No, my 57 Chevy was the healthiest. 30 miles to the quart. I carried a case of Workingman’s Friend oil in the trunk. 10 cents a quart. It was oil drained from cars, filtered, and put in cans.
We used to call that oil bulk oil in my area. 10-15 cents a quart right out of a huge drum at most gas stations. It smelled bad and that was free.
Missileman, a healthy heart increases its pulses with exercise, but mine increases way beyond normal. A normal indication can be a sign of danger of it’s taken beyond the level of normal.
Okay, perhaps “healthy” wasn’t the best choice of words. Of course in a '63 Corvair a quart every 100 miles ain’t that bad… {
I would definitely check that PCV valve. That could very-well be the culprit.
If you start using a conventional oil, you may find the elusive leak. It happened to me in reverse. I had a 2 valve triton 5.4 with a weeping leak between the head & the block. It was about 1 qt every 4,ooo miles. I was using Motorcraft 5w-30 synthetic blend for a while and I noticed that it would smoke a bit from the oil burning on the exhaust manifold while on extended trips. After reading the synthetic oils had a higher flash point, I switched over to Supertech full synthetic 5w-30. That eliminated the smoke. Also, it was much quieter at startup.
Either way, a little smoke could reveal any leak that synthetic oil could be hiding.
Also, another point, extending your OCIs may be just fine for frequently replenished motor oil, but terrible for an oil filter that is designed for 5,ooo mile service.
I have owned cars where I would have been very happy if the.oil consumption was only 1 quart per 1000 miles. Sometimes.switching brands may help. I would stick to the viscosity recommended in the manual. I certainly would not extend the oil change interval… Increasing this interval may increase, oil consumption.
Melott . . . 30 miles to the quart? Holy cow! Why didn’t you fix the problem? Man, that had to be a PIA! Even Missleman, 100 miles to the quart? I would have to leave it at the mall with the keys in it so it could be stolen, what a pain! Back to the OP, I’d still go with a heavier dino, maybe 10W40. The super light stuff everyone uses today is great, but I can recall using 20W50 with no problems, just watch your winter start-ups. Rocketman
I wouldn’t want to use 10w40, 15w40 or 20w50 on any engine with variable cam timing
No way, no how
IMO 1000mi/qt isn’t as big a deal in a 5.4l V8 as it would be in a 1.8l 4-banger.
With 100K+ miles and unknown history I’d say it’s normal.
Good point DB. Rocketman
Maybe the OP should adopt the attitude of the station where I rented a U Haul truck to .make a move of 120 miles when I was going to graduate school. To save money, I rented the truck on a return contract and had one day to make the move. The truck had the following painted on the front bumper: “FOR LOCAL USE ONLY”. When I filled the gas tank on the truck for the 120 mile return trip, the crankcase was 2 quarts low. We added oil and when I turned the truck in, it was again 2_quarts low. The truck used 4 quarts of oil in 240 miles. When I turned in the oil receipt for the 2_quarts I had purchased, the attended just shrugged his shoulders and said " Looks like the truck uses some oil". With your truck using only a quart per 1000 miles, just shrug your shoulders and accept the fact that your truck uses a little oil. My brother bought a used 1977 Cadillac in 1982. It used a quart of oil every 900 miles. He drove that Caddy for 125,000 miles beyond the miles it had when he purchased it. When he sold the Caddy, it still used just 1 quart every 900 miles. It ran well the entire time he owned it. If your truck isn’t leaking oil and the plugs aren’t fouling due to excessively worn valve guides or valve stem seals, drive on
thanks for help, there is a lot of uncertainty as far as PCV valve is concerned, is there one, is it serviceable, etc. lots of confusing info on web. i just need to get under the hood and see for myself . There are many articles claiming ford switch oil from from 10-30 to 5-20 due to high viscosity at start up not allowing tensioners to work fast enough, as well as critical need for Ford oil filter with anti drain valve. either of which can lead to start up chain slap and broken guides. I wonder if there was a 5-30 back in 2004, that is only other oil i would try. i agree oil usage not a big issue and will I stick with recommended oil changes.
@brevard2001 your truck is supposed to get 5w20
I know that because we have tons of Ford trucks in our fleet, just like yours
Just my 2 cents but I can never buy into the premise that oil consumption of a quart per 1000 miles, 800 miles, etc is normal.
A higher mileage engine using a quart during a 3-4k miles oil change regimen I might go along with.
On a pickup bought 10 years old (a year ago) with 112,000 miles and an unknown maintenance history?
If it were new, or the maintenance history was well known and good, I might agree, although the manufacturers don’t. But on this vehicle I find it hard to get concerned about a qt every 1,000 miles. I agree that the PCV valve (if it has one) is a good thing to check, and I agree that a compression test will be great to assess the engine’s overall health. But I think it’s easy to overreact to this level of usage. I suspect it just didn’t get the level of maintenance for its first decade that some of us give vehicles, but I personally wouldn’t get concerned given all the facts.
No disrespect to anybody, just one man’s perspective.
I remember reading Consumer Reports back in the “good old days” of the 1950s and 1960s. One statistic given in the tests of automobiles back then was “miles per quart of oil after break-in”. Many of the tested cars back then used more than a quart of oil every 1000 miles. The 1960 Valiant in the CR test consumed a quart of oil every 450 miles. Very few cars in those tests consumed no oil between changes. I know engines and oils have improved. CR no longer reports oil consumption rates.
I suppose the old days color my thinking, but if I had a vehicle more than 10 years old with over 100,000_miles on the odometer, and it ran well, I wouldn’t be upset with adding a quart of oil every 1000 miles. I once owned a 1971 Ford Maverick that I purchased as a used car in 1973. I had to add a quart of oil every 300 miles. I was delighted to reduce the oil consumption to 1 quart every 1200 miles by having the valve stem seals replaced.
Ford did recommend 10-30 back in the 90s, pre-97 I believe. After the triton v8s came out, they recommended 5-30 synthetic blend for past and present. I think that in 2003 -2005, they switched to 5-20 synthetic blend. I was told by a master ford tech that I should use 5-20 in my 99 5.4 which called for 5-30 on the fill cap. But considering my oil leak, I though going thinner wouldn’t make much sense.
I will say that Motorcraft oil filters are my favorite. cheap as heck, and the anti-drain back valve really quiets down the rough starts.
Also, as for as 10-40 being bad for an OH cam, tell the to the guy with the million mile van. there is a website out there in cyberspace with a guy who had an E250 courier van with a 2 valve 5.4. He ended up with over 1.2 million miles before she finally died. I asked him about he favorite oil and filter. I was hoping he’s tell me some secret formula. nope. He said he bought the cheapest 10-40 conventional with the cheapest filter he could find.
I’ll stick with my Motorcraft oil & filter…
A couple of years ago I rented a Toyota Matrix on a holiday trip. The owner’s manual said that oil consumption of 1 quart per 750 MILES! should be considered normal. When Toyota started using these new 0W20 oils, some oil consumption was expected and they covered themselves with mentioning it in the manuals.
Neither of our Toyota or Mazda uses oil between changes, but I would not be surprised if they did.
The ford master tech from the dieselstop.com told me that for ford, anything more than 1 quart in 1,000 miles would be covered under the factory warranty. Odd thing is, I’ve never owned a truck that had a factory warranty left, so I guess it’s just my problem 
^With all of this, shocking that my old-tech F150 gets 10,000 miles per quart of oil (if I let it go that long, which I don’t.) After 183,000, mind you! It used to get 4,000 per quart…so I tightened up the valve tappet cover on the straight six…and it gets what it gets now.
My (much newer, but 217K mi) 2.4 Ecotec-equipped Cobalt gets about the same oil consumption. I know that a certain amount of oil is designed to get past the oil-control ring and get burnt–so I guess you won’t (or shouldn’t) do better than some level–perhaps 20,000:1 or so?
My current Fords, my previous Fords, and my daugher’s Ford never need or have needed oil added in between the 3000-3500 miles oil change intervals. We’re also talking vehicle mileages of 200k miles plus and in the case of my current Lincoln; just rolled over 243k miles.
When my son wrecked his Camaro a half dozen or so years ago that car had 300k never been touched miles on it and needed no oil between changes.
These cars must be abnormal…
So John Q. Customer goes into the parts house to buy a 5 quart jug of oil and a filter for his car which sees oil changes every 4-5k miles and his vehicle oil consumption is “normal” at a quart per 1000.
By this logic, if John Q. Customer walks out of the parts house without TWO 5 quart jugs of motor oil he’s going to be in trouble; unless he plans on returning to the parts house every 1000 miles to replace that missing quart.
The fact that he should not be driving around with an engine a quart down is another issue and which could very well contribute to the oil consumption one.