Hey guys need a little help here.
I'm new to diesels and I've got a 2002 F-350 w/7.3L 224K miles
I've had it for about a year and had no problems. Burned a little oil, about a quart every 1000 miles or so, but in the last two weeks it's gone through the roof. I have gone through roughly 12 quarts in 300 miles. I see a lot of blue smoke at start up, and it's being harder and harder to start in the cold. From what I've read it could be several different things, and I plan on doing the CCV delete and changing the orings on the injectors just for good measure. Is there anything else that I might check as well, or am I completely off base on what it might be? ANy help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Oh wow...that's a lot of oil. If I had to take a shot at the problem without looking at the truck I'd probably say check out the turbo first. That's the only place I can see that much oil disappearing all of a sudden like that.

As far as the regular oil consumption before this, have you checked to see if the motor has any/much blowby?

How does it run and idle?

 

Are you sure you are not leaking it? Burning that much oil you should see a blue haze when you are driving. Nothing in the valley?

 

agreed.. that is a lot of oil NOT to see it in the rear view mirror... ( blue smoke )

High pressure leak going down the road... but not when idling or driving slow.
check all lines, hoses, gaskets.

 

Agreed start with the turbo before digging deeper. Pull the inlet hose and look at the impeller. See if it has excessive up/down play and look for impeller to housing contact. you should see oil evidence as well. Hows the power on the engine feel?

 

Moved to the 7.3L forum.

 

It runs good, plenty of power when i hit the throttle. I haven'tseen any blue smoke in the rear view when driving. It does show some oil in the valley, but not much. I see oil leaking from the bittom of the oil lan where it meets the trans, but I've heard that can be a false indicator of a rear main seal and actually the turbo mounting plate. I was thinking at first it might be leaking from the oil pan, but i haven't had a chance to pull it yet to re-seal it. I'll be sure to check the turbo when i get the o-rings for the injectors

 

Remember, diesels run on oil. They can burn an incredible amount of crankcase oil with no visible signs.

 

the quesrion is how is the oil from the crankcase getting into the cylinder to burn? It is supposed to be sealed off from there, which is what the rings on the pistons and the valve guides do. That much doesn't get by the rings and i still have that much power from the motor. If that was the case i wouldn't have almost any compression. I can't even hear a skip when cranking it over that would indicate a dead cylinder

 

Crank case oil gets pumped by the LPOP to and is used by the HPOP which delivers it to the head and eventually to the injector. The injectors have an o-ring that separates the high pressure oil from the fuel: there is a fuel rail and an oil rail in the head so when you pull an injector they mix freely in the injectors absence. If this o-ring is compromised in any way, oil will mix with the fuel. The fuel pressure is around 55-70 psi while the high pressure oil will be from 500 psi up to 3200 psi. Guess which liquid wins the battle to infiltrate the other. The diesel/oil mixture then gets injected into your cylinders and burns. You don't necessarily see a lot of smoke however it will show up on the right rear quarter panel as soot.

If you have visible oil at the tailpipe then you may be looking at a seal in the turbo.

 

How big of a puddle does it leave under the truck?

Is the bottom of the truck covered in oil?

Have you checked the turbo yet?

If everything above checks out, look over by the oil filter. You'll see that the filter attaches to a tube that about the size of a grease gun. Look very closely at the ends of that tube where it fits into the brackets. That's your oil cooler, and they are known to leak, especially when cool weather comes in.

As to the oil in the valley, that oil drains down the back of the motor and comes out at the bottom of the torque convertor shield looking like it might be the rear seal. Some big leaks can occur in the valley.

There are plugs at the end of the heads. They have a square in them that's made for a ratchet to turn them. They are also known to leak.

You can also look at the fuel filter. If it's black, you may be loosing oil through the injector o-rings.

 

I would be very aggressive to solve this problem, and I would stop driving the truck. Diesels absolutely love oil. Where a thick mix of oil in the fuel can diminish the performance of a gasser, not so with diesels. That is to say - if the oil gets in the cylinders without control of the Injector Driver Module, you are staring down the possibility of a runaway.

I would search the term "Cody test", I would look at the fuel filter to see if it's black, and I would look at the tail pipe for signs of straight oil discharge.

 

If it were a leak (not being burned in the cylinders), that much loss would leave the back side of your truck coated in oily residue -- I've had it myself with a high pressure oil line leak AND with an EBPV leak.

 

I have stopped driving the truck and o-rings should be here on thursday. I plan on digging into the truck this weekend. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

I'll bet you another set of orings its the orings. Once you crack or loose seal on your mid tier ring its all over. 7-8 qts burned/mixed with diesel over 30-35 miles is not unheard of. You literally will make it about 40 miles andl starve the HPOP. I have drained auxillary fuel filters that looked like synthetic oil was in the fuel system after a 100-200 miles of this....