Originally Posted By: WobblyElvis
Oil must evaporate to some extent. If I was to oil a rusty piece of sheet metal that sat outside it wouldn't be wet/oily forever.
There is another explanation for my decreased oil consumption. When I repaired the valve cover gasket I also switched oil brands and consumption has been down since that event. I've used many different brands/types of oil but they all burned or disappeared at the same rate. I find it hard to believe that the oil type is responsible for the drop in oil consumption. This is why I'm asking about oil evaporating from the warm exterior of an engine.
Oil consumption has fallen from 1 qt/3,300 miles to a qt/4,500 miles. The engine has over 200,000 miles on it.
Oil selection is more important than most think, especially in older high mile engines. I had a 1999 Dodge Ram with the 5.9 and it consumed 1 Quart of oil every 500 miles using full synthetic oil; swithed to a conventional oil and it cut my oil consumption by 50% using conventional oil.