I have a2005 F-150 5.4 with 225,000 miles. I drive a little under 1000 miles a weekwith my current job so doing an oil change every 3000 miles isn’t reallyreasonable, at least I didn’t think it was. While driving I started having somestruggling while going up hills on the interstate maybe it was misfiring, itnever gave a check engine light so I’m not certain. So I stopped and checked the oil afterletting the truck sit for about 10 mins to ensure all the oil went back intothe pan so I could get a good reading. So I read the dip stick and it has gotnothing on it. This is odd to me, my truck has never burned oil before and I’mnot leaking oil. So I add 1 quart and check it again still nothing so I add anadditional quart, still no reading on the dip stick. So it has been about 9,000miles since my last oil change (2 months) so I figure I will just do an oilchange to see if I can figure out what’s going on. When I drain the pan I get 4quarts of oil out, the truck calls for 6.5 quarts per oil change. This isalarming to me since I just put 2 quarts into it which means I was running thetruck with only 2 quarts of oil! However I never got a low oil pressure alert.So I did a detailed inspection of the oil. I did find very small amount ofmetal flake in the oil. I had to use a light to get them to reflect. So myquestion is, how toast is my engine? The way I see it I’m driving a tickingtime bomb and the last thing I need is to break down 300 miles from home. Myfollow on question is how long should I expect this engine to continue to gofor? The rest of the truck is in good enough shape, it would make a great farmtruck if I kept it even if I have to add a quart of oil every 500-1000 miles,assuming the engine will last another 30k. Before everyone gets started with “wowyou’re an idiot, who lets there oil get that low” I would like to acknowledgethat this was a huge mistake on my part so now we can move on. So lets hereyour thoughts. I plan on checking the oil level every tank fill up until I candetermine how much oil I’m going through, also so I can keep it topped off.Also I have been getting around 14.5 mpg highway so I’m going to keep an eye onthat to see if it goes up or not. Anyone have any non-evasive ways that I couldattempt to determine engine damage or to determine how much life this thing hasin it. I’d love to hear your comments.<o></o>

 

Maybe I'm getting old and cranky but OMG this post is soooooooo difficult to read! Good gravy.............

Anyway I'm first drawn to this bit about an oil change 9,000 miles ago? Is that correct?

Given that the Modular Motors running the correct viscosity oil tend to "lose" about 1 quart every 1,000 miles if that oil change interval is correct you're lucky to have had any oil at all in the pan.

I get the feeling routine maintenance isn't a high priority which has me wondering if the PCV system has ever been checked?

As for life expectancy that's hard to say. Its possible external visual or probing the PCM diagnosis could reveal nothing yet the cam, rod and/or crank bearings be ready to self-destruct. Even though these motors are capable of much higher mileage before major repair or replacement there's no real way knowing how much more is left in this engine.

I'd start saving for a replacement motor or new-to-you vehicle and be ready to make the swap as time/money permits.