im wondering if any one has noticed that the astron chews a bit of oil, its done 168 000 KM and does not blow smoke, and no leaks. i do about 200km a day so that might be it.

My TR powered by 4g54 done well over 326000 kms not burning oil :D But you might have worn piston rings or blow by or your leaking oil somewhere.

Well it has to be one of those 2 then because its dentally not leaking. you would do a compression test to determine that then?

these engines are good for it. even if you cant see smoke blowing at this age they often leak a bit past the valve stem seals and you wouldn't even know. you can do a 'leak down' test but at the low mileage yours has done unless its been mistreated (overheated, run low on oil) the rings should be ok.

mine use to go fine, not using a teaspoon for weeks then in one short drive you would loose a litre or more with no sign of smoke or anything. they are like that. check your rocker cover breather hoses for oil as they sometimes leak oil into the inlet manifold under vacuum.

otherwise i had a slight weep on the head gasket from the 4th cylinder oil port into the cylinder. just watch it doesn't get too bad. they are like a needle in a haystack.