FordService

I know this process can be lengthy, denlem. Please continue to work with your dealer and PM me if you need me.

Deysha

frank s

Very early in my automobile-owning career I had a nice little car (1953 MGTD; some of you might have to look it up) and not enough money to drive it much, let alone modify it. I made certain my family knew to give me car-magazine subscriptions before any other gifts. So I read enough and found enough answers to be considered something of an expert among fellow Airmen at Little Rock AFB (1957-1959).

One question was, "How do you approach break-in for a new engine?" Easy-peasy. Don't lug it, don't drive at a steady speed for very long, keep the RPMs below 3,500 for the first couple hundred miles, then increase your limit by a couple hundred RPM every couple hundred miles. By the time you have reached 4,500 RPM you should be able to run it at any speed you think is below the manufacturer's redline.

I used those guidelines for many, many new engines, and never had an engine problem in cars used for daily driver, autocross racer, track-day fun, and actual car-to-car road course racing. Even my Vega Kammback, bought new and carefully broken in lasted 60,000 miles before it started to blow a little smoke.

I don't reckon the same restrictions are necessary these days, what with improvements in materials, construction/assembly techniques, and lubricants. If the Ford mechanics were still talking about "seating the rings", I'd guess the problem might have been in the "don't drive at the same speed for very long" aspect.

My way of doing it, for more than a half-century now, has been to go very easy until the temp needle is in the right range, then ease up to a speed five miles per hour faster than I expect to cruise, back off to the cruise speed. After a few minutes at that speed, back off to five MPH slower than cruise, then ease up to the five-over again, back off to cruise speed, cruise for a while, back off to five-under, repeat. Raise the cruising speed a few MPH every hundred miles or so.

My reading, all those years ago, indicated that backing off changes the pressure characteristics in combustion chambers, unburned fuel washes the cylinder walls a bit, a little more friction on the ring/cylinder wall interface leads to relatively stress-free seating. Once they are properly seated, the effect wall-wash phenomenon is diminished or at least no longer significant.

Works for me.

denlem

I've been watching the oil and it seems to have been going down, but with oil on the dipstick tube it smudges everything to get an accurate reading. Since I was finally able to let the car sit overnight and not have to leave for work at 4am when it's dark, i'm able to get a more accurate reading letting everything settle for about 18 hours.

Oil was changed and filled right up to the top hashmark as part of the oil consumption test. 1520 miles later this is where the level is.

My service advisor just happened to call me on Friday to check up on things but got voicemail. So now to go in for the next step, and get an alignment and tires rebalanced since a vibration has been developing up around 70mph.

cdynaco

When I let mine set overnight and pull the dipstick once to read it, there is no oil from the upper dipstick tube.
You aren't pulling it, wiping it, putting it back in and pulling a second time to check are you?

That is definitely abnormal usage for a new engine.
Still no sign or leakage or burning it? Inside exhaust tips look clean or carboned up from burning oil?

denlem

This is when it all started...

denlem

Went to the dealer today and they filled the oil up. According to them it only took 12 ounces.

So bottom of the hashmarks to the top is only 12 ounces?

97GT12

I believe that's still in the owner's manual. It was my '97's and I eventually found it in the '12's as I recall.

Stevedotmil

I always use the back side of the dipstick to read the level because there isn't much smudge from the tube there for some reason. The oil on the stick looks pretty clean though. It should being so low mileage though. Definitely more than 12 oz from top to bottom. I put about 28oz or so to fill from the bottom hole when mine was low.

Lemmy

My 2011 GT was consuming oil as well. Car got totaled, and now I have a 2010 GT500 which came with 4,000 miles. It now has 23,000 miles and has not lost a drop of oil. It has been treated fairly, but it has not been babied. Both the 2011 GT and the 2010 GT500 were daily drivers. I found the GT's 5W-20 conventional factory fill rather surprising considering the Boss and Shelby come with 5W-50 synthetic (probably a lot better oil than 5W-20 conventional). I hope this oil consumption issue has largely resolved itself as I've personally witnessed it but was never able to specify why it was happening.

cdynaco

I was reading through the 08 Service Manual today for another thread and interestingly the Manual says what the svc mgr stated that a quart per 1500mi is considered the limit.

So that's not unique to the 5.0. Which means its probably just an arbitrary number Ford made up. lol

Missouri Hoss

Basically, they shorted you 4 oz. They could have poured the entire quart in and the dipstick would have read the same, or so close they wouldn't have been worth comparing.

denlem

Well, the 12 ounces they put in last week seems to be less than what it has been using and within those limits. In about 4 weeks i'll be going down to Maryland for a few days so i'm curious to see how it does on an 800 mile round trip.

I also got an email from Ford service saying they are closing my case since they only put in 12 ounces and dealer is addressing the problem. They will continue to follow it if I want, or it can be reopened if needed.

denlem

There are 32 ounces in a quart.

Missouri Hoss

Correct. I've had a bad day.

dmichaels

What is your driving style? I'm at 1300 miles right now, and about 900 since I first changed the oil. I think I may have burnt a very small amount of oil, but the level has moved at most about 1mm from the top of the hash marks. Mostly short trips here <20 miles with a few hard accels on each trip.

Did you seem to have oil consumption right away? Or has it "developed" ?

denlem

I had it right away. If you scroll back up to post 45 you'll see that my low oil came on just under 3100 miles. It took at least 2 quarts.

I'd say my driving style is just average. I get on it once in a while, but much less than most people here. I'm not really babying it, but i'm not aggressive or hard on it either. It does get floored on certain highway on ramps!

I've been trying to get on it a little more lately, but I drive into work at 4am and it's dark and cops hide here and there. On the way home I hit traffic. The roads are single lane and no passing anywhere for 25 miles so it's had to go more than 40-45 most of the ride.

dmichaels

Interesting - hope you get it worked out, sucks to have an issue almost right away. I'll be monitoring for oil consumption carefully after reading some of the posts. Seem OK so far (luckily) hope it stays that way

Good luck - interested to follow this thread for resolutions

denlem

Well i've been using a quart about every 2K miles. My consumption test started with the last oil change. Suddenly it seems to be down to a pint for the same distance. Hopefully this is a good sign.

dave07

I put a quart of oil in last night. My car has 4000 miles on it and this is the first time I put oil in it. I wonder if a catch can would solve are problems.

denlem

Went in to the dealer on Thursday to top off the oil before my vacation trip. It took another 12 ounces to top it off. So now i'm looking at about 24 ounces for 4000 miles. I've typically put in a full 2 quarts by now, but since the consumption test started, it seems to have eased up.

I'll be putting on 800+ miles next week for vacation. Mostly highway driving. Oil change time when I return so i'll be curious to see how low the oil goes with 800 miles of this type of driving.