This is my 3rd 90's Ford Truck and they all seemed to consume a fairly large amount of oil. No Leaks, No white or blue smoke, but if you dont check the dipstick fairly often, youll find your 3 quarts low.

Ive been puzzled by this now for years. Never really looked into it. I just assumed that Motors with a ton of miles on them naturally eat oil and theres not much you can do about it short of a rebuild.

 

Older 5.0 and 5.8 mills will "consume" oil via loss of oil control through rings. If you have a 5.0 or a 5.8 with a know-working PCV valve AND a significant amount oil present in the air box UNDER the air filter and a soaked breather filter (in the air box under the air filter as well) its a good bet it needs an overhaul sooner rather than later. It is known that this kind of loss of oil control rarely manifests itself beyond the symptoms I described here particularly in EFI/EEC-IV controlled engines.

 

I switched to running straight 30W. That helps reduce consumption on my 1990 5.0L Bronco.

 

I run 15w40 in my coupe. It desparetely needs an overhaul.

A windsor in good condition shouldn't use much, if any, oil however.

 

My 94 with 197K never needs more oil between changes. It gets to "Low" mark at about 4K miles.

 

I use 5w30 Mobile 1. I lose about a quart every 2 weeks. No signs of PCV system trouble. Ive checked the PCV valve, air filter and theres no oil in there. Replaced the PCV with a motorcraft PCV when I got it. This truck has 210k miles on it. No idea if its been rebuilt. My last 2 had 130k+ on them and the same issues. So im guessing its just worn rings. It knocks when the oil is low. It knocks when cold when the oil isnt low. After it warms up it stops. Otherwise it runs fantastic.

 

Yeah you def have some blow by from the sounds of it. I would consider a rebuild, even jsut a basic rebuild with new rings and valve will really wake up the old motor.

 

Im picking up a new transmission this weekend. I spotted a very nice 5.0 in an explorer the other day. it was a 1995 with only 70k miles on it. Got completely violated in the rear end. Front was picture perfect. I need to find out what they want for that motor.

 

I dont know if mine burns oil cause it leaks so much as it is

 

NO! No 302 in a Bronco!

Get a torquey engine (300) or something bigger.

 

It is preferable to swap to a 5.8/351w if you are already swapping motors.

However having a newer 5.0 is easier to find with all the right goodies.

 

If i ever have a motor built, it will be a 408, but till them Ill just swap a $500 5.0 junker in. Its quick and easy.

 

I'll second Manfred's idea... 302 was a 289... 289 was (and still remains) a "pony car" engine designed to wrap high in the RPM range before it ever produces any usable HP. Which is why it works so well in things as light as Mustangs and even early Broncos (considerably smaller and lighter than their full-size cousins). Trucks benefit from higher torque lower in the RPM range to get them moving.

Again, this depends upon what you do with your truck too. I don't personally need to sprint to the 75-80 MPH mark in a truck that I use to haul and putter around town. (If I went that fast, I'd lose half the stuff in the bed that sticks up above the tailgate and bedrails). If I wanna go fast, I have my Sky or even the wife's '68 Deville Convertible... (don't laugh, she'll do 0-60 in 8 seconds flat!)