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I'm curious as to how many other owners of 288 and 327 equipped Packards lose oil after driving their cars for specific distances. I don't mean losing it through oil leaks but rather under normal driving conditions like 1/2 qt. per 250 miles or 1 qt. per 500 miles etc. I've heard of some 327's not liking 7 qts. of oil and tend to throw (burn) a quart out pretty quickly.

I've heard of some 327's not liking 7 qts. of oil and tend to throw a quart out pretty quickly..

I can't say I've ever heard that comment. I don't know what you mean by "throwing it out", do you mean blowing it out the crankcase breather or oil filler, or do you just mean burning (consuming) the oil? In terms of consuming (burning) oil, these cars with engines in good shape should quite easily go 1000 or 1500 miles per quart of oil. If you think the oil level is a concern, are you sure you don't have a sizeable dent in the bottom of the oil pan such that the 7 quarts really overfills it?

It's not mine OD. This car has no leaks and has good compression and no obvious smoke. The pan isn't dented but I suspect that the exhaust valve guides are bad. Owner says depending on how hard he drives it which is about 55 to 60 max, it will use a 1/2 qt. of 10-30 Castrol in about 150 miles.

I don't know what to make of that except that the oil consumption is obviously much higher than it should be. In terms of oil consumption I'd more suspect intake valve guides than exhaust. But in a warmer climate like Florida SAE10W-30 oil wouldn't be my choice.

We drove it around for about an hour and a half yesterday at variable speeds OD. Mostly around 40 to 45 but pumped it up to 55 and 60 for about a 10 mile run. The dipstick registered about halfway between full and low before we left and we drove it about 30 miles. After the ride, we pulled the dipstick and noticed the oil was down about 1/3rd of a qt. or maybe a tad less. We also noticed that the oil looked quite thin but it was only 75 degrees outside and the engine temp gauge never moved above midway. We've thorougly checked for oil leaks and smoke from the road draft tube. the next thing we're going to try is for me to follow behind him and see if it's putting out a smoke trail although neither one of us has noticed anything beyond a slight puff of smoke from a dead start. What weight oil were you thinking OD? Perhaps a straight weight 30 or 40?

Up to a quart in 500 miles was considered acceptable when your car was new.

A really good one would need no oil added between oil changes (2000 miles).

You could try 15W40 but thicker oil will not help as a rule. Experiments prove an oil burner burns the thick stuff just as fast, if not faster.

How is your oil pressure? Compression? Is the inside of the tail pipe greasy? How much blowby?

Could be the engine is due for an overhaul. Or, just add oil from time to time.

Blue smoke from the exhaust indicates oil burning. Smoke on acceleration indicates bad rings. Smoke when you let off the gas indicates bad valve guides.

I seem to use more oil than I would expect in my 327 Cu", 54 Cavalier.

I do see a wisp of blue smoke occasionally but not continuously.

I know I have some leaks from the valve cover side and I am going to pull the fender splash panel and look into shortly. I don't see any from main seals area. The oil filter has had a couple of leaks which I keep chasing, The filler may drip a drop from where it is pushed into the block (I'm going to seal this as well asap). I don't see any dripping from the draft vent tube.

I have never had to clean a sparkplug.

I use SAE 30 straight weight. I run straight 30 in my model T Ford and have never had any kind of trouble so I go with what works best for me.

I am certainly open for where to look for leaks

Jim

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Bill, the wisp of smoke you mention is similar to this car but it has virtually no leaks....no oil being slung back under the car, no seal leaks and no fouled plugs, good compression and good power. Have you checked the oil consumption of your car vs. say a tank of gas or miles driven? I know you mentioned that your Packard is a daily driver so it would be a good comparison as your leaks sound minor.

I just called my friend Kenn who has a VERY original and low mileage 54 Cavalier (327 w/4 bbl. engine) and regularly does fairly long trips in it. He did a 1700 mile trip in it this year, at least 50% of it Interstate highway driving, the balance on the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway down into the Great Smokies from here in NJ and back. He added no oil enroute; he said it might have been down 1/2 quart or perhaps a little less by the time he arrived back home. Hope this is useful information.

PS - as I remember when he bought the car about 20 years ago it had about 12,000 miles on it. It now has about 45,000 miles.

It certainly does help OD for my own information and others as well. The mileage on this car is uncertain showing a little over 52,000 but that could be 152,000 for all we know. I'm sure it would have had had least a valve job if not a complete overhaul by now. Chances are good that it has bad guides since it has decent compression so we will look into that a liitle further. We also discussed not adding oil unless it reaches the "low" line on the dipstick and seeing if the consumption levels off.

1700 miles and no more than 1/2 quart low is phenomenal for a car from the 50's with 45,000 miles on it. My car uses about a quart of oil per tank of gas but I know it has bad exhaust guides and never had any engine work performed on it.