I have looked at past threads on oil consumption and see I am not alone. I have a 2001 V-10 and always changed oil at 3,000 miles and never added oil in between. All at once it started using oil at the rate of a quart in 450 miles. I mainly use the vehicle to pull a travel trailer so it sits around quite a bit which could effect the valve guides. I discussed it with the local Ford dealer and they suggested changing oil and adding a bottle of Lucas oil additive. to see if it softened the guides or if there is another problem. I mentioned the PCV valve and they discounted that as it is supposed to go 100,000 miles.The puff of smoke at start-up also began at the time of oil usage.

Has this problem ever been resolved to determine an exact cause or is it still a mystery?

 

Hello- I have a 05 V10----piece of crap. Burns a quart of oil every 600 miles. It is going to the dealer this week. It puffs a little blue smoke on startup. Terrible mileage. This V10 only has 16,000 miles. Dale

 

Oil consumption is common with synthetic oils. If that's what you guys are using, switch to dino and you'll be surprised at the results......

 

For the OP, I do not understand how sitting could affect valve guides.... But I can see it affecting PCV valve. Rust will be a problem in ANY vehicle that sits for extended periods of time. A bit of rust can sieze the PCV valve. Rust in the cylinders or on rings will cause problems with piston ring sealing. If it is just a stuck ring, it may "fix" itself with normal driving.

If it were mine, I would replace (or at least clean and inspect) PCV as cheap preventive maintenance. And if the oil consumption was really bothering me, I would do a cylinder leak down test to see if there is severe leaks in a cylinder. A quart in 450 miles seems like a lot, but works out to an extremely tiny fraction of a drop per cylinder firing. As long as you keep it topped up, it won't hurt a thing.

And keep in mind, ALL oils contain some small chain molecules that evaporate off. Usually less than 5 to 10% of total volume, though.

 

Yep, proved that myself. In order of most consumption, Pennzoil Platinum 5w-20, MC 5w-20, GTX 5w-20. I will be sticking with MC though as it is cheaper than GTX for the makeup oil.

 

Have you owned it since new? Wow - too many replies I can post here, but I'll wait until you answer...

 

For "BIG ORN" - Yes, I bought it new

 

Wow that is weird.

Mine is a 2000 owned since new with 98k miles on and everytime I check the oil it is OK. No smoke in the mornings either.

There must be something wrong going on with your engine.

j

 

My reply wsa for Dale, Rollie. Sorry...

As to your problem, you might want to check the PCV valve and the hose that energizes it. Attached to the throttle body is a 90º rubber elbow that fails quite often - the rubber deteriorates causing a loss of vacuum. Check that out.

I tried synthetic oil once a few years ago and it began evaporating rapidly; would lose a quart at 1500 miles easily. I went back to dino and eliminated the problem.

 

Stupid question. What is "Dino"?

 

Good old regular oil.

 

What weight oil are you using? I switched to 10W30 for summer months and greatly reduced consumption.

 

Would a wornout PCV valve cause a quart loss in 5-600 miles? I lose a lot of oil, but no blue smoke.

Thanks