Normal oil consumption

[Lipdog]

How much oil consumption is normal for a well-running Chief (48)?

[indian301]

The Indian riders manual states 150 miles to a quart. But it all depends on what rings you are using. When I bought my 1948 Chief 30 years ago it was all rebuilt. My buddy and I took a cross country trip and I averaged 150-175 miles to 1 quart of oil. When I disassembled the top end at 15k I found a single piece oil control ring. I spoke to Jeff Grigsby and he said he was using a Total Seal gapless second compression ring and a three piece oil control ring set. Now I average over 1000 miles to 1 quart of oil. My bike has 65,000 miles on it and I average 15-18k on a top end.


Dave

[Skirted]

Mine varies a bit depending on how hard I'm running it and temperature. Average for me is about 450-500 miles to a quart which is added incrementally along the way.

[Lipdog]

Mine has supposedly been rebuilt recently (1k miles who), but from the looks of other things on the bike I have my doubts. It runs fine. I think it’s using about a quart every 500 mi but I need to measure more carefully. I’d expect a rebuilt engine to use less if done properly, but maybe I’m wrong and the older guidelines are appropriate.

[Skirted]

Mine has supposedly been rebuilt recently (1k miles who), but from the looks of other things on the bike I have my doubts. It runs fine. I think it’s using about a quart every 500 mi but I need to measure more carefully. I’d expect a rebuilt engine to use less if done properly, but maybe I’m wrong and the older guidelines are appropriate.

Well yea the term "rebuilt" has a very wide range of definition (when there is no documentation) on any engine. As long as its not putting blue smoke out the pipe or fowling plugs I wouldn't worry too much.