Engine oil consumption

[elias]

Hi to all ,
What would you call excessive engine oil consumption ?
I have to fill around 1lt of 15_40 oil every 400-500 litres . That’s a rough estimate . Usually the boat is loaded let’s say an extra ton of extra weight ( guests , water tanks , holding tanks ) , and cruising rpm no more than 1800 , max 2000 for short periods , relatively calm sea state .
Engine D2 55 ,

[tiger79]

Doesn't sound excessive.

[elias]

Last years I was switching to 20_50 in the middle season when ambient temp and sea water cause of summer where high . I made some reading and it seems that the thicker oil consumption is lower . Anyway  I’ll keep an eye on it .Thanks for the reassurance !

[PEA-JAY]

I would not change oil grade for summer. That was the practice years ago when only mono-grades where available. I also have a D2-55. Sea water temperature goes as high as 28C in summer and I also cruise at same revs, oil consumption is negligible. Volvo’s recommendation is 15w40.
Regards

[1simon]

Did not understand completely this sentence-
''I have to fill around 1lt of 15_40 oil every 400-500 litres ''
every 400-500litres of what?

[diverphil]

1simon, I would assume he means 500ltr fuel, therefore not excessive. Elias, I wouldn't change oil spec because of sea water temp, sea temp shouldn't affect engine temp unless you have a cooling issue, the engine temp is regulated by the thermostat in the freshwater/coolant side of things. the heat exchanger works like your radiator in a car but using sea water instead of air to cool the coolant in the engine circuit. I doubt sea temp could be high enough to have any effect.

[1simon]

OK. So, assuming fuel consumption of 6ltrs/hr , it would be equivalent to 1lt of engine oil every 65hrs to 80hrs.

[Lazy Pelican]

I think 6 lit/hr is rather pessimistic. My D2-40 uses about 2 lit/hr.

[diverphil]

was assuming it was fuel as that's the measurement of use/workload we use on trucks to compare oil consumption amounts. if he's meaning hours that's even less burned off oil than if meaning fuel, either way not a problem.

[elias]

Hi ! I stayed litres of diesel . Cause I don’t have an hour meter and I keep records of invoices of my fuel fill ups