I bought a '99 150 w/ a 4.6l in Feb. I've put a little over 15,000 miles on it since then and have changed the oil 5 times. I've notice that it seems to be using oil at about a 1/2 - 1 qt every 3,000. I had been using a synthetic but switched back to conventional and its been reduced to about 1/4 -3/4 of a qt but I think this is still excessive. I taked to a guy at the dealership and he said anything under 1qt / 3,000 is "normal". This doesn't seem right to me. Anybody have a similar experience or thoughts?

 

Yes 1qt ever 3000 is normal. Oil burn rates are a strange thing. Some say it is due to how the rings are broken in when the engine is new, some claim too much idling. The oil burn rate can vary quite a bit for different vehicles.

I run a by-pass filter with synthetic oil so I run mine longer. I'm at 5,800 miles and due for a filter change the end of November. My level is a tad bit above the full mark, so my burn rate is not measurable in 6000 miles.

You can clean up the rings and reduce the consumption rate by cleaning them up with esters. Either Schaeffer's Nuetra or Auto-RX for 500/1000 miles before you next oil change will help. They are both ester based products.

 

My 94 F-150 was burning 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles when it was still under warranty. Before any dealership would even look at the engine, I had to do 3 oil consumption tests of 3000 miles each. Once they determined I was burning that much oil, they refused to fix it because that is considered normal oil consumption.

I complained fairly loudly at one visit, and the manager took me aside and told me there was nothing wrong with my truck. My wife thought that was pretty funny since they had just pulled my truck up with smoke pouring out of the tail pipe. I gave that truck a good dose of "Trade" and picked up a 97 F-150 4.6L. I change my oil every 5K miles, and it doesn't burn a drop of oil. But, it only has 58K miles on it.