I've noticed that my 1985 Big Red 250 is taking oil. I filled it up before a poker derby, then at the end of the day (after LOTS of mudding) I drove about 6 hours straight and on the dipstick it was half full from the mark. I'm running 10-40 oil. Is it because it was revving alot due to the mud bogging, what do you think. A guy who fixes three wheelers drove my big red and he said he has never driven one that is so strong, he would trust it to drive to Alberta (from manitoba) The carb is perfectly clean, it idles nice, new spark plug, what could it be? Is it normal for them to use oil?

thank you

JasonJ

 

it is possible that on such an old motor you have bad valve seals. bad valve seals will cause oil consumption, but not loss of power. my 84 big red sometimes smokes a little when accelerating after it has been running for 2 or 3 hours. however, i am not losing a noticable amount of oil.

 

It's good now. I cleaned everythign and found an oil leak. Hasn't taken a drop since!