I have a 01 escape v6 and it is lossing oil somehow.it does not burn oil,it does not have any oil spots on the ground under the motor, it does not show anywhere that oil is leaking on the engine and drying off from heat, and the antifreeze is clean from oil. can anyone give me some idea of what is the cause of the oil loss? I run about 1500-1700 miles and have to add as much as 2 quarts. I hope someone could give me something to look for. thanks.

 

you are burning it, check PCV, intake manifold leak into intake, valve guide seals

 

you are burning oil. check the pcv and see if its stuck open. are you using the correct oil? how is the vehicle driven? if the cylinder pressure is never brought up on a regular basis the rings will lose tension and oil consumption will occur.

 

Check the valve cover gaskets. My front bank has a minimal amount around the inside portion. Happened on my previous car around both cylinder banks, on the outside edges and the inner around the plugs. That's about the right age for it to be happening too. You'll ahve to remove the cowl to see around the cylinders though, which is no big deal, 3 8mm nuts holding that plastic cover. 5w20 is thin stuff so it can get by a lot of things, and may be burning without really showing up as anything smokey out of the pipe. If your valve covers are clean, I'd start running a thicker oil in it regardless, especially during the summer, either 10w40 or at least 5w30 and see if the consumption changes. If it's getting burned, repairs are expensive, and that's a lot of oil to be burning over that mileage in my estimation. Time to sell. If it's the valve cover gaskets, which I have a feeling it is, then it's stil lnot a cheap fix, but you may be able to get by on the thicker oil for a while. Last vehicle, which was a similar Ford/Mazda V6 cost about $450 to get them replaced. They were leaking again within a year. I added about a quart every 1500 miles from there on out and went to 10w40 from 5w30 for the next couple years. You could smell it burning slightly on occassion, usually after stopping from being on the highway for a while. I jsut noticed the slight leaks on my Tribute the other day, it's not much but I will definitely be using 5w30 from here on out and keeping an eye on it to see if it gets worse. It's something I can live with forever. THe only issue with it really is possibly eating away at the Coil/plug housing if they are als oleaking on the inner seals, and I don't think it's that much concern. My plug wires made a nice little sucking "whoosh" when you popped 'em off when I replaced the gaskets on the old vehicle. Hope that is your issue and not more serious engine wear.

 

On sat. I took another look on top and under the engine a real good look and the engine is clean it is not leaking oil anywhere. like I said the anti-freeze is clean to no oil in it and no it is not burnning it. at present I am useing 5w20 castrol full synthectic oil. I am at real loss on where the oil is going. if anyone has a sugestion I am all ears. thanks

 

what makes you so adamant that you are not burning the oil??

When I was losing oil, there was no indicators, smoke, oily plugs, oil in antifreeze.. ect Then I pulled the lower intake manifold and viola, no more oil loss...

 

aquanaut20 this comming sat. I will pull the top of the engine apart and see maybe you are right. I will let you know for sure. thanks

 

Well I did what I said and I still can't find any oil leaks. Do you have any other ideas aquanaut20?

 

Aquanut20, could you be more specific about what you found and how you corrected it? This could be valuable information when people search. Did you find a bad gasket or possibly evidence of oil in the manifold? thanks...

 

itswrongway, the first thing I would recommend to you is to change oil to a 5- 20 blend and get rid of the Castrol synthetic. Most likely your engine doesn't have the ring tension to handle the synthetics. It is a common problem with almost all auto manufacturers. I think it will cure your problem. Try Havoline or Pennzoil for the moly in the formulation, I think you'll like it.

FWIW, each engine is different and while your engine may have a problem with synthetic oil the next guy may not have any issues at all using it in the same type engine. It is a cheap fix if this is the problem and it is more common than you think.

 

OK I'll give the reg. oil a chance and see what happens. the spec. is for 5/20 W do you think it would hurt anything if I went with 5/30 W ? OH by the way I use fram oil filters, is there anything wrong with that ? I ask because my 01 windstar blows the side wall out on them. ( never had this problem with them on any other car)

 

I personally would not use a FRAM filter. Heard too many horror stories. You can get Motorcraft filters and oil at Wal-Mart for a decent price. Stick with the 5W-20. It is an excellent oil.

-Matt

 

If you use an Energy Conserving rated oil and the bottle will say that at the starburst, it will be a 5w-30 oil that is right on the thin side of the viscosity range. The 5w-20s are almost always right at the thickest end of their respective range so really, there is not much viscoity difference between the two. If you feel more comfy with a 5w-30, make sure it is an EC oil and use it. Fram filters aren't known to be the orange granade for nothing. I would suggest a WalMart E Core filter over the Fram anyday. Okay, any filter is better than the orange bomb. There are Wix, NAPA Gold, Purolator, Motorcraft, Lee, and others that out perform a Fram. Pick one but don't pay a bunch for a filter. Those listed are quality filters and will do as good of a job as any at any price. Filters are a compromise. High oil flow means poor filtration, good filtration means poor oil flow. Most filters are a compromise so don't buy into advertizing hype about better flow or better filtration- you can't have both.