5.4 Oil consumption

[Eric]

I recently noticed a puff of blue/white smoke at start up on my 05 Expy so I checked the oil and much to my surprise it was down to the bottom of the stick and I had roughly 3,000 on it from the last oil change. I've only owned the vehicle for 9 months so I am unaware of any prior consumption but I don't recall the oil being low when I changed it 3 or 4 months ago. It has 5-30Mobil 1 full synthetic in it and 54,000 on the motor. Has anyone else had oil consumption issues with the 5.4? I changed the oil and filter and looks like it was down almost 2 quarts....yikes!

 

[Tigster]

dumb question but you know when you change the oil in the 5.4 you use around 7 quarts of oil. Not sure if you only put in 5 when you changed it a little bit ago.

My 06 burns no oil so I cant help you if you did it right.

 

[Eric]

Good question, but yes I put in 7 quarts.

 

[Blackwater]

Damn Tigster nailed you on that one!

My Expedition is a 99 same motor but yours is a little upgraded.

Common issue from what I heard from others and my experience. Since 99 shes been steady eating oil.

Tigster is one of the lucky few that may not have the quirk.....But give it time buddy! Lol she to will join the ranks of wtf I just put oil in!

Eric check everything and anything that could be a cause. Start easy but getting under her and look for major signs of leaks...” I perffer doing that at night with a flash light with beam not flood.”
Take it to a shop and just get its scanned to see if everything is working good and to the right percentages. You might find something is going bad and hasnt kicked on the check engine light yet.

Check you pcv valve and other emission related censers and passages for leaks

 

[Eric]

Complete visual check and no external leaks anywhere. First easy fix might be a new PCV valve. But I sense it's something more terminal either in the heads or a ring. No engine light yet and other than the original slight rough idle it always had it runs fine. Like I mentioned I get that puff of blue/white smoke at start up but no further signs of buring while driving.

 

[monkey]

It sounds like a valve seal leaking. First thing I would do is dump that Mobil 1 crap. Dinasours died so we could lube our engines. No really... Synthetic oils will find anywhere they can to leak. More so on higher milage motors. Dump some good old fasion dinasour juice in there and see if that doesnt help. keep in mind it may take an oil change or two. But it can help swell the valve seals just enough to seal again. Plus convintional oil will stick to the moving parts when you shut you motor off not slip all into the pan so you start your motor almost dry every time. I can go on... but I wont...

Good luck

 

[Eric]

Are you recommending using the Motorcraft 5-20 blend or pure motor oil? I only used the synthetic as that is what the prior owner was using.