Noticed on the way home from Blytheville that the bus used a bit of oil - about 1/2 gallon - between leaving the rally and our fuel stop. It was at the full mark when we left the rally, and I noticed it down when we stopped for fuel about half-way through the 560-mile trip home. The level did not drop any further between the fuel stop and home.
Only thing different about this stretch of travel was that we had need to push the speed over 75 for a few minutes to avoid an idiot on the on-ramp and that we made more use of the Jake brakes than normal. Otherwise we ran the Jakes like we've been doing, and pretty much keeping the bus to about 60-65 mph.
About the same spotting on the back of the bus as usual, and no noticeable oil in the engine bay (or elsewhere). Engine was running well and seems to have about the same power as usual.
In the two years and 12,000 miles I've had the bus I've only had to add about 1-1/2 gallons of oil, and oddly the oil use is not consistent. It seems to be full for quite a while and then do like it did this time, drop about 1/2 gallon during one trip.
Any thoughts on what could be going on? Or is this something that's typical with the 8V71?
Let me add my recent experience which MAY explain your problem.
In the past I had injector problems which diluted the oil with diesel.The oil analyzer guy phoned me and said STOP driving it immediately. Had the injectors all replaced but still a little gun shy so I keep a close eye on the oil level. When we left home for camping a few weeks ago I checked the oil and it was at the add mark and I decided to not add any oil to see if my usage might be due to overfilling. About an hour later we stopped at a shopping center for wife to shop.I decided to check the oil and it was at the FULL mark. Panic set in but my wife suggested it was because we were parked on a slope. I didn't think that would make a much of a difference so we drove back towards home.I didn't want to continue further from home if I was going to have a REAL problem. When we got near home I stopped and decided to check it again.This time we were on level ground and the oil level was back where it was when we first started out.
So this is a long winded story to suggest that you MAY not have been on level ground when you checked it.
Jakes makes one use oil more and you get the spotting
I would have thought that parking on a slope was the problem if it was here at home, but it was while parked in the fuel station.
I didn't worry too much about it since I had just shut down (usually check after engine had been off for a while), but when it was at the same point the next morning it caused me to wonder.
Seems like my oil consumption goes up and down, not being consistent. I can go a few days of travel with no oil consumption, then be down 1/2 gallon after a few hundred miles. Then go days again before I notice a drop on the dip stick.