Re: HA's 52 200 Grey Ghost

Posted by Hans Ahlness On 2016/10/16 21:12:10

I had been letting the oil level get down toward the "low" mark on the dipstick in the belief that, like modern dipsticks, that meant it would be 1 qt low. Well, it got almost there so I added a qt of oil. Rechecked after it drained down and...wow, that didn't move much. OK, how about another qt. And another, and about a half. Wow, I was 3 1/2 qts low! So I definitely will be adding quart marks to the dipstick next oil change.

Rereading the owners manual it says to keep it between the full and low marks. I'd rather keep it topped up, like a modern car, especially with my niosy lifters and the long time that this car sat. But, maybe it has a "sweet spot" at say, 1 qt low or something? Piston airplane engines routinely run best a quart or 2 low, if you top them off they just throw the extra out the breather and lubricate your landing gear or whatever is under there. Do these engines behave similarly?

Since I topped it up, we've put almost 300 miles on between going to a car show and then yesterday putting about 170 on leaf peeping over in MN. And today I checked the oil and it's about 2 qts low. Incidentally we got about 14 mpg yesterday averaging around 50-55 mph overall.