I'm realizing that my 1986 245 just plain burns oil, a LOT of oil. after about 500 miles i'm driving on black oil; it drinks oil at a rate of about one QUART every 500-600 miles. Sometimes i forget to check the level and find myself driving on about half as much oil as there should be. This car's THIRSTY.

She leaks the stuff too, but it never drips, just collects along the sides of the engine block (both sides, mostly the driver's side i think) and along the bottom of the oil pan. The head gasket may be at fault, but the oil cap never has any creamy oily goop on it when i remove it (and i've been told that's the easiest way to see if it's bad). It still leaks a little coolant, but that may be because of my heater hose job and not the h/g,

That being said, i'm wondering how often i should change the oil and filter with this problem. Still every 4000 miles as i've been doing, or can i just keep adding oil until about 6K? Also what do people think is the reason for it burning so badly?

thanks!!!!