Hey guys, after about 1000 miles after an oil change, my truck starts to burn oil. What could be the problems and possible solutions? The truck has close to 190k miles on it, so I guess it could be useage, but what would fail or stopping working as well after that amount of useage? Thanks for the help.

 

How do you know its burning the oil? It could be just seeping oil. I'm not usre if the 5.4's in 98 had the head gasket problem as the 4six does, but check around the rear of the heads or the oil lines.

 

How fast of a rate are we talking here? I think that if it is a quart within 1000 miles, that is within spec. With that many miles, it is normal for a little useage. But, not all motors do. My four six probably uses about 1 quart every 2k miles.

 

My truck has been using a quart about every 1200 miles for the last 160,000 miles. I've added about 125 quarts It causes me no issues whatsoever. I would go ahead and change the PCV valve with a new Ford part, but other than that, I'd suggest you live with it, and add oil when needed.

 

at almost 200k its either gonna burn it or leak somewhere. rebuild time.

 

Yeah, that's pretty accurate.

 

i had a 87 dakota wih 265k ... she started every morning, but man that thing burned more oil than my furnace.

 

No offence intended, but that makes no sense what so ever. His truck is a '98 regular cab with 200K. What's it worth? $2000ish? It will cost close to $4000 to have a shop put an engine in it or about $1500 if he has the tools and skills to do it himself. If the engine runs well, and gets good gas mileage, why would you waste that much money when oil is less than $2/ quart.

Use my truck as an example of what happens with these trucks using oil over 150,000 miles. As I said above, other than adding a little oil, using oil has cost me nothing extra. Here is an extreme example of a '97 5.4 engine that uses oil and has for over 1,000,000 miles. http://www.millionmilevan.com/
At this point he adds oil every other tank of gas, but it's still running fine.

 

junkyards dont sell used motors??? he has that much cash he can go out and buy an 08???. maybye he wants to keep it?? you suggest live with it.. well hes concerned about the problem so we offer other alternatives.

 

my 97 f150 4.6 uses less oil at 175,000 than at 75,000. 1/2 qt. in 4000 miles

 

I've got exactly the same situation. 180k on my 95 5.0 and it leaves no drips or puddles anywhere, underhood is bone dry. Oil/filter with lucas additive 500 miles ago and it's a half quart down yesterday.

Paid less than 1k for the truck, it still gets 20-21 on the highway and 14 on my 16 mile a day commute in town. She doesn't appear to suffer as a result, so I'll keep giving her a 5w30 ****tail once a month or so until the next change. Hey! At least I know there's fresh oil inside!

 

Yeah, It's a huge problem if you are to stupid or lazy to check the oil So you think he should change the engine with a used one? Are there any gaurantys that a used engine will be better than his? Tell the JY that you want a used 10 year old engine that they'll guaranty not to use any oil in 3000 miles Just plain silly!

It's great that some people have high mileage engines that don't use any oil, but it's NO indication of engine integrity or longgevity. It's your money if you choose to look at things this way. There are lots of examples of engines that last and perform as new while using a significant amount of oil, and it only costs about $6 (about $25/year) in premium oil every 3000 miles to keep them on the road. There are lots of 300,000 mile modulars on the road. There is no reason to think his can't get there with a little bit of maint.

 

I'm not trying to rebuild the engine, even though that was my original plan. I don't think it burns very much, and I was just wondering why it would do that and find out any "cheaper" fixes. I need the truck to last until I go to college, then I will probably invest in a little diesel VW Jetta. Believe it or not, the regional junk yard does not have any 97-03 F150s, but I may have to make a long trip to one of the other junk yards around. I also need a bed. The only reason I bought this truck was because it was my grandfather's so I could register w/ MVA as a gift and not have to take it through inspection even though I'm giving him $2500 for it and cheaper trucks are hard as hell to find around here. I need a truck to get me to work to save money to buy a nicer vehicle. Thanks for the help.

 

I can tell you that I run Castrol Syntec 5w-50, and it slows the oil usage about 20%. It goes 200-300 miles further before adding oil over 5w-30 conventional oil. It does cost more, but the oil is still pretty clean when I change it at 6,000-7,000 miles.

 

Exactly how MUCH oil is it burning, Shoreboy?????? Anything less than 1 quart per 1000 miles is within Ford factory specs for engine warranty purposes and is actually quite good for an engine with 190k on it. My last BMW was sucking a quart every 600 miles at 190k. Just keep it changed, topped off, and dont use crap oil.