How much oil usage?

[John in Valley Forge]

I have a Sportster 1800 with twin 717s.

It does not seem to use much oil. I think I have used about a gallon with 2.5 tanks of gas (80-100 gallons?).

Does this seems right or am I maybe off with my estimate?

 

[RFoster130]

It should be using a lot more. If im using the boat fairly hard, i can go through almost a full gallon of oil in 1 tank of gas. How long did it take to go through 2 1/2 tanks of gas?

 

[brock1]

Yeah i dont have a boat like that but WOW my 787 jet ski uses more oil than that and it has half the capacity. Something is wrong i would adjust the oil injection. There should be a line on the block and a line on the oil pump and if it is set correctly they should line up. I am almost positive that your boat has this design most oil injected machines do give it a try

 

[stfoulks]

John - I've got a '98, and seem to go through oil at a similar rate...

 

[Dr Honda]

It all depends on how you are running. The oil injection is variable... so the lower the throttle settings.. the less oil you burn.

At full throttle, you should be burning 40:1. So... 3.2 oz/gal. SO... you would burn a gallon of oil for 40 gal of fuel. BUT... that's assuming you are at full throttle the entire time. If you are running around at half throttle... then you will use about 20% less oil. Also... when most people say "A tank of fuel"... they really mean, half to 3/4 of a tank. So you may be over estimating the fuel.

In my boat... I never seemed like I was burning much oil... but I know for a fact that the oil system was working. NOW... in my XP... that thing sucks down oil like crazy.



With all that said... when was the last time the oil system was serviced? A basic oil injection service will tell you if it's working properly.

 

[John in Valley Forge]

I've had the boat for 6 weeks, so 12 weekend days on the river to go through 2-1/2 tanks. I went through 1 tank in one day.
Seldom do I run at WOT. Mostly pulling little kids on inner tubes so that is fairly slow, but I think it is tough on the engines.


Also, I just read that the oil tank is 2.5 gallons. I think I had assumed it was 1. I am thinking now (since I am just guesstimating on how full the tank is) that I have used closer to 2 gallons.

The guy that sold it to me gave me the advice to top off the oil tank any and every time I put gas it. Seems like sage advice and I have been topping it off every time I hook it to the trailer. Running out of gas is a bad thing. But you could always get towed in (I run on a small river). Running out of oil would lead to a siezed motor.

 

[mcfly]

John,

I have the same boat as you. I too have about the same oil consumption that you are having. I alway used the rule of thumb as 1 tank of fuel to 1 gallon of oil.

What river you riding on around here?

 

[John in Valley Forge]

I put in the Schuylkill River at Valley Forge National Park. There is a really really run down worn out ramp in the picnic area on the Betzwood side of the park. The co-ordinates of the ramp would be N40.10862, W75.421443

 

[mcfly]

Cool. Never been there before. I usually try to run around the Blue Marsh area with the occasional trip down to the Chesapeake. Over July 4th I had the boat in a Raystown. Sometime I may have to look you up and try out the Schuykill

 

[YUOnDaGround]

Check the filters.

 

[John in Valley Forge]

Check the filters.

Could you elaborate?

 

[YUOnDaGround]

The two circled items

 

[RFoster130]

Not much to check really. Just spend $30 and get new ones.

 

[John in Valley Forge]

Not much to check really. Just spend $30 and get new ones.

Are they a special filter? They appear to be in-line gas filters, but I guess they are not.

 

[RFoster130]

They do look like gas filters, but I wouldnt try to use anything but the required part. For me, the peace of mind is worth $30. I replace them every other season when I get the boat out for the spring.