oil consumption

[mikesmayhem]

My '01 doesn't go thru hardly any oil. 2001 4X4. I run Amsoil synthetic and I tow for most of my miles. Less then 1 qt. for 15,000 miles.

[mwsF250]

Originally Posted by someday

i changed the oil last week and got an oil sample and all looks ok...im going to wait till the summer/fall to do the 60k mi service and change the pcv and check the hoses...for now ill just keep adding about 2qts every 3k mi

its more annoying now that i have to check the oil level and add...how low
can it go before u have to worry?

Simple answer:
The original design engineer invested lots of computer time and pencil lead to determine you can safetly go to the bottom of the crosshatched "OK" zone.

After that, the lower you go, the higher the risk. The big risk is when it gets so low the oil pickup sucks air instead of oil. Air makes a pretty lame bearing lubricant...
Odds are you could go pretty far below the low mark and get away with it IF conditions are right. Like steady state cruising (accleration, braking, or turning cause oil to slosh to side of pan, could expose pickup) and a perfectly clean engine that lets oil drain back to pan very quickly.

If you ever see your oil pressure gage dip or flutter, you went too far.

[RobertH]

Hey guys, I went to buy a new PCV valve. First autoparts store showed that they did not carry it due to it did not have one. Went to second store, they sold me one. Went to put it on, and per location in manual, when I take off that huge hose, the fitting into the valve cover is huge also and seems it does not come out. Even if it did, the one they sold me is not even close to the size. It is more like the one's I used to put on my GM 350's. The hose going to the valve cover looks to be somewhere like 3/4" ID in size and the fitting on the part coming out of the cover is likely near that and fits tight of course. This part coming out of the valve cover looks to be plastic and I am not sure it is really a PCV valve? If so, I guess I will need to go to Ford to get a correct one, but what is the trick to remove the old one? I don't want to break it off in the valve cover and it seemed so tight, that it was like glued in or something.

[Krewat]

Look on the other valve cover

[RobertH]

According to the picture in the manual, it is on the drivers side and looks exactly the same in the repair manual as what I see under the hood. On the Passenger side, there is one connection port in the top of the valve cover and it has 3 different lines running into the single port. 2 are maybe 3/8" lines and the other is real big wrapped with foam insultation. Could not figure out what this mess was and seems like it could break real easy if I messed with it.
For you all that changed yours, what side was your PCV valve on?

[Krewat]

Maybe I should have been a little more wordy.

2-valve V10's all have the PCV in the passenger-side valve cover.

[RobertH]

Thanks Krewat, that must mean that it is under all that weird 3 way connection that I was looking at. Will try to play with it next weekend. Might have to take it to dealer to have it changed if it seems stuck. I sure hope it is not that complicated. It will be a very sad day when I find myself not able to change a simple PCV valve!

By the way, I changed my oil and drove 185 miles this weekend towing my boat and there was zero oil loss on the dipstick. So now confused on when it is dropping the level. Will keep a close eye on it.

[RobertH]

Ok, I figured out the process to change the PCV valve! Weird how it is setup. You were right it is on the passenger side! Opposite of the picture in the repair manual!

I also found it really to be a strange setup. Seems one vacuum line (I think it is a vacuum line) goes from rubber to a metal pipe that wraps around the PCV valve and goes back to rubber. There is a clip that holds it on and tight to the PCV valve. What in the world is this setup for? I have some pics I can try and post if I can figure out how to do that if anyone is interested, but someone on here likely already has seen this and might know?

By the way, the PCV valve that came off was really in good shape comparing to older motors I have changed in my past days. These engines definately run cleaner nowdays, and can probably credit that to the good oils we have. The old PCV valve still rattled freely, but at 97K, it is a good idea to change it. Then one I got from the autoparts store was an EXACT match! Will see how oil consumption goes from here.

[RobertH]

Figured I would throw out a status update on my oil consumption. After PCV valve, changed plugs (all were perfect at 97K and uniform in color/no oil on plugs), the oil consumption was 1 quart in the 3000 miles. Up until approx. 60K or so miles, there seemed to be no consumption in 3K miles, so weird how it got to this level now and I just hit 100K this week.

So, I have now switched over to Royal Purple to see if anything changes there. I was able to just pickup the Royal Purple at my local auto parts store, where I guess Amsoil is only available via email order, so figured I would go with RP this time and see if anything improves over the MC oil.

Anyone figured out any reason for this oil consumption? I don't see any smoke from the exhaust, so confused on what is going on.

[Antelope V-10]

I think Krewat has eluded to evaporation in the past on semi-syn. I have a jug of Castrol GTX 5W-20 ready to go in on the next oil change to see if my consumption stops or slows.

[RobertH]

Hey folks, I have been running a couple of weeks now on the RP 5w20 Synthetic. Can already see consumption on the dipstick. I think I might have traveled approx. 500 miles over the last couple of weekends since the change,so I took the PCV valve hose off to test if for cracks or leaks. What I did see in the 90 degree elbow was some oil accumulation. Not a lot, but some. Then when I took the elbow out of the hose, there was oil on the tapered part of the fitting so that tells me that oil is coming up through the PCV valve and hose and burning through the intake. I looked at the PCV valve itself and did see oil on the flat plate on the side facing the valve cover. So, it seems this is where the oil is going.

I tested the hose, and there were not leaks or cracks. It was in great shape. So, with that, what could be causing the oil to come up through the PCV valve?

I started the engine and felt a slight pull of vacuum on the PCV valve. Without the valve on the hose, the vacuum was quite strong. So it seems this new PCV valve is working properly by slowing the flow as it draws on it from the hose vacuum.

What could be checked now?

[Krewat]

The "oil" you see in the PCV is evaporated "stuff" from the oil. When it gets hot, some stuff boils (evaporates) off, and then condenses when it hits the (relatively) cool PCV tubing and throttle body. (air cools as pressure goes down. In other words, a vacuum)

[vicbear]

I have a 01 F250 with 124,000 on it and it just started to use alot of oil. It look like it is coming out the tail pipe. But it runs great. It started after I had done a oil change.

[Schooner 45]

I notice this thread kind of stopped in its tracks. Did anyone ever figure out where all the oil was going? My 2002 uses about 3+ quarts every few hundred miles. I don't go anywhere without a jug of oil in the back. I've changed the PCV valve and the plugs. At a loss as to what to try next. Using the MC 5W20, so will try the Castrol this next oil change unless someone chimes in with a better choice that worked for them. Is everyone using the MC filter or are you trying something else? As an aside, I'm still having an elusive missfire that codes back and forth between 10 and 8, though I changed the plugs and one COP (#10). As I changed the plugs, I'd move a COP over to the next plug, start it up and see if it smoothed out. It never did (?!). Seems like an intermitted chugging at idle (02 sensor?). Otherwise this truck runs great at 178k+.

[Krewat]

Using that much oil, you'd think it would be smoking or obviously leaking from somewhere.

Are the plugs wet?