I've had this problem for just under a year. I've been watching my oil level closely. My truck will all of a sudden use 4 to 8 qts of oil in 100 miles. I fill it back up and it goes a while (sometimes weeks) without using a drop. Then it sucks up quarts again. A few days ago it started hard, blew lots of blue smoke, warmed up and seemed normal. I checked the the oil and it was at the normal range. Then while driving down the freeway I noticed the cloud of blue smoke behind me. I was able to get the truck home and the level was right at the bottom of the stick.
Since then, I have pulled the turbo outlet air tubes and they were only slightly damp with oil (no pooling). While I had the tubes off, I checked the turbo. No end play and virtually no side to side play. The CCV (on the drivers side with 2 screws) was clean. The truck still seemed to run strong, but 5 qts in 15 miles is crazy! So right now it's dead in the driveway. 2002 7.3L 125K miles

 

Welcome to FTE.

If you don't see a leak, injector o-rings. The truck will not run with 8 qts low.

 

is the valley full of oil?? the under side of the truck sprayed down with oil???

 

Valley is dry ... bottom of truck is dry.

I found out about the low oil when the truck started running rough a while back. Poured in 8 qts and have been watching it closely ever since.

 

Something has to be wrong here. Is oil coming out of the tail pipe?

 

Does it still lay a smoke cloud when you try and run it? Any signs of oil in the tail pipe? No oil in the valley, no external leaks, lots of smoke and high oil consumption is often a sign of a bad turbo, or as Rick suggested, loose injectors or bad o-rings.

 

Any oil in the coolant?

 

no oil in coolant ... exhaust is sooty black, not wet.

I've got the turbo tubes off the truck right now. Last time I ran it (back home after heavy blue smoke running down the freeway), it was rough and HEAVY smell of oil at idle.
Is there anything I can check reguarding the turbo before I pull the valve covers? Or can someone tell me how,why and where the oil could be burning involving the turbo? I'm new at this so I need help understanding the turbo oiling.

Thanks for the replys .. I really need to get my truck on the road again soon!

 

Any special tools required if I need to remove the injector seals/O-rings?

 

If your turbo has an oil leak, you would see oil coming out the exhaust tip. Looks like you need to get into the VC.

 

I recently pulled my injectors on my drivers side. Easy to get to and took a 8mm wrench to get out. Basic tools. Just watch for oil and fuel going into cylinders as you pull out injectors. Can cause hydrolock or worse. Maybe someone else can explain how to avoid that.

 

Pull the oil fill cap off the valve cover and start the truck. See if that thing does the big time choo choo train thing. Hopefully it is a smooth flow.

 

Pull the air pipe between the turbo and the after cooler. If you strike oil, then the turbo seals are bad and probably the bearings are failing.

 

I'm beginning to think it's injector related. Turbo outlet was dry and exhaust was just sooty. I just picked up 8 injector seal kits. Anything I shouild look for as far as inspecting the injectors once I have them out? At 130K miles is there a rebuild kit for injectors that I should think about?

 

You could take the valve covers off and start the truck up. There is a discharge point for each injector. Watch the injectors at idle to see which one(s) aren't spitting oil like the rest of them. With mileage that low, I wouldn't worry about having the injectors rebuilt.

As for the injectors, the most likely suspect would be a bad o-ring. There's 3 o-rings on each injector. Do you know how to pull and stick the injector back in, or do you need some pointers on that? You'll want to make sure you get the oil out of the cylinders after you pull them.