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[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I've just finished reading a road test of a 1963 Mini Cooper S with a 1071cc engine.

Oil consumption was 135 miles per pint.

Why did old cars use so much oil?

"best to keep a couple of pint bottles of oil in the door pockets" they said.

[Andy B]

tolerances were obviously so much bigger and engines were never as oil tight as they are with today's O seals

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

tolerances were obviously so much bigger and engines were never as oil tight as they are with today's O seals

I suspect the oil of the day, Castrol GTX or Duckhams Q, was like treacle sludge when cold causing significant wear on start up in winter weather.

[STEMO]

Well they'd certainly improved by the 70's, because my BL 1100 and Princess never used a lot of oil.

[Doctor Gollum]

Breathers vented to atmosphere and in most cases were an open tube

In context... VW think that a litre every 1000km (625 miles) is acceptable... That's, roughly, a pint every 312 miles... Hardly progress

[Sir Tigger KC]

They probably leaked most of it! 

[Viral_Jim]

Breathers vented to atmosphere and in most cases were an open tube

In context... VW think that a litre every 1000km (625 miles) is acceptable... That's, roughly, a pint every 312 miles... Hardly progress

Yup, and my mate's 3.0 v6 S5 used every bit as much as that. I'll bet the blokes who nicked it off him were pretty p!ssed when they found out. 

[Varche]

I had more Cooper S ‘s than I care to remember. I never calculated how much oil they used but always had a gallon container on board. It wouldnt surprise me at all if that was the consumption. Don’t forget in those heady days a tanker full of Duckhams was only £10.

Was that a new car test or a well worn thrashed S/H example?

[ronnyd]

Had an old Mazda 626 which used loads of oil. Sold it to some dizzy woman and stressed to her that she needed to check the level regularly. Three weeks later saw it on back of transporter so asked driver what happened, "seized up mate" he replied. She hadn,t  even finished paying me for it. 

[STEMO]

Had an old Mazda 626 which used loads of oil. Sold it to some dizzy woman and stressed to her that she needed to check the level regularly. Three weeks later saw it on back of transporter so asked driver what happened, "seized up mate" he replied. She hadn,t  even finished paying me for it. 

Ahhhh...it was one of "those" arrangements, Ronny. 

[TheBoy]

My Ital van, 1.3 A series, used 4l of oil a day (and 2l of coolant). So that was about 1l per 50 miles.

Granted, it was ragged to within an inch of its life every second of the day.

[ronnyd]

Had an old Mazda 626 which used loads of oil. Sold it to some dizzy woman and stressed to her that she needed to check the level regularly. Three weeks later saw it on back of transporter so asked driver what happened, "seized up mate" he replied. She hadn,t  even finished paying me for it. 

Ahhhh...it was one of "those" arrangements, Ronny. 

Shhh, don,t tell SWMBO. 

[Kevin Wood]

My Ital van, 1.3 A series, used 4l of oil a day (and 2l of coolant). So that was about 1l per 50 miles.

Granted, it was ragged to within an inch of its life every second of the day.

My Ital 1.7  didn't burn oil.

It used to drip onto the hot exhaust, creating a smoke screen that prevented tailgaters.

Amazing that they knew how Audi drivers would develop way back in 1981.