2004 F150 with the 5.4, 112,000 mile. I can’t find any reason for high oil usage, using mobil1 5w-20. Just got truck last year.
I would think I could go out to 10,000 or more given the freq I add oil.
Just had the plugs changed, none were oiled up. just had timing chain and Phazers done, really only problem a broken chain guide and bad tensioner.
So I think it is good for a while.
Frequent oil additions should not change the oil change interval, in fact it should be changed more frequently.
If your specified oil change interval is 5k miles, stick with it, or go to 3k.
b
Phazers ?
I keep pointing the remote at the wife and hitting “Mute”. Doesn’t work a bit.
I need one of them Phazers!!! Beam me up Scotty!!!
Yosemite
Yosemite , I must have the same lousy remote.
guess my star treck days came thru, they are called cam phasers
Pull the hose off you PCV valve and check for oil in the hose and the valve. If oil is dripping out, that may be one reason for the oil consumption, ie oil getting sucked in through the PCV.
Don’t extend the oil change interval. Keep using the same interval, even when you’re burning a quart every 1000 miles. Or 1 quart every 250 miles, as my car was when I first got it. The contaminants that get in the oil still needs to be removed with the oil change or it will build up to sludge.
Why don’t the contaminants go to wherever the oil is going?
Oil (like gasoline) is a mix hydrocarbons, some lighter some heavier. The lighter components of the oil burn off first. The contaminants that are left behind are the heavier stuff. Without changing the oil, given enough time you would have a thick goo, almost tar like. There are enough stories about sludged up engines caused by extened oil changes. 1 quart in a thousand miles is not out of line. Several manufacturers state that this is ‘normal’ consumption. Follow the instructions in the owners manual for oil change frequency to keep your engine running as best as it can.
For an 11 year old truck with 112,000 miles, a quart every 1000 miles is not excessive. Most manufacturers consider that acceptable even for a brand new engine. A few even consider higher usage normal on their new engines. And it should not cause you to change your oil change periodicity to less than the manufacturer’s recommendation… although I personally consider many of the manufacturer’s recommendations to be too infrequent. I like 5,000 mile oil changes, but I cannot back my preference with data.
And I commend you highly for monitoring your fluids, doing the work to find out what it means, and asking questions to learn the answers. If everyone did this, we’d have far, far fewer destroyed-engine posts.
Maybe the prior owner(s) extending the oil changes out to 10k miles is what led to a 112k miles engine going through a quart per 1000 miles.
That often causes oil to coke in the oil control rings and which then leads to oil consumption. The timing chain and cam phasers being gone at relatively low miles points to a lack of oil changes and these kind of problems are seldom ever confined to one area in the engine.
A dry and wet compression test could be done and that may provide some insight on any ring issues although that is usually confined to the compression rings. Diagnosing stuck oil control rings can be near impossible to do without tearing things apart.
Point being that if the compression test shows a problem the oil rings are irrelevant anyway.
The problem may be the oil that you are using. My 2005 Dodge Dakota started using oil at about the same rate and I stopped it by using one weight higher in my engine. Check your owner’s manual because mine gave you the option to switch the weight from 5W-20 to 10W-30. I used Castrol GTX. I used about 1/2 quart between oil changes (5K) after that.
I agree with @missleman. As I mentioned, my Toyota was consuming a quart of oil every 250 miles when I first got it. It was a combination of leaks and burning. So, I changed the oil even more frequently at 3000 miles, replaced the rear main seal during a clutch job, the cam, crank, and balancer rod seals during a timing belt job, and did the valve cover seals. Now, at 297,000 miles, it has no leaks and burns oil at 1 quart between changes, which is now back to every 5000. And it runs like a scalded dog, plenty of power. I think running it on only top tier gas helped clear out the injectors and any valve gum.
I agree with the other posters and suggest that you go to a heavier oil. You are now using Mobil 1 5W20 synthetic? Go to 10W40 dino for a few thousand miles and see what happens. you’re still protecting the engine but trying something different. Good luck! Rocketman
If you live in a cold climate with nighttime temps still below freezing I’d stick with the 5W-20 for now until things really start to warm up. In the summer, or if you live in TX, FL, So CA, AZ, then you could go to 10W-30 and see what the oil usage is with a heavier weight.
I tend to like the lighter weight, but I don’t see that you need Mobil 1 or any synthetic at this point. Switch to conventional oil, save a bit there and top off as needed. Stick with the 5000 mile oil change interval. Try some different brands of conventional oil, some burn off faster than others. You might find a brand that needs less top offs between changes.
In the past, Castrol conventional oil was a bit better at holding its viscosity for many miles/high temperatures. In most climates, I would think about using 5W-20 in the winter and 10W-30 in the summer for your vehicle. Also, in case you have some sludge in there, I like CD2 oil detergent–I would add it a few hundred miles before an oil change. To stave off a certain kind of post, this is not a “flush”, it’s just a dose of the kind of detergent additives normally put in oil.
Just remember as you consider all of these ideas to reduce your oil usage that you don’t really have a problem at all. A quart every 1000 miles is perfectly normal for a vehicle this age with this many miles. Healthy even.
I’d be much more worried about the cam chain tensioner problems.
“A quart every 1000 miles is perfectly normal for a vehicle this age with this many miles. Healthy even.”
Healthy to use oil? I didn’t know it at the time but my '63 Corvair Monza Spyder was the healthiest car in the world. It used a quart of oil every 100 miles or so.