OK, I'm admitting I'm the idiot in this scenario and that it's all my fault but I still want to know where my oil went.....

I used synthetic oil last time I did a change and after doing a lot of research here and on the web I decided to push my next oil change out to 10,000 miles. Ever since I changed to synthetic I've always looked for any type of noticeable leak under the truck, on the ground, on the garage floor, in the driveway, etc, etc since I had 60,000 miles on the truck when I first switched. (Now comes the dumb part...) Since I never saw any leaks I never checked the oil using the dipstick.

On the way home tonight the oil gauge dropped to 0 a couple of times and then shot right back up. I looked on here and discovered two things:
1. It's not a "real" gauge that measures the pressure - it's a dummy that only warns if it drops below some ridiculously low number.
2. I probably had a bad sensor...but there was one post I found that mentioned something about not having enough oil in the pan and it sloshing forward at a stop light or rounding a curve, thus none going through the pump.....Nah, that couldn't be my problem.....could it.....oh #%$@!!!

Sure enough I go to check the oil and IT DOESN'T EVEN REGSITER ON THE DIP STICK! WHAT A %#$@^ IDIOT!!!!!!

It's been right at 10k miles and I had bought the oil and filter last weekend for the scheduled change, so I changed it on the spot (what there was left to actually "change"). What I want to know is where did it go? The truck doesn't smoke and there's been no leaks....does it just burn up in the engine or what?

signed,
chkn"bone-head"

 

dummy guage? who told you that? as far as i know, those things produce accurate measurements of oil pressure... as for where your oil went? LOL i couldnt tell ya.... you SURE there are no leaks? have you actually looked under your motor and tried to look for trails of oil or caked on residue? if there are no leaks, there is little to no explainations for why that would happen... unless you may have overlooked your coolant reservoir? see if your coolant has oil in it... if so, you may be looking into a new head gasket... if not? i wouldnt have the foggiest... if it was blowby, or if it was making it into the exhaust or intake... you would see it smoking.... if it was an external leak you would see some residue.. not necessarily where you park it, because if you park up a slanted driveway and the leak is in the front somewhere, you will probably never see anything... but maybe the occasionaly drip... look around, if there is no oil in any of your other fluids, and there is no smoke out of the exhaust... chances are its leaking somewhere... and you just havent noticed it yet

 

Great. Now it's 2:00am here and I'm thinking, "gee, my coolant does look a little dark in the reservoir these days, maybe I should go check it..."


Seriously though, thanks for the info, I'll start looking closer for leaks tomorrow.....


As far as being a dummy gauge, I got that idea from doing a search on here for "sudden oil pressure drop". Someone said that the '97 and newer only have a dummy/warning gauge and another guy has a link on how to install a gauge that "really" measures the pressure.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...p+oil+pressure

and here's some posts from a search on "dummy oil gauge"
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ummy+oil+gauge



chknbone(head)

 

damn... that SUCKS!!!! and all this time i thought i just had really damn good oil pressure LOL what kind of stupid **** is that? put a guage that only has 2 possible positions.... up and down... LOL for christ sakes, over 100 years of automobile evolution, and the highest technological advance we can come up with now is a guage that only works to tell you if the pressure is "good" or "bad"....... what a rip off...

 

cknbone; If you were right at the 10 k mark when this happened

I would say you were about 2 to 2 1/2 quarts low from what I have experienced with these motors. I have a 5.4 and run synthetic Royal Purple oil and get about 3k miles before I add
I dont think many of the F150 engines will go 10k without adding, sure some do but not many, but 3 k is about a good average.
As far as where the oil went, it was used by your engine, or burned at a very slow rate that would not cause smoke but that will deplete the oil slowly as the miles rack up.

Not sure what kind of oil you use or how your truck is used but I change oil at 5 k when it is just starting to show signs of dirt, ie, turning dark.

Sled...

 

The thinner oils used these days (and especially synthetics) are able to slip past rings and valve seals a little bit easier than 10w-40. And Ford has been using a 'dummy gauge' for a couple decades. My 94 Ranger is the same way and so was my 88 F150.

 

The water temp gauge is the same thing... Just an idiot light with a needle on it!

Actually, the volt gauge sucks too..... The only reason I knew my alternator went out was because the LIGHT came on!! Not because I could tell any difference on the gauge......

Ford gauges suck..... Even back in the day when they actually did move, all you had to 'gauge' on was what the "NORMAL" range indicated....... "Yeah, my truck runs right around "R"....."

 

I knew about the oil pressure gage, now that sucks. The voltage gage is useless on mine because it isn't calibrated except a low and high number with no tick marks. The water temp has the same problem, but at least it's a real gage, unlike the oil pressure.

I only have a 4.2 and at 181K miles, it burns almost a quart every 10K miles. A cat does hide a lot of what used to be blue smoke. Adjust your passenger side mirror so you can see the exhaust stream and 'safely' accelerate hard BEFORE the cat wakes up, in the first minute or so of operation. If no blue then, rings are probably fine.

 

How do you figure?? Ever notice that the temp gauge never moves, once it reaches operating temp......

When my Auto Meter gauge reads 150* as it's warming up, the dash gauge is already at it's position that it'll stay at for etermity. Stays put the whole time the AM goes up to it's ~190* reading.

I was pulling a grade towing my travel trailer, and my AM gauge went up to 210*, but the good ol' dash gauge showed the same position as it always does........

I guess that's fine, as long as you don't care to see the changes..... 210* is still ok as far as the engine is concered and it's not overheating anyway, but I just like to know these things, especially when I've got #4500 strapped to my butt and I'm on vacation!!

Mitch

Oh, I should mention that since the original question was about oil consumption, I go thru about 1 qt every 3k miles or so.... I change oil at 6k mile intervals. I usually need to add a qt at the 3k mark. Then I'm good to go until 6k. Then I just change the oil. I use Mobil 1 5w30.

 

Wow, that just sucks about the gauges. Of course now I can tell you exactly why they are that way.....it's to give uninformed people like me the warm fuzzies. "Man this thing is built like a tank. I've never had ANY problems with low oil pressure, running warm or had any voltage issues no matter what the conditions."


I can't think of any other brand of vehicle I've had in the past that didn't have *real* gauges and the fact these are all marked with a high end and a low end is just about as dirty and underhanded a trick as I can think of with no other purpose than the fool the ordinary driver into a false sense of security. That really bites.

(it's still no excuse for me not checking the darn dipstick, but if I didn't have a gauge staring me right in the face telling me everything was perfect, I probably would have been checking the darn thing)

bone(head)

 

Well, while i believe that the oil pressure guage could be fake, im almost 100% positive the water temp guage isnt... because even in the owners manual it states that when the temperature guage starts to move up too high, it will automatically cut down the engines usage by putting it into an alternating 4 cyl pattern, shutting off some of the cyls to keep it from overheating... thus telling me that if it does start to overheat, my guage will begin to read it... and considering that it does move slowly upwards, and while cooling you can check on it from time to time and see that it isnt just an "on" or "off" guage, and actually has reading... when you have it warmed up, then let it sit for about a half hour and come back outside to look at it, i guarantee it wont be all the way down... probably right below the 1st hash mark on the guage.... read the owners manual, i dont recall anything about the oil, but i know it said the temp guage is functional... at least to some degree...

 

The problem with the Temp gage is not the lower half. It shows the temp increasing from cold to the normal spot. The problem is it will not go any higher even if the water temp continues to increase. It will show normal until a major overheating situation occurs and at that point the needle will jump into the red.

Fritz

 

My truck may not be the same, I have a '97 Xcab 4.2L 5spd. Now that you mention it, my temp gage is suspiciously stable. But the oil only indicates none and good. The temp gage goes from cold up to normal. When I had a plugged radiator problem, it almost overheated to where I turned on the heater to save it. The gage does indeed creep up to nearly the red line, maybe twice again as far as cold to normal.

It may be stabilized or cheat a little, but it isn't an idiot light disguised as a gage like the oil pressure.

 

Yeah, that was my thoughts i figured that they would stabilize the small fluxuations, and only use the guage when a severe change above the normal range is detected... i just couldnt see them doing both the oil and the temp in a dummy light fashion... i mean hell, thats basically flat out lying! giving the owner a false sense of reality with his truck.... saying that no matter what is wrong with the motor.. "at least your guages look good!" what the hell kinda crap is that....?

 

Many of the late model temp guages esp. in the 4.6 are not even water temp they are cylender head tem. they do not even go into a water jacket, and you can't even see it to chnge it you have to remove the intake. the temp sending unit is quite accurat though If you have a scan tool you can see the exact temp be it water or cylender head temp. The oil pressure is an on off switch has oil pressure or not. Be as it may I would just as well have a light come on as often as the average person scanns the guages the engine might be ruined by the time you see the guage the light catches youre eye the combination of a light and guage is the ideal system in my opinion.