None of the big block Chevies that I have owned over the years ever got over 1000 miles to the quart. When our COPO Chevelle was new, it got 134 miles to the first quart. Five of the eight cylinders had rings that didn't seat. 800 miles per quart seemed to be about typical for our engines. Straight highway driving was a little better it seemed. With the good machining and honing equipment that is available today, along with better rings, I would suspect that a good straight bore would improve oil mileage quite a bit. These old engines probably leaked more than they burned. Some of my running was with 3.73 gears but mostly 4.10s.

 

I put over 1,000 miles on my new zz454 motor last year and it burned less than a pint . I was using 10/30 oil, Quaker State . It only added the oil at the end of the summer after I took it to the strip . I changed oil at the end of the season and I put semi-synthetic in it . I will find out this season how it runs . I don't want to go all the way to synthetic just yet .
You should call the local GM Zone Office and see what they say .
They give a year warranty .i

 

Quart??

 

Victtor,just curious,what gear are you running and whats the setup for trany,motor etc.

There could be a difference in oil usage if your running 4:10 gear vs lets say 3:31's sokeep that in mind too.

Did you by any chance use a full synthetic oil for breakin and are you using it now? If yes change to std motor oil just to aid in breakin as the synthetics can interfear with ring seating.

The SpeedPro chrome moly rings took approx 1500 miles to seat in my mild 396 with 3:31 gear.

When the motor was fresh with just cam breakin time on it it used a qt of oil in the 1st 250miles . But after i got hit the 1500 mile mark the oil comsumption has stabilized and i now have a total of 2500 miles on it and it uses a qt every 650-700 miles when just crusing . If it get on it quite a few times in 650-700 miles it will use approx a 1/4 qt or so more oil.

But i do have what i call a controlled oil leak from one of the oil galley plugs that are on the backof the block inbetween the bell housing & block that i have been avoiding so i could likely go 1000 miles on a qt if that leak was fixed.

How many miles are on the motor only 500 or more?

If there are only 500 miles on it give it a little more time to see if the rings will seal up some more.

Scott

 

According to your dipstick, you burned about 1/2 qt. Not too bad for 500 miles.

Not sure about the ring deal, but you and I have the same short blocks. I was burning quite a bit of oil, but a huge problem for me was the valve seals (or lack of) which required me to pull my heads on a 1500 mile motor :angry: .

Do what Scott say and put some more miles on it before you go crazy.

BTW, I think your engine calls for 5w-30 - at least mine did anyway.

 

We have a new ZZ502 in an El Camino and it's using a quart every 400 miles or so. It has about 1500 miles on it now so we're hoping the rings are getting seated and that will stabilize. It never smokes visably, just taking longer to break in than I would have thought too. Rick