Kind of embarrassed to ask this question but ...

[thompsdw]

I have a 2004 Expedition that I have owned for many years. Always been reliable with but a few minor bugs until yesterday. I usually drive it quite a bit but it has been parked for several weeks. I went to start it and it was very slow to roll over. After 4 start attempts it did start and run. I decided to shut it off after seconds and do some checks. NO OIL ON THE STICK!

It took two quarts to get to mid stick. I don't regularly check the oil because it has never burned any. It has had an occasional puff of white smoke at start, but that is infrequent.

It has about 98,000 miles on it. It is now running normally; however, I am concerned. It almost seems like it was partially seized. Should I sell it quick or carefully watch the oil burn rate?

 

[46L281GT]

i would just keep an eye on it. it could be something as simple as vavle stem seals.

 

[thompsdw]

Yea, but it seemed like it was really straining to get it rolling on start. The first 4 attempts were not normal. I should have mentioned that. It was turning over, but it was having a hard time

 

[46L281GT]

has it driven fine since you added the 2+ quarts?

 

[thompsdw]

Decided to get some opinion here before driving. It ran well at idle for some time and subsequent restarts were normal.

 

[46L281GT]

If it is starting fine now I think I'd just drive it until you're ready to sell. With such low miles you still have a good vehicle in your possession.

 

[thompsdw]

I ran it tonight and it ran fine. The only thing I noticed that happened after the 4 starts is there is a engine knock that goes away with run time. Tonight the same thing happened for less than 5 seconds and then went away.

I'm going to drive it to work for a while and see what happens.

 

[stamp11127]

You had it parked for several weeks. Depending on the shape the battery is in determines how long it can just sit there and slowly discharge. There is a very slight draw normally on the vehicles and over time will pull all batteries down to the point of hard start or no start.

You may consider having the battery load tested or if you have a dmm you can load test it yourself.

 

[GAINMOB]

so start it and let it run for an hour

 

[GAINMOB]

need to get the knock looked at before u blow a rod...