valvoline high mileage synthetic blend was on sale at Chinamart so i dropped that in with a MC filter of course....after we removed the skid plate to get access to the torn up Firestone filter...never again, even a free oil change!

 

I have a 99 exp 4X4 XLT with a 4.6 140,000 miles and use 1-2 quarts every 3000 miles. Most of my driving is highway. I bought this truck with 75,000 miles on it and it has consumed this oil consistently. No leaks, good power, no smoke. Ford dealer says if it uses more than 2 quarts every 3000 miles then there may be a problem. Otherwise it is normal consumption. The service department had called their corporate office to gain this information while I was there. It seems that some of the newer cars out there also consume oil. Back in the day this would be bad but it appears that this is starting to be a acceptable thing with newer cars. Even a Audi !!! Mybe bigger clearences are now being used??? I use Mobil 1 5W-30 with a fram grip filter. No leaks with the filter. How would a motorcraft filter not use as much oil, I get this info from other posts on this thread but no answers. Is there a pressure difference between the fram and motorcraft of something??????????????

 

First of all, "back in the day", cars always used oil; in the 70's, anything that used a quart or less in 1000 miles I considered to be pretty good. Using 1-2 quarts over 3k miles is just not that bad--keep an eye on the oil level and drive your truck. 140k miles is a fair number of miles. Changed your PCV valve recently? This can make a difference. Again, back in the day, cars used way more oil than modern cars.

What's up with the Audi? They're pretty poor in terms of quality control and have had many engine problems over the years.

Fram filters, if you look at their internal construction, are made very poorly and have been known to have problems. Their anti-drainback valves are not silicone and press up against the cheap cardboard end caps, which will leave the engine running dry more at startup. I don't think you'll use more oil per mile with the Fram so much as wear the engine out faster so you use more oil in the long haul. I used to be a Fram user until maybe 1995, when it became clear that Fram was building their filters as cheaply and poorly as possible. Just use a Motorcraft filter.

George

 

With my late model vehicles I have never had to put as much oil in them as i do with the Expedition. I have a had several old buicks, drag raced some of them, and had daily drivers with a 68 buick 350 motor that used mybe a 1/2 a quart at the most. Even the abuse of drag racing I had 350 buick motors use very little oil. And that was in a 78 Buick LeSabre Custom at almos 4000 pounds doing a quarter mile in 14 seconds.

The Audi has been a really sweet car. I guess the oil thing with it is in most of them. It is a 07 A-4 and will be my next go fast cat for the street once I am done with my 87 Sundance with a 350 horse 2.2 turbo II motor.

I will throw another PCV on the Expi and switch oil filters. It runs really good just drinks a bit more oil than what I am used to. This usage was the same before I made the mods to it to. Thanks for the suggestions I will give it a try.

 

One other thing on the mod motors. (I have a 4.6 in my '02 E150.):

If you fill the oil to the top (full) mark on the dipstick, my van seems to use a bit more oil. I have read some authoritative sounding folks talking about this, where Ford designed the engine to be run at halfway up the mark. And I swear that early in its life it would go through a quart in 3k miles, whereas now it has 72k miles on it, and on a full syn change, I've just run it 5k with maybe 1/4 quart going away. But I only filled it halfway up the stick (6 quarts in the 4.6). It used to use more oil when I tried to keep the level at the top of the stick instead of the middle. Really.

Of course, if you're burning a bit thru the valve seals or something like that, keep a GOOD eye on the oil if you're starting halfway up the stick.

Good luck; mod motors run a long time. Have you seen the millionmilevan.com website where the guy has the original motor and trans in a '97 van, well over 1 million miles?

I had tons of muscle cars including a '68 Olds 442 that I raced the crap out of for two solid years...only thing I used up was a clutch and tires. A couple 2-seat 390 AMX's, couple Corvettes, couple Chrysler 426 street hemi cars. They all used a quart in 1k miles, except for the 3 old English cars ('65 Sunbeam Alpine, '60 Healey 3000, '70 MGB) I owned that used a quart every 200-500 miles...leaking, burning, whatever.... THAT was a pain in the ***. I was willing to put up with so much more crap when I was that young.

George

 

I know what you mean. My dad had a 70 0lds 442 w-30 and sold it a few years ago. I could of killed him. Of course he didn't sell it to me, but now admits he should have since I'm spending money on stuff anyways. Drag racing is fun but gets expensive and I figured I would be better off making a nice street machine with the money rather than out at the track. I live out in the county so I can get away with alot of stuff. I'll be forty three in a month and a half and still like the power and speed. The only difference now is I take sometime to go fishing here and there and take my time working on the project vehicles. My days of staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning working on stuff are gone, but I think that is a good thing and my work is better by taking more time to do it.

I'll try the oil fill as you talked about and see what happens. Sometimes you hear this weird stuff and it actually works. LOL I run Mobil 1 5W-30 in the Expi and run Mobil 1 in all my other stuff as well. I have 4 vehicles and it seems to have been treating them all pretty well.

 

I've had a '95 Crown Vic since '97 - bought it with 36K on the clock. It has always used a qt. every 1500 or so. It's a 4.6 that I have always changed at 3000; used mostly MotorCraft filters when available, doesn't smoke or leak. It now has 153K on it and still runs great. In fact, I'm seriously thinking of yanking the drivetrain and putting it in my '57 F-100 as the car isn't worth much in the used car market.

 

I drive a lot of highway and mountain roads, so I take the truck out of od when I am going down steep hills, helps hold speed with out riding the brakes. So more than likely this is why I burn 1/2 quart every 1500 to 2000 miles. I throw a 1/2 quart in and drain complete 3500 to 4000 anyway. Now67f250 I still have my 71 442w-30 conv, I'm original owner and it always has used at least a quart every 1000. If I use syn it is a quart 6-700 miles. Nature of the beast for nearly 40 years. like I have said before now if only the back seat could talk

 

ive noticed with my thunderbird 4.6 when i used it for pizza delivery and having it run for hours at a time and putting 500+ miles on a week it burned more then normal commuting.. it still was 1 qt in 3500 miles.

 

Ours has 165K on it...uses about 2.5-3 qts every 5K miles....oh well, eh?