F-150 burning oil...how?

[Jamesdad]

Hello everyone. I have a 2000 Ford F-150 Lariat. It has the 5.4 Triton v-8. It is a stepside, 4x4. It is an excellent truck and has treated me well for 133,000 miles. It does not have a single drip anywhere in the engine. The under carriage is perfectly dry. It does not smoke at all. There is no oil in the cooling system. But, for some reason it is burning alot. My oil light came on last week for the first time and when I checked it it did not register on the dip stick. I just had an oil change less than 4,000 miles ago and I burn Synthetic. I just drove it pulling a trailer from Bakersfield to Santa Cruz and back for a weeks vacation, approx. 5 hours each way plus a few hours of driving in ther area site seeing. Could it be burning under a load such as towing? Any assistance would be appreciated. Also, if it is a bad ring or piston, what kind of $$ may I be looking at?
 
Thanks, Jamesdad

[Crowbar4]

Did you check the oil level after the oil change?  that truck takes about 6.5 qts of oil while most others take about 5.  The person filling it may have put in five and never checked the dipstick.  It is very common for vehicles to burn a little oil even when new.  It is usually not a problem between oil changes unless it was not full to begin with.  To see if you really have a problem change your oil again and make sure it is full of the proper oil.  Drive it again 4000 mi and see what happens.  If your oil drops below the dipstick again you have a problem that needs atention.  If not you Know you had a bad oil change.

[wavery]

Hello everyone. I have a 2000 Ford F-150 Lariat. It has the 5.4 Triton v-8. It is a stepside, 4x4. It is an excellent truck and has treated me well for 133,000 miles. It does not have a single drip anywhere in the engine. The under carriage is perfectly dry. It does not smoke at all. There is no oil in the cooling system. But, for some reason it is burning alot. My oil light came on last week for the first time and when I checked it it did not register on the dip stick. I just had an oil change less than 4,000 miles ago and I burn Synthetic. I just drove it pulling a trailer from Bakersfield to Santa Cruz and back for a weeks vacation, approx. 5 hours each way plus a few hours of driving in ther area site seeing. Could it be burning under a load such as towing? Any assistance would be appreciated. Also, if it is a bad ring or piston, what kind of $$ may I be looking at?
 
Thanks, Jamesdad

4,000 miles to use up 2 qts of oil isn't bad on an engine with 133,000 miles on it. It's a good idea to check your oil more often and add a qt when it gets low.

When the engine is a qt low on oil, it has less capacity to cool and the oil tends to run hotter. The 2nd qt will go quickly (that's why you never let it go more than 1 qt low). If you are towing, that is doubly true. I would recommend checking the oil at every fuel stop (while towing) on a 100K+ mile engine.

So......the answer to your question is........there is probably nothing wrong with your engine. What you are describing is normal or maybe even a little better than normal. An engine with 100K+ miles on it would be expected to use a qt of oil in 2-3000 miles (more when towing).

It's also important to use the synthetic oil specially formulated for "High Mileage Vehicles".

It's a good thing that you were using synthetic oil. If you were using petrol based oil, you may have damaged the engine.

[Jamesdad]

Thanks for your answers, I fell better about it now. One more question, if it was a bad ring, would it smoke a little, alot or not at all? I would like to eliminate that question as well. Thanks.
 
Jamesdad

[wavery]

Thanks for your answers, I fell better about it now. One more question, if it was a bad ring, would it smoke a little, alot or not at all? I would like to eliminate that question as well. Thanks.
 
Jamesdad

There are only 3 scenarios with piston rings.

1. Normal wear & tear (which I believe you have).
2. Broken ring (causes excessive smoking).
3. Stuck ring. (normally comes from poor maintenance or water in the cylinder) I don't think this is your problem either.

It may take 2,000 or 3,000 miles to loose 1 qt and the next 500 you might loose a second qt. Then your oil pump stops picking up the oil, the oil pressure drops and your light comes on.

Sleep well my friend and check your oil once in awhile. It only got that low because you don't check your oil...........just like my wife.....

[rsgault]

You might want to check the PCV valve and possibly replace it.  A gummed up PCV can cause excessive oil consumption.

Rich

[austinado16]

If this were in my driveway, I would not change the oil.  I would top it up with whatever oil you were using.  Read the owner's manual and make sure you are using the weight of oil that is recommended by Ford.  Or it may be printed on the oil filler cap.  The correct weight of oil is a big deal.

So fill it to the top of the "max" line and start driving it.....and monitor whether or not it's using oil.  The take it from there.  That's what I'd do anyway.

A few things to consider:
1) You can have broken or stuck, or worn out oil control rings and still have a good running engine, but burn quite a bit of oil.  A leak down test will not show this, nor will a compression test, because those only check the sealing/seating of the valves and compression rings.

2) It's very common in older engines, regardless of mileage, for the valve stem seals to fail.  As they age, they get brittle due to the caustic engine oil they are exposed to.  Once brittle, not only do they stop controlling the amount of oil that gets down the valve guides, but they can suddenly crack/split/break and then the engine will really start sucking oil down the intake valves.  On modern vehicles with catalytic converters, you don't always see the blue smoke that indicates oil being burned in the cylinders...even on cold start up when you would normally get a puff of blue smoke due to failed valve stem seals and/or valve guides.

3) You may find your truck burns more oil using a synthetic.  So if you do find that it's using oil, even with the factory recommended weight in the engine, try a conventional oil.  And no need to use "high mileage" labeled oils.

4) If your engine holds 6.5qts, and you had an oil pressure warning light come on due to low oil pressure, I would imagine you only had about 1-2qts left in the engine.  That's real scary and there's some real potential to have damaged the crankshaft bearings and journals.  Low oil pressure warnings are usually set for around 7psi, when normal hot idle pressure might be 25psi.  

Keep us posted and hopefully you don't have a real problem.

[wavery]

If this were in my driveway, I would not change the oil.  I would top it up with whatever oil you were using.  Read the owner's manual and make sure you are using the weight of oil that is recommended by Ford.  Or it may be printed on the oil filler cap.  The correct weight of oil is a big deal.

So fill it to the top of the "max" line and start driving it.....and monitor whether or not it's using oil.  The take it from there.  That's what I'd do anyway.

A few things to consider:
1) You can have broken or stuck, or worn out oil control rings and still have a good running engine, but burn quite a bit of oil.  A leak down test will not show this, nor will a compression test, because those only check the sealing/seating of the valves and compression rings.

2) It's very common in older engines, regardless of mileage, for the valve stem seals to fail.  As they age, they get brittle due to the caustic engine oil they are exposed to.  Once brittle, not only do they stop controlling the amount of oil that gets down the valve guides, but they can suddenly crack/split/break and then the engine will really start sucking oil down the intake valves.  On modern vehicles with catalytic converters, you don't always see the blue smoke that indicates oil being burned in the cylinders...even on cold start up when you would normally get a puff of blue smoke due to failed valve stem seals and/or valve guides.

3) You may find your truck burns more oil using a synthetic.  So if you do find that it's using oil, even with the factory recommended weight in the engine, try a conventional oil.  And no need to use "high mileage" labeled oils.

4) If your engine holds 6.5qts, and you had an oil pressure warning light come on due to low oil pressure, I would imagine you only had about 1-2qts left in the engine.  That's real scary and there's some real potential to have damaged the crankshaft bearings and journals.  Low oil pressure warnings are usually set for around 7psi, when normal hot idle pressure might be 25psi.  

Keep us posted and hopefully you don't have a real problem.

The key is here, that his engine is not smoking. If he had bad valve seals, he would have a lot of smoke at start up. If he had piston ring issues, he'd be smoking while towing.

Personally, I wouldn't be concerned until he knows how many miles it takes to use the next qt of oil.

My bet is, it takes 2K miles or so. With an engine with 133K on it, I wouldn't be too concerned about 1 qt in 1,000 miles. However, I would use a heavier grade oil.

I agree with the oil weights on petrol oil. On synthetic, which is what Kevin is using, it's a good idea to use a heavier weight oil (IMO) with over 100K on the engine due to brg and ring wear.

[austinado16]

Yeah, like I said, if this were in my driveway, I'd verify the customer complaint. That's rule #1 in diagnostics.  Top it off, drive it, and monitor.

I would not change to a heavier weight oil.  Stick with what the manufacturer recommends and what may be printed on the oil filler cap.

On my '90 Suburban, 5w/30 is what's recommended.  At 264,000mi I'm using Castrol Syntec 5w/30 year round, whether we're skiiing it, or towing to the Grand Canyon across the Mojave Desert in August.

[hoppy]

That oil consumption doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me.

 My Silverado with 135,000 miles on her will go through 2 qts. of oil between the 5,000 mile oil change. The message unit in my vehicle sends a Change Oil message at, 5,000 miles, and gives me a message to Add Oil when one 1-qt low.

 I personally wouldn't be concerned about it.

[Jamesdad]

A wealth of information, thank you to all. I will keep you up to date. Like I said, this is a great running truck, I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere in the middle of summer, the temp gage never moves, I tow our trailer often and it has never left us stranded. I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge this board provides.... I feel much better now.
 
Jamesdad

[wavery]

A wealth of information, thank you to all. I will keep you up to date. Like I said, this is a great running truck, I would not hesitate to drive it anywhere in the middle of summer, the temp gage never moves, I tow our trailer often and it has never left us stranded. I really appreciate the wealth of knowledge this board provides.... I feel much better now.
 
Jamesdad

Ya....Ya.....Ya.....go check your oil, will ya.....:J

[Jamesdad]

I did, its full...