Let me begin by saying that yes, I am female...and no, I AM NOT "MECHANICALLY CHALLENGED." I've worked on the engine or every Camaro I've owned - and before you break out the chevy jokes... I drag race and most of the work is to make them faster However.. these darned dealerships keep treating me like I'm stupid.

A couple months ago I took my HD in for a continuing issue with blue smoke on startup. It had finally gotten to the point of being more often than not, so I made the appointment to have the oil changed and have the problem looked into at the same time.

The service manager was very nice and I left the truck overnight so they could do a "cold start" test on it. The next day when I went to pick up the truck I was told that they saw no blue smoke but we would do an "oil consumption test" and to that end they had put a quart of oil in it (it was a quart low) and I should take it home and bring it back later to be checked for oil loss. I asked if I should bring it back at a certain time, mileage, ??? and was told no, just drive it for a few months and bring it back. OK...

Well, Friday after letting the truck sit for a couple weeks, we found puddles under the truck. I checked the oil and found it to be over a quart low. I made an appt to take it in again. When I got there, I was assigned a new service manager since mine had been "promoted" to service dept manager (great)... I explained to him that we had found puddles of what we had originally thought was oil, but after some checking we determined to be power steering fluid. Also I told him that I was still having problems with blue smoke at startup. He checked the database and low and behold - no mention of any oil consumption test.. and actually as he explained.. there is a very detailed process to the test with lots of documentation that the first guy hadn't bothered to start - he just told me something to get me out of there... boy was I mad.

That wasn't the best part - he then informed me that it is, and I quote "within Ford parameters for the truck to consume 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles" .. WHAT??? My 1985 Fiero GT, with almost 200,000 miles on it doesn't consume 1 quart every 1000 miles... I haven't even had to add oil between oil changes on it. My 91 Camaro, which needs a valve job this year, and leaks oil doesn't use that much (unless I'm racing) ... My boyfriend has 3 1970 fords, and a 1991 ford F250 - none of which consume anywhere near that much oil.. and this guy is telling me that a 2000 ford F-150 with 21,000 miles on it is perfectly acceptable in using 1 quart every 1000 miles? That's about a quart a month. Anybody else ever hear of this??? Anyone else having blue smoke on startup issues also?

Thanks!

Lanna

 

what? then that would mean that by the time i'd change my oil, i'd only have 1 qt left in the engine? (cuz i change every 5K) yeah right. maybe that guy meant to say 10,000? But even still. I don't have any problems with oil consumption or blue smoke, but hope you get everything worked out and keep us posted on any further issues or fixes.

 

Nope Harley#356, you read correctly every 1,000 miles - as in about 10 - 12 extra quarts a year. Mine is going thru about 1 quart every 2500 miles at this point so according to them it's still good. I'm guessing that once the warranty is up it will then be unacceptable

They did replace the power steering pump, and one of the lines to it (guess fluid loss there isn't acceptable) so at least that problem is fixed

lanna

 

i'm saying though maybe the dumb tech thought it was every 1K miles, but its really like every 10K? I could maybe see that. but i dunno. Mine doesn't burn a drop of oil, and neither do alot of guy's trucks here. something is definately not right there. Maybe get it checked out at a different dealer

 

Maybe I am missing something. Do you live in Podunk? Why wouldn't you bring it to another dealer? Don't you keep receipts to prove that you keep going in with the same issue. I feel really bad for you and think that you deserve a new engine - really. I hope all things work out for you.

 

That is pretty much BS. I'd put a big ole lemon sign on it and park it right in the dealers lot while I was inside discussing this normal consumption issue. I'd think they might try and do something pretty quick.

 

Yeah, they are definitely messing with you. You need to go to another dealer or up the Ford chain to get this resolved. I haven't burned any oil to date, except maybe a few drops or so that doesn't register on the dipstick. I've also owned other Fords with 5.4l engs and never had any problems to date.

Sounds like you got a lemon there and Ford needs to take care of it.

Good luck with it.

 

Well this is what I asked about a few weeks ago. I have the same blue smoke on start up. I called my SVT salesman and he had a few things to say about it. He said that on these high performance modular engines that Ford designs the heads to retain a little bit of oil to be left behind once the engine is turned off. This left behind oil then lubricates the valves and their components and then in turn leaks down onto the valve. Upon start up the oil is burned off in the first couple of seconds. This is what he told me. Is it a crock? I don't know. I unfortunately neglected to check the oil level before I changed it the weekend. I am going to watch it closely. It is not normal for a vehicle to burn a quart of oil every 1k. It is however not too out of the ordinary for a vehicle to burn from a 1/2 quart to a quart between changes. I don't know. I just know that I am afraid to put any of my goodies on until I get some real answers. I am in the process of getting ahold of the local licensed SVT tech who apparently is pretty sharp and will tell you the truth about things. I will certainly let you know if I find anything out.

 

Not to the tune of a quart every 1000 miles. I noticed my truck uses a little more on the highway, maybe a 1/4 quart in 2000 miles. Normal driving I don't seem to touch a drop between 5k mile changes. I'm running synthetic. I find it hard to believe they designed special oil seals on the valves that let just a little oil through so everything is lubed ok. Sounds like what you'd expect a dealer to tell you if he didn't want to swallow an engine exchange.

 

You know, there used to be a standing joke with with my friends that if you wanted to buy a good, trouble free car.. just take me along and buy whatever car I didn't choose... I've been here before ..

There is another dealership in my town, the one I bought the truck from. However, thanks to their service dept manger, I will not take my truck to them for service. She tried to feed me a line about the engine in the HDs being completely different from all other F-150s with 5.4 engines on the lot when I asked her about possibly having them install a supercharger on the truck... she said that I couldn't use the same supercharger that was sold for the rest of the 5.4 (non lightning) trucks beause the HDs engines were configured differently.. I won't take the truck there since she obviously didn't know what she was talking about, and she was the department manager.

There are other dealerships in the "area" but they aren't close enough to be convient for drop off/pick up and dept hours. And yes, I keep all records.. I still have service records for cars I no longer have

My boyfriend has a couple good friends that are / were Ford service managers. One is a service manager at a dealership in Oregon, the other was a service manager in Canada and now runs his own ford shop, mainly racing builds. We haven't had a chance to talk to either of them yet.. my boyfriend's grandfather passed away monday so he's been busy with other concerns. However, we'll check with them and see what they say and, depending on what they say, I will start calling Ford customer service. I have heard good things about Ford customer service so far... I'm sure hoping it's better than Dodge or Pontiac cuz they both suck!!

But it certainly sounds like no one else is having this issue, so this definately isn't "normal" no matter what the service manager is telling me. I just wish I knew if this would be fixed by now if a "guy" was making these complaints... I would have had my boyfriend take the darn thing in and maybe would have it fixed by now... although, he isn't as "persistant" as I am