Old & Slow wrote:
griff,
partly grew up on the kuskokwim and flew in and out of fairbanks with frank barr on the mail run, so you know, i'm a old head. forgive the lower case, at present i'm one handed. thanks for the heads up on the 440. the one thing that concerned me was the use of one quart of oil about every 800 miles. the old engine runs so smooth. i bought this old relique as it is in near mint condition and many things like the toilet, refer, a/c and various other items have been replaced. i have cancer and have outlived the doctors preduction and i'm trying to squeeze just a little more out of the ol' hide. a new rv would not have added one day to my life. we flew to anc 4 years ago, rented a mh in anchorage and drove through fairbanks. didn't know the city. thanks again.
floyd
Normally, I would not worry about one quart every 800. Look carefully for leaks... it is not uncommon to leak slightly at the front and back of the intake.
Also, seeps around the valve cover are not unusual. Those alone would account for at least half to 3/4 of the oil consumption.
Also, if your carb runs rich, it'll increase oil consumption. Also, if your timing is off, same deal. I've owned several 440's and all of them would start to consume once the oil got around 2000 miles on it if it were low quality or broke down easy. I started using Castrol's best 20-50 and that extended it to around 4k before it stated sucking it down. Cheap oil would extend another 1500 or so by adding STP or Power Punch to it.
BTW, my wife worked a 6 month stint (a winter) at Bethel as a nurse a couple years ago. Did 3 at Barrow this winter... I went and "enjoyed" the "uncrowded" tourist season for 10 days....
Change fluid and filter in the tranny, use good oil, add at least 1 quart of 10-20 or 10-30 engine oil when you do that, and change ALL the tranny cooler hoses. The trans will run cooler and the converter will work better.
You should set the bands while this is being done, and there's a spring you can remove from an accumulator/actuator piston, for sharpened shifts.
