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MG MGA - How much oil

How much oil is it reasonable to expect these cars to go through in say 500 miles?
Tysen

A quart in 1000 miles would not be considered excessive. Ours uses a little more than this in town, and less on the highway, it is still running with the original stock bore. If you are using more than a quart in 500 miles you either have a fare amount of leakage, or the engine is getting worn. A rich mixture will also cause oil consumption due to washing of the cylinder walls.
John H

Hi Tysen. Please note that there are basically two different types of oil loss. "using oil" generally implies "burning it" via combustion through worn valve guides or through bad piston rings. Leakage, or oil loss is usually through leaking front or rear engine seals or bad gaskets and is very common with our MG engines. (especially the rear oil seal) Loss of a quart or litre in a thousand miles is generally considered to be "normal"
If your oil level drops considerably more than this in a thousand miles, then you are either burning, or leaking oil. Then you need to investigate, and rectify whatever is causing the oil loss, or learn to live with the problem. Cheers, GLenn
Glenn

This thread was discussed on 12/08/2005

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.