Oil Consumption

[Nigel lewis]

I have done 4,000 miles now, and on the face of it have used No oil. I say on the face of it, as when I check it according to the handbook, ie, at operating temp and immediately after stopping the vehicle, the level is always on MAX. However, if I check it later when the engine has cooled down, it is half way between MAX and MIN.
If anything I would have thought it the other way round.
How and when do you guys check your oil? When it says check level immediately after stopping the vehicle,how quickly is immediately. I take it from turning engine off, getting out of the car and getting to the dip stick. Should I be giving it a minute or so, allowing the oil to drain into the sump?
Is it normal not to have used any in 4,000 miles?

[Drizzle]

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Nigel

I have done about 3700 miles and apart from the oil change at 1000 miles, it used no oil at all !!! I guess this is normal. It is hard to check the dipstick without getting burnt with a hot engine, I give it a few minutes after shutting down to have a look but I will also have a look with a cold engine. Its all about monitoring changes although there have been none yet.

Happy driving

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[Nigel lewis]

Thanks for that.
The car is fantastic, and it feels very solid mechanically, apart for the first five to ten minutes of running from cold, when it sounds very tappity and as my wife says " its sounds like a bag of spanners jangling", but once warm and up to running temp, all these noises seem to go away,and its just a joy to drive.
I was use to topping the oil up every 1000 miles or so in the Griff, and even the handbook in the Tamora says that it will use some oil, so when it hasn't used any, you start to think.
Perhaps we are not driving it hard enough
Would be interested to hear from other owners.

[flasher]

Hi Nigel

Mine doesn't use any oil either really. Have topped it up when I did the trackday at Donnington and when we drove over to France but apart from that it doesn't use any. Like you I used to be constantly checking the Griff and Cerb, but the engine seems fine. Mine is still a wee bit rattly at cold but once warm is smooth as anything.

[Lance]

at the risk of being boring mine's used none either (2200 miles). VERY important to check it correctly though with dry sump lubrication

[nubbin]

My dipstick seems to be permanently coated in oil anyway, so it must stay full. It does use a bit of oil, but that seems to have lessened considerably since about 3-4000 miles. I think I may have a bit of a coolant leak though - it seems to go down faster than the oil!

[Nigel lewis]

Does Oil have a shelf life??
I am going to top mine up, using Mobil Super 15W-40, recommended between the 1,000 and 6,000 mile service, and what I believe it has in at present.

I have found some in my Gararge which is left over from when I had my Griff back in 1998.

Is it still OK to use this? Does Oil go Off?

[Lance]

dont know for sure but personally wouldnt use it in such a high stress engine. Most manufacturers recommend oil changes at 12 months irrespective of mileage so presumably it does have a shelf-life (?)

nubbin, mine uses coolant as well but it my be I'm just topping it up too much. It always finds the same level lower down (just below the outlet pipe on the off-side)