SilverGhost

just had an oil change about a month ago and the reservoir was already more than half gone. anybody know whats wrong? its a 5.4

1of723

I am having this exact same issue.

There is no leak, no burning smell, no smoke but it's going away. I took it to a shop and they couldn't find anything. I guess I might have to have to top end rebuilt?

akdoggie

These modular motors do usually use some oil. A quart in a 1000 miles isn't uncommon. I will say I'm lucky with my 4.6 as doesn't use a drop but it only has 115k on it. A friends 5.4 uses 1.5 quarts on average for 3k miles. Some less, some more. The type of oil you use also can cause the use of oil. Synthetics don't seem to stay in these motors as well as conventional dinosaur oil. Look at the Chevy and Dodge forums, they do also. Some are complaining about 2 quarts in 1k miles. I'll stick with the Fords. IMHO.

1of723

Oh yeah? Interesting feedback. My father is an AMSOIL dealer so that's all we run in all of our vehicles. Over the two years I've had the truck that's been the only issue is oil burning. I was hoping there was a fix so I didn't have to continuously add to it each month.

Carcrazygts2

Valve stem seals? My grandfathers 03 use about a 1 quart every 5k. His has 175k on it. I myself only have80k on the engine in my 97 and doesnt use a drop. I also have reworked the top end and have viton valve stem seals instead of the factory neoprene rubber seals.

akdoggie

Don't get me wrong. I'm sold on synthetic oil. Amzoil is very very good. Mobil 1 and Motorcraft are too. I personally use Motorcraft oil and filters on all my Fords.

That said. How many people who were using conventional oil, then switched to synthetics, started using oil? Reading the different forums, it is a high number. Most complaints were the GM v8's, but the Fords were high on the list also.

JCR 56

If you are using a lot of oil between changes, sometimes putting in a new motorcraft pcv valve can help. Also, in the '97-'03 years without VCT, I would use 5w30 instead of 5w20. If you are using a full synthetic, and your truck seems to going through a lot of it, I would switch to regular dino oil, and see if it helps any.

ldefoggi

I bought my '98 4.6 in 2006 and immediately started using full synthetic and was going through about a quart to a quart and a half during the interval. Recently I switched back to conventional, 3 oil changes ago, and am using MUCH LESS oil. I currently have almost 174,000 miles and no drips on the driveway. I'm gonna try a new PCV though too, I never thought about that.