Re: ford truck using oil

Posted by Hal/WA on July 21, 2002 at 23:00:16 from (208.8.194.23):

In Reply to: ford truck using oil posted by Tim Lockhart on July 19, 2002 at 03:56:40:

I have had a few machines that would need a quart of oil after 100 miles, but all of them leaked badly and left oil spots when they were parked. The usual problems were the rear main, rocker cover gaskets, a stripped drain plug and once a cracked timing cover. Most were not hard to fix, once the problem was found, except rear main leaks. The worst leak I ever fixed was on my daughter's V8 Maverick. The oil pressure switch had failed and it would dump a quart in 5 miles. A little hard to find the trouble, as there was oil everywhere.

If your valve guide seals are leaking badly, it should show a distinct puff of smoke if you get going down the road, let up on the gas until the truck slows down to about half the speed it was, and then step back hard on the gas. I would suggest having someone follow you to see the puff. The only other thing I can think of is a vacuum leak that is sucking up oil whenever the engine is running. This can occur with a cracked intake, but will usually show up with 1 or 2 oil fouled spark plugs. But maybe the oil is dispersed enough among the cylinders or small enough to not foul plugs. If I remember correctly, an 88 should have fuel injection. I have never worked on a 460 with FI, but maybe there is an easier way to check for a leak or crack than taking off the intake.

I would explore the possibility that the PCV is sucking a lot more oil than it should. Maybe Ford can tell you if there should be some kind of a baffle or something that keeps oil off the PCV valve that you don't have, or has fallen off the inside of the rocker cover.

The 460 is a great engine that will go a lot of miles. But a quart in 100 miles is a lot more oil than I would expect a good running engine to use. Good luck finding the problem.

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