How much oil

[Outlaw45]

Hi all. haven't been here for awhile. we are finaly in our new home. got to live in Ole'Koot for almost 3 months. anyway's I need to know how much oil my 454 holds and what weight oil should i use? if you don't remember it a 1978 with only a little over 5,000 original miles on it. since it sat alot while we were living in it and the temps were from 9 degrees at times to 60 degrees I want to change it. thanks for your help.

Outlaw

[Conquest102]

My old southwind took 7 quarts with filter change. You can start with 5 and just dip and add till full but remember to give it time to settle. My engine worked best with 10w40.

[Billieg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Conquest102 My old southwind took 7 quarts with filter change. You can start with 5 and just dip and add till full but remember to give it time to settle. My engine worked best with 10w40.

2x if you are in cold weather. Here in Fl. I use 30-50.... 7 quarts. Also use Slick 50 but that's a different story....

[leadman]

Should be 7quarts. 10W-30 is best, 10W-40 will work o.k. I would use regular petroleum oil, no synthetic due to the age.

[Conquest102]

I didn't read the milage right I mentally added a zero. I would go with the 10w-30 save the 10w-40 for later when you actually get some miles on it. My old southwind had 98,000 and needed a little thicker oil do to wear. You are barely even broken in LUCKY. Take care of that engine and it will go 100,000 plus NO PROBELM.

[Hoverbug]

Hey John. Used to live on the north side of Offut Lake just up from the boat launch. Great fishing there. Anyway, I use 10W30 in my '87 Burb. As said above its 7 quarts with filter. I prefer Valvoline,but everyone has their druthers. Happy Trails!!

[Outlaw45]

thanks all. didn't remember how much or what weight. getting old.lol. soon as i get him home will give it a oil change and see if there is any leaks. the level was down when i checked it the other day. just hope i am not leaking anywhere.

he sat for 10 yrs so i get a little worried of leaks. we have only put about 500 mi on it since we got it. runs good but dried seals sometimes show up. i have him in an RV storage yard and hope to gem him home soon. need to do a little bit of work.

have to either rebuild the toilet as it leaks or buy a new one. the refer kept freezing up. also need to take the furness out and have it adjusted. is sooting up but does run fine. ya got to luv a vintage. lol.

well that's about it for now. wish the gas prices would go down. at 7 mpg it hard to go anywhere.lol. thanks all.

Outlaw

[rdy2trvl]

i use 10-40 in my 77 GMC Midas and the owners manuel says oil usage will be about a quart for 900 miles. we just completed a 1300 mile trip and used a little over a quart of oil and got about 8 1/2 mpg. except when a fuel switch over valve stuck amd pumped gas from the main tank to the reserve tank, only got 66 miles from 25 gal. thankfully it was not lost just put into the reserve tank.

[Outlaw45]

hey RDY, how are you? so how did ya get 8 1/2 mpg out of yours?

hey, i lost all my pic's on my old comp. could ya send me some more pic's of your rig. still can not find much about these. guess i'll just go with the sportscoach spec's. also, do you run air bags up front? i have air lift but my drivers side exploded. think i was running too much air. does your's wonder all over? stay in touch. thanks

Outlaw

[leadman]

I added a vaccum gauge on the dash in the hope the mileage will go up with my closer attention to the throttle.

The fan clutch on these older MHs can cause a huge difference in the fuel mileage if they do not operate correctly.

[rdy2trvl]

yup, i've got a vacuum gauge and watch it closely too, we are retired so don't care how long it takes to get somewhere. We try to stay off the interstate if possible, we like to see all the small towns and countryside, i drive about 60 that seems to be the best for gas milage. i did most of the stuff that Jim Elliot talked about and it helped alot. It also helped keep the engine temps down. We left Houston last week temps were 104 outside, engine temp ran about 220, that's by the gauge in the head, dont have a real reading of rad temp but before the adjustments the temps would have been 240 or so, by the time we got to michigan the outside temps were 70 or so and the engine temps were down to 200. I have also changed the air bags, shocks and the steering dampener. it drives straight and with very little wonder, except in a high cross wind.

i've got all the manuals for the rig, i think yours is the same with only minor differences, if you need any info i could probably scan and email to you.

you talked about the fridge iceing up ours did that too we bought a battery powered fridge fan and it helped to keep the icing down.

[Outlaw45]

RDY, i could use the spec's. also did you or do you know if the steering box can be adj? anything of interest would be good.

also, did you do the dist and rejet the carb or what? how did you get it tuned, did someone have a sun machine to dial it in?

you can e-mail at: eagleworks@jonav.net

thanks. any help would be good. i don't have a manual.

Outlaw

[JiminJersey]

Burning oil is not always a BAD thing. Some engines are designed (via aggressive cylinder wall cross-hatching, etc etc)
to burn a little oil, and a quart per 1000 miles is perfectly within design specs. My two personal autos have 125K and 240K miles on them respectively (both the same brand), both burn about a quart every 1200 or so miles, and both have had absolutely no engine problems outside of a torn rubber plenum on an intake manifold. They get 20+ mpg on regular gas, 0-60 in under 8 seconds, cruise at 80 without breaking a sweat, and seat four or five adults, and have given me no major problems in the half-dozen years I've owned them. If the cost for their longevity is a dollar's worth of oil a month, I'll pay that.