Since practically NOTHING wears out it's rings nowadays, I'll bet your hunch of valve seals is plausable -- and should be readily fixable.

The first round of 150,000-200,000 mile 4.6's is probably what you're seeing.

Post something if you find out anything about FL.

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Y2K™

Toreador Red, Keyless XLT SC SB 5.4L E4x4 4wDisc/ABS, 3.73LS, Skid, HD 7700# Towing, LT-245's on Chrome, Tube-Steps, Captain's, 6CD, Tonneau, named: "Nick"

 

I have been wanting to post this for a while! I live in south Florida where there is an over-abundance or crown vics and lincoln town cars. I have noticed that quite a few of the older 4.6L powered cars burn oil (by that I mean blue smoke) at idle while at the stoplight. It seems that many of these cars emit a steady amount of blue smoke at idle and a large puff at initial acceleration. It then seems to clear up while driving and re-occurs at the next light.

At first I thought this was just and isolated case but I started to notice it during my travels to NY also. Older 4.6Ls seem to smoke.

Now I do know that the truck engines have some changes to them for durability reasons. Floating piston pins and different pistons for example. However I think this might be related to valve guide seals and not rings.

Has anyone else noticed this? If not please start looking!

BTW the Florida highway patrol is having some problems with the engines failing. I have not heard yet what the major cause is but I suspect it is overheating due to abuse.

Chris

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98 SC 4.6L stepside, Gibson headers, Gibson single exhaust, superchip, Intake mods, Piaa's, high end audio stuff.

 

I live in Fl. as well and while I have not seen many of these 4.6L cars "smoking", I can vouch for the overpopulation of them here. Many of the old timers I have talked with love the new Ford V-8 as they call it. I have seen some smoking from cars that are driven hard like taxis and some police cars. I also know a few big shots from the FHP that are retired from Tallahassee and they like the Crown Vics as far as quality/comfort. They miss the Mustang 5.0s and the last of the Caprices for the ooomph! They mention that the best car FHP ever had was a late 70's Plymouth with a 440. Nobody got away from them!

 

>>>>I've been using a 97 Crown Vic for about 80,000 miles now with no problems other than replacement of the egr valves twice. The Fords with the 4.6 liter have been some of the most reliable cars we have ever had. The LT1 Chevy and older Chevys we had were a well known for great performance, but were also well known for weak trannys and rear ends along with many nickel and dime problems. The only 4.6s I've seen that smoked were some that our local sheriffs office uses that had anywhere from 150,000 to 250,000 miles on them. We put our cars on a list for replacement at 105,000 miles and usually have around 115,000 on then before they get the replacement to us. The Fords have been super reliable and I don't know of any engine related problems or failures on our cars. At least not from any of our duty posts near me. Our local Sheriff's office did have a couple 4.6s grenade that had well over 250,000 miles on em and you know those cars seen some hard, hard driving in those miles. I think both of those had been ran low of oil.

>>>>Seacrow, I've heard some of the older troops that got to use the old 440 Plymouths talk about how fast they were. But believe it or not the troops that were still working that got to use the LT1 350 Caprices and the 440s said that overall that the LT1 Caprice was the fastest best handling police car they'd ever driven. They maybe weren't as fast as the 440 (but not by much), but they handle a lot better. I'd have to agree that those LT1 Chevys were awesome to drive. The ones that weren't computer governed/limited because of the speed rating on the tires were supposed to run in the upper 150 mph range (157 I think) without a light bar on top of course. But there were always something going wrong with em to take it back to Mr. Goodwrench.....

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99 F150 XLT SC 4x4 4.6 liter Deep Wedgewood Blue

Westin Nerf Bars , Lund Bug Deflector , Kenwood 10 disc CD changer, Extang Black Max soft bed cover, Bodyguard Bed Liner




[This message has been edited by JPF1715 (edited 05-29-2000).]

 

It occured to me that the cars I saw smoking were quite rough looking. It is very possible they were not properly cared for. It is also possible that the valve guide seals on the first generation of 4.6Ls were subject to age and heat failure. As I usderstand it the truck engine is hard to break.
I just became worried when I saw my first few smoking 4.6Ls. It is very possible it has nothing to do with wear. I understand fords durability testing on this engine has proven it is extremly durable.

I would like to see if anyone else has noticed this. If so would you post it here!

However, I have not seen any other cars smoking except older chrysler minivans.

Chris

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98 SC 4.6L stepside, Gibson headers, Gibson single exhaust, superchip, Intake mods, Piaa's, high end audio stuff.

[This message has been edited by cujet (edited 05-29-2000).]

 

JPF1715, When I was a volunteer firefighter a few years ago, I had the opportunity to take an EVOC class. It was the best class I have ever taken. We used mostly 89-95 Caprices and the Caprices hauled some serious A$$. Even the pre-LT-1 Caprices were fast. I learned a lot of good driving skills also. The guys spoke of the old Plymouths being the best on interstate pursuits in the 70's. They just said nothing was as fast once they got going. They also said they never saw the top speeds of those things fearing that the car would "blow apart".

 

If you made ME drive the same darned car for 250,000 miles, I'd personally make sure that it blew up!

I doubt you can blame the engine on that type of death.

 

LOL Y2K,
>>>>I hear ya! I think they got their moneys worth out of those cars. I know at least one of the two was ran low on oil and the other I just guessed it was the same thing. But anytime you get that many hard miles on a motor without a rebuild and it blows you got nothing to complain about. It's a rural county, they buy about four new cars every year to replace the older ones in their fleet. But when you have a car assigned to two to three officers running two to three shifts a day it doesn't take a car long to log up those kind of miles. They just got four of the new Impalas in, I'm interested in what kind of service life they get out of them. I bet they will fall way short of the Crown Vic. The old Caprice while a better performer also fell short in the reliability department to the Vic.

>>>>Seacrow, I used to teach at some of the EVOC classes here in Va. I didn't do any driver training stuff but I did teach them about emergency vehicle operations, the laws, their limitations, and the liabilities involved. I bet you did have a blast. Every couple of years we go to a private road course used for police training. We take some cars the department has setup for highspeed training. The last cars were Caprices with a roll cage, five point belts, and racing wheels/rims. I always loved this, we got to play with these cars (in the name of training!) without the worry of crashing into anyone. We'd have mock pursuits with different scenarios divided highways, two lane undivided, wet roads and dry. The track was covered with sealer so it made it a little more slick than most highways, especially when it was wet. We'd have an instructor be the badguy trying to get away and we'd have to maintain chase. They never got away from me. It's also good to refresh your skills. It lets you know the limitations of the car your using without having to find out on the street. When you can get a car sideways at 90 or 100 mph or better and regain control without fear of sliding into a tree or Mr. Citizen. You have more faith in your auto. But to me it's kind of like play time, and I got payed for it. Aint America great!!!

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99 F150 XLT SC 4x4 4.6 liter Deep Wedgewood Blue

Westin Nerf Bars , Lund Bug Deflector , Kenwood 10 disc CD changer, Extang Black Max soft bed cover, Bodyguard Bed Liner




[This message has been edited by JPF1715 (edited 05-31-2000).]

 

Cujet,
I,ve seen several cars do this (all Crown Vic's). I think its valve seals. The vacuum is high on deceleration which draws the oil into the combustion chamber. The engine runs slow at idle with high vacuum so it smokes while its idling. The smoke clears up while the cars are crusing.
My trucks 4.6 has 190,000 miles, never makes visible smoke, and uses 1 quart of oil every 1500-2000 miles.

 

AHHHHH, so I am not crazy! Someone else has seen it too!

It kinda bugs me that the only cars I ever see regurlarly smoking are older mitsubishi engined vehicles or 4.6L ford cars

Chris

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98 SC 4.6L stepside, Gibson headers, Gibson single exhaust, superchip, Intake mods, Piaa's, high end audio stuff.

 

JPF1715, one thing about that EVOC class is that I emerged from it as a much better driver. I was OK before as far as safety. I am very confident now. Shuffle steering, who would guess that it is actually quicker to steer that way? I am glad I took it. Our class was held at the airport on a giant section of slick asphalt. It was big enough to be doing 90mph while a 757 was landing a couple hundred yards away. Sounds like yours was fun too.

 

I'd like to see Ford adapt the four-door Explorer as a police car. Two-wheel (rear wheel) drive with the 4.6 V-8, not the 5.0 it gets now.

 

JPF: That sounds like about the most fun one could have and still be legal.