Oil consumption ?

[my2002lightning]

Now, I'm a little concerned here! I know I'll get flamed for this but I get my oil changed at Bankston in Frisco (I maintain a visual the whole time on those garage-monkeys! :D ) just so I can have all my maintenance documented - that's the only reason!

Anyway, I get the every-3K oil change and it's at the top of the hash-marks/dot on the engine oil dipstick. I drive about 2K miles and it's almost to the bottom of the hash-mark! WTF ?!? :confused: :mad:

I'm not modded (except for Terry's Big-Mouth exhaust and an air-filter) and I have a fairly aggressive driving style. I always let it warm up to almost driving temp. and I drive about 50/50 in-town and highway miles.

I've been driving from Frisco to downtown Dallas lately (Belo- Dallas Morning News) daily and will be for the next 2 weeks or so.

I don't get it. No oil-leaks on the garage floors. I'm thinking it's sucking it in the intake somewhere. I'll try to research it. I seem to remember a post on f150online/nloc that Ls drink oil. Correct?

All I know is, I can Mother's the hell out of my exhaust tips and the next time I turn around, they're black as coal on the insides! :hammer:

She runs harder/stronger than the day I bought her, though.

Thanks,

Ronald

[03LightningRocks]

Just a guess here Ronald, but is it possible that the first time you saw it was after the truck had set awhile, allowing the oil to drain into the pan? Maybe the second check it had not set as long?

Then my second guess would be oil sucking into the back of your supercharger?


Rocks:confused:

[Crawford]

Dont know if this is a dumb idea or not, just thought of it. When they change the oil bring some kind of container that you can use to measure how much oil comes out in quarts. Have them drain it into that and see how much oil shows up. That will at least tell you for sure if you are burning oil or not.

[my2002lightning]

Good ideas! :tu: I'll have to check into it.

I'm thinking nothing is wrong, I'm just wondering why it "seems" like the L is "drinking" the oil.

Anyone have an idea of how may QTs stay in the block cavities, etc. during an oil change?

Thanks,

Ronald

[L8 APEX]

Oil consumption is good it keeps everything lubricated and happy:banana: . The owners manual in C5's reccommends overfilling by 1qt before road racing your new Z06. I usually burn about a quart per thousand miles in anything I drive. It keeps fresh oil in the motor:tu:

[98Cobra]

Dont know if this is a dumb idea or not, just thought of it. When they change the oil bring some kind of container that you can use to measure how much oil comes out in quarts. Have them drain it into that and see how much oil shows up. That will at least tell you for sure if you are burning oil or not.
The only tough thing is that some oil stays trapped in the oil filter too. I have heard a quart, but how do you know for sure? That would be important if looking for consumption...

Ronald, have you checked to make sure there arent any wet spots around the plug or filter? If they didn't seat the gasket right for the filter, it could be getting around that at times. Just a thought.

[my2002lightning]

The only tough thing is that some oil stays trapped in the oil filter too. I have heard a quart, but how do you know for sure? That would be important if looking for consumption...

Ronald, have you checked to make sure there arent any wet spots around the plug or filter? If they didn't seat the gasket right for the filter, it could be getting around that at times. Just a thought.Garett,

I've been underneath the L with the Mag-Light and looking for such as this. It's all dry under there.

Short of a Biblical catastrophe, I'm going to drive the L forever and start doing my own oil-changes to monitor this more closely.

This is just odd to me. Oh, and I had all 8 plugs TIGHT upon inspection recently (with no play). Evidently, this is one late production '02 L head that didn't start walking-out the plugs. I'm 4510/4726 or something.

Thanks again Steve/Jeff,

Ronald

[SILVER2000SVT]

That sounds about right, Mine uses about 1 quart the first 1500 miles of an oil change, then about the time it gets down another quart it's time for an oil change.

I was concerned about it at first, but ford said they won't fix it unless it burns more than 1 quart every 1000miles. I'm not really worried about it now, it runs good, no puddles and like Terry said, it keeps things lubricated.

[my2002lightning]

I guess I'm not the only one. Sounds like it's just the "nature of the Beast".

Thanks for the feedback,

Ronald

[my2002lightning]

As an update, after running the FoMoCo 5w-20 at 3K changes and then switching to RP 5w-20 at 23K miles (6 qts.), I've added 2 more qts. of RP and I'm at 24,8xxx miles now and the oil fill level is about 1/8" from the MIN mark on the dipstick.:confused:

I'm going to add another qt. or so tomorrow, I suppose. I :ron: it sometimes running errands, but get into boost pretty good sometimes to "keep the juices flowing" when DPS isn't around. :D

One thing I will say is that that slight "tick" has gone away since changing to RP, regardless of hot/cold weather.

Another thing, I got to talking to the guy at O'Reillys ... he said he runs RP in his '93 Mustang and it drinks it too. Go figure.

Ronald

[dboat]

Ronald,

Compared to the rest of us, you must be driving it too hard causing the oil loss. Lighten up with that right foot of yours..
Dana :burnout:

[MoorePowerToYou]

Do you have an oil separator? If you don't, you're sucking small amounts of oil from the PVC line down the intercooler at all times. The separators fill up every 2 tanks of gas or so.

[Tex Arcana]

Do you have an oil separator? If you don't, you're sucking small amounts of oil from the PVC line down the intercooler at all times. The separators fill up every 2 tanks of gas or so.

He doesn't suck any oil into his intake at all, it's clean as a whistle. Mine, on the other hand, has oil in the boot, but I don't consume a single drop--and never have, in 45k--and at the moment I'm at 7500 miles on Mobil1. I think it's just nature of that particular beast.