I decided a few months ago that I hate paying road tax, and stupid fuel duty, so just as my mrs passed her driving test, she got my daily ford focus, and I dug out my parents '72 109, rollerd it a nicer shade of blue, fixed the broken timing chain, MOT'd it, and now I use it every day, 25 mile round trip.

Its averaging 13 to the gallon.... but on LPG I can just about handle it... just. It is running a early ACR engine, so the full works, cam, head, SU carb, 4 branch manifold. Chips along alright.

Anyway.... im currently using or losing about a litre a week, which is about 180 miles or so, I know it looses some, somewhere, but it doesnt smoke, im running it on 15/40 oil these days, used to be 10/40 but its done 40,000 miles on the ACR engine so thought id thicken it up slightly.

So im wondering really... how much oil is yours using?

Heres a muddy picture of the serious from yesterday after I decided to go out laning, alone, for the first time in 2 years, and quickly realised this was a mistake.



And a clean picture

try a different oil ,consumption probably due to some wear but it can make a difference

None so far in 3500 miles, used every day

Oops..... best look into it then!

What oil shall I try next?

Mine leaks but doesn't seem to go down much (I suspect petrol is getting past pistons). I do tend to change oil fairly regular though.

Thicker oil may help but it sounds to me like yours is ****ing it out a fair rate. I've done 2000 miles or so and mine hasn't moved noticably even though the under car rust prevention sprayer (sump gasket) is keeping everything nice and black.

I think the best I've had so far is semi-synthetic diesel 15/40 from pennine lubricants which stayed fairly thick and still looked like new when drained
Then I got some mineral 20/50 stuff from local auto factors which seems to have gone thin quite quickly and is weeping all over the shop though it could be the new sump gasket...
Next up is some mineral 20/50 I got from a Franch Carrefour supermarket not sure how good it will be but it was only €10 a gallon!

As to mileage I've got an ACR 2.1 head and cam on a 2.25 and it goes well and managed 22.5 mpg on motorways to France. About 18ish on normal mixed driving and about 12-15 locally (lots of sprints up and down windy hills). Have you tried Range Rover diffs / (rover)overdrive - I've got both on at moment. You lose a little pulling power/acceleration from 0-10 mph but everywhere else you don't really miss it and you can still hold a conversation at 60mph!

PS: That motor looks fine! Did it take you long to paint?

was just thinkin how nice that series looks almost like it could be the big sister of my 88"

No leaks in the engine department, don't burn bugger all either, I got a weepy gearbox though

I'm losing a little bit. Needs a change really, just a bit from the sump, little leak from transfer box gasket too.

One thing to check... is the base of dipstick tube. Previous SIII liked to shake this loose resulting in lots of oil leaking, used to leave black dots on the back window!