned oil going to eventually start to clog my catylitic converters? Or is anything else going to suffer from the engine burning oil?

[Irish_Alley]

Could clog the cat, dirty up the plugs ,loss in mpgs. How much idk. Also a ¼ above the add line is only less than a qt of oil

[bake74]

     As Irish said, generally speaking between the "ADD" mark and the "FULL" mark is 1 quart of oil.

[Skunksmash]

Oh. Well I guess it doesn't burn too much then. Maybe it won't give me too many problems till engine swap time if I'm lucky.

[Irish_Alley]

you should be good its only a small leak

[Skunksmash]

Thanks for the info guys, as always!

[bobcooter]

I don't think it's too unusual to use that small amount of oil between oil changes.Especially if the engine has a lot of miles on it.

[Skunksmash]

Yeah I'm sure it has 150K or more. Can't complain about an unrestored truck from 87 that is still going. But you know, I think that stuff about synthetic oil helping rings a little bit is true. Cause before I started using Royal Purple, without fail I'd have to add oil before the oil change. It would be well below the fill line. I'd have to make sure I added oil on time or I wouldn't have enough. If you look on the back of a bottle of Royal Purple or AMSoil, they say that because they're a full synthetic, they might help a little bit with oil burning. I think in my case it actually worked.

[Irish_Alley]

also try that lucas oil treatment see how it works

[Skunksmash]

I've tried it before. But these days everyone tells me that stuff is snake oil. Guess it is if you don't need it.

[zieg85]

My 87 TBI 5.7L burns oil, but not a whole lot. I mean I assume its burning it, cause it doesn't leak a drop but every time I go to change the oil, it seems to be about 2 quarts low. On the dipstick, its not quite to the "Add" line, but its almost there. Maybe a 1/4" inch away from it. There is never any oil spot in the driveway where I park the truck, and looking at the underside of the engine, it seems bone dry. Not all greasy and oily like some are.

So of course the oil is going out the tailpipe. My question is, do I need to worry about anything else? Is the burned oil going to eventually start to clog my catylitic converters? Or is anything else going to suffer from the engine burning oil?

Count yourself lucky.  My 95 had a 5.7 TBI, that I have since sold, went through a quart of oil every 400 miles.  Ran great, original cat was still on it and it passed emissions when I had it tested.  I always kept my good used motor oil in the 5 quart jugs it came in when I changed the oil in my other 3 vehicles.  I just ran it through a fine mesh cone filter and dumped it in and was just fine.  Funny thing is it didn't puff out the blue smoke as much as you would have thought for using it that much.

IMO if you don't have to add oil in between changes, no biggie...

[fitz]

I remember years ago reading the owners manual for an 1981 AMC Concord with a 232 engine. It mentioned that 1 quart of oil per 1,000 miles is not excessive consumption. At 1 point that car was brand new (they all were) and the manufacturer is telling you it will use oil, go figure.

[Skunksmash]

Wow I would have never bought that POS. It would be three quarts low by the time it needed an oil change. Screw that!

[bobcooter]

I can remember a day back when these trucks were new and if one went 3000 miles without having to add oil it was a rarity and something to brag about. Hardly any of them would go 3K without loosing some oil. Some of the older guys on here will probably tell you the same thing.

[Skunksmash]

People say "They don't build 'em like they used to" as if its a bad thing lol