My dad has an 03 V10 Excursion and its burning about 1 quart of engine oil every 800-1,000 miles on good full synthetic high millage engine oil. We did find out previous owner wasn't good on keeping engine oil fresh and full, after we bought it, so wondering if the rings got extra wear on them or is this normal for a 195,000 miles on a V10 Excursion to be burning this much engine oil? Also I was thinking on putting 1 quart Lucas Oil Stabilizer, because I know that stuff is pretty thick, when it's due for next oil change in spring. Any thoughts?

 

Lucas is a scam product, and you do not want to try mixing oil chemistries

this guy is a Chemical Engineer with excellent relationships with Chevron, et all, and the Oil Testing laboratories.

Oil Additives are a Scam

 

The short answer is yes it can be normal.


The long answer is there are many factors in these motors that go into oii consumption . First, check your PCV valve and hoses for leaks or faulty operation and it will suck oil like crazy through the pcv system. Next what oil are you running? Stock 5w20? Many have gone to 5w30 or 5w40 to cut down on oil consumption. Next try different brands. Mine burns a lot of oil as well and it burns even more when using the Napa house brand for example. Currently trying rotella 5w40 and the jury is still out. Ford put out an article about this generation of v10 and they consider 1 qt/1k miles normal. This is about what mine has used for as long as I have had it. Bought with 130k and now at 198k

 

Back when I was working at Ford dealerships a quart of oil every 1000 miles is normal.

 

same at every dealer i worked at or ran, 1k per qt is pretty much the normal
he could do a compression and leak down test to help figure out the shape the top end ring and valve wise is in,

 

Best thing you can do is floor it as much as possible. Nice long pulls up a mountain, merging onto a highway, towing, etc. You don't have to break laws, just do it where it's appropriate and safe like listed previously. Seafoam or your cleaner of choice is helpful in aiding in this process also. Removing the plugs and soaking the rings in ATF or seafoam is also a good aid in the process (if you do this, make sure you crank it with the plugs out before putting the plugs back in!), but flooring it for long pulls is the way.

 

I've had good luck adding marvel mystery oil about 150 miles before oil change to clean sticky lash adjusters. I have also move to 5wz30 or even 10w-30 in heat of summer. My pcv system gets so much oil I've had to zip tie the hose on. A catch can would catch a lot of what is blowing by. Mine's a 5.4 but I've rebuilt one with 200k and the cylinders do tend to wear a little at the top. I am at 230k original miles and only thing done is replace the chain tensioner at 100k.

 

I always considered my 6.8 V-10 a 2 stroke!
Actually mine at 160K miles eats about a quart every 1200/1500 miles. I use Mobil 1 full synth in 5/10W-30/40, I don’t have my notebook handy at the moment.
As was mentioned above, check your PCV valve, a stuck open one can suck down lots of oil.

 

My 2005 V10 burned about 1 quart every 2,000 miles when I bought it in 2008. I've still got the Ex and it still burns about 1 quart every 2,000 miles at 215,000. I've always use Mobil 1 5W-20, the best oil filter I can find, and I change them at 5,000 miles or once per year, whichever comes first. Please don't use any oil additives. At best they will do nothing and may adversely affect the additive package that's already added to the PAO base by the the synthetic oil supplier.

 

I know some love additives and some don't. I'm not a chemistry expert by any means, and there are certainly many more knowledgeable folks here with more experience than myself . When I got my 2000 V10 at 234,000 miles, it was burning one quart every 1,000 miles. No idea of the history of previous owners. I have used Mobil 1 or Valvoline high mileage synthetic oil with two quarts of Lucas and a Motorcraft filter. I still check it every 1,000 miles to be sure all is ok, but the engine doesn't lose much, if any, now. I'm sitting at 276,000 miles now and change every 3,000 miles myself. Expensive, yes, but I do it myself, so at least I'm saving on labor charges.

Again, not saying its the way to go, but so far, it has worked for me, along replacing plugs, coils, and the PCV valve for a happier engine than when I bought it.

 

Right, every 1000k, like clockwork for the past decade.

 

For older vehicles that burn oil... Valvoline Restore and Protect is worth a try, especially to free up the oil rings. Do you have blow by?

 

The important thing to recognize about additives; they are designed for specific purposes and people shouldn't expect results, nor should they use said additive, outside of what the purpose is. Take seafoam for example - to be used in the crank case only near an oil change, or used with fresh oil with the plan of draining it after the seafoam cycle, in an engine that is caked with buildup (high miles, light load, etc). Archoil for HEUI - use with every oil change to protect injectors (makes a noticeable difference in an engine that exhibits signs of stiction, so using it every oil change cycle on a clean injector means it'll be much longer before stiction is an issue). Lucas - use with every oil change to help with oil retainment within the oil passages (also can be used in large doses to aid worn bearings). We could go on, lots of additives actually do have great benefits when used appropriately for an application. People who don't understand how anything works are normally the loudest to criticize an additive (i.e. reviews of a product) because they had no idea why they were using the additive in the first place. There are catalytic converter additives too, to help clean the cat.

It's funny, an engine that is babied will have sludge build up in the engine, carbon buildup on the valves, cat clogging, piston ring caking, etc....which is why my original advice in this thread was to floor it regularly for long pulls. Nothing cleans an engine better, and prevents build up, than regular high heat / high load pulls. Applying this "floor regularly" philosophy to a new engine, that means regular oil changes will evacuate the contaminates. On an old engine that has been babied, that means more frequent oil changes + hard running will eventually clean everything out that can be cleaned out, and additives designed to help with any given field will accelerate the process and/or achieve a better end result.