Mustang burning oil, switched to MaxLife and now smoking

[Anduril]

Neither me nor the wife noticed any problems with my 2002 Mustang GT when I bought it. Once I started driving it regularly, I found out it burned oil at the rate of about 1 qt/1,000 miles. Wife has driven behind me and never said anything about smoke until the other day.

I figured I would give MaxLife high mileage a try along with some engine restore to see if it would reduce the oil consumption any. Wife was behind me and reported the engine smoking a little while idling (I had just pulled out of a parking lot and had been sitting in traffic for a few minutes) and then more smoke as I was accelerating onto the freeway. Once I was up to speed, no smoke, and no smoke as I was slowing down.

I tried to repeat this myself and sometimes I got it to smoke if I revved it after idling, other times I was not able to. I have never seen it smoke at idle.

Am I looking at bad valve seals? I have already changed the PCV before switching to MaxLife and it did nothing for my oil consumption issue. From what I've read, valve seals were an issue on these engines but I thought that was fixed in the late 90s so my 2002 shouldn't have a problem. I have 113,000 miles on it, bought with 111,000 and it has not smoked for the last 2,000 running Rotella T6. If changing valve seals doesn't do the trick am I looking at an engine rebuild on a car I just bought (hard to believe a 4.6 is "worn out" at just over 100k, especially since there is no sludge visible through the fill cap), or do I just fill it back up with Rotella and send it since it seems to have plenty of power, runs fine, gets decent mpg for what it is (17-19 city, 21 mixed including some stop and go traffic) and isn't exhibiting any other signs of being worn out?

I've never dealt with an oil burner before. Even my XTerra with 172k on it burns nothing between 5k mile OCIs, also running T6.

 

[OVERKILL]

I would have skipped the "restore", that stuff is a garbage bandaide for an engine 2 minutes from a rebuild.

Let the MaxLife do its thing, consumption may go down, though I'd change the oil since you have Restore in there.

Is there oil in the PCV plumbing? In the throttle body? I'd take a peek.

 

[Anduril]

There was oil in the throttle body and PCV hose, that's what led me to suspect the valve and change it.

Doesn't the fact that it's smoking with MaxLife but never did with Rotella indicate that it's not "doing it's thing?"

 

[OVERKILL]

I know for the 5.4L, there was an entire hose assembly replacement available to deal with that.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
I would have skipped the "restore", that stuff is a garbage bandaide for an engine 2 minutes from a rebuild.

Let the MaxLife do its thing, consumption may go down, though I'd change the oil since you have Restore in there.


+1. And even if consumption doesn't decrease, I'd learn to live with one quart per 1K miles.

 

[Tones]

It is colder lately, could it have just been condensation from a cold engine? This could be mistaken as "smoke". Agree, let the oil do its thing and monitor the consumption. What viscocity on the Maxlife and Rotella?

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by Tones
It is colder lately, could it have just been condensation from a cold engine? This could be mistaken as "smoke". Agree, let the oil do its thing and monitor the consumption. What viscocity on the Maxlife and Rotella?

Nope, this engine produces plenty of condensation when first started or even at idle on s cold humid night but it doesn't smell. This smoke was bluish and definitely smelled nasty, just like burnt oil. I changed to MaxLife about 200 miles ago and have never had it occur before then.

 

[philipp10]

A quart a 1000 miles is high but liveable. Think of it this way, you almost never have to change the oil since at 5000 miles, you have all new oil.....

 

[Warstud]

The Restore probably made it smoke.

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by philipp10
A quart a 1000 miles is high but liveable. Think of it this way, you almost never have to change the oil since at 5000 miles, you have all new oil.....

It's embarrassing to be driving a car that smokes. I guess if going back to Rotella stops the smoke, and valve seals does not fix the oil consumption oh, I might have to live with it. At least it's not making a full James Bond smoke screen like some of the Hondas I see driving around...

 

[vssjim]

I have seen lots of 4.6 engines burn oil and not just valve seals they also had ring problems and had many redesigns from when engine came out. Fix is rebuild engine.

 

[FlyNavyP3]

Valve seals have to be nearly non existent to smoke at idle, this is more likely a deeper issue than just valve seals. A lengthy piston soak with Kreen is a last ditch effort in hopes of freeing up stuck rings. Since the engine is a 2v SOHC changing valve seals is an expensive time consuming project, money that should honestly be put towards a rebuild not a hail Mary fix.

The oil consumption is probably why the previous owner let it go.

My recommendation would be a robust piston soak, if it works, great. If not just keep adding oil and either save for a rebuild or sell/trade the car if the rebuild isn't in the budget.

 

[Anduril]

In all honesty, pulling the engine and replacing the rings is probably within my skill set if I buy a hoist, so if it comes to that, that's probably what I will end up doing. I doubt it needs a full rebuild since it doesn't knock and seems to have good oil pressure.

 

[JLTD]

The 4.6 was originally a 5w-30 engine. You didn't mention it, but are you using the back-spec'd 5w-20?

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by Anduril
hard to believe a 4.6 is "worn out" at just over 100k, especially since there is no sludge visible through the fill cap


It's quite common to have oil burning issues on "Pony Cars" at lower mileages because they get driven really hard & are not allowed to warm-up before getting the wood put to them. "Bore Polishing" is also prevalent with the use of high flow air filters that everyone installs on these type cars.

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by JLTD
The 4.6 was originally a 5w-30 engine. You didn't mention it, but are you using the back-spec'd 5w-20?

I do not believe in 5w-20. The MaxLife is 5w-30 and the Rotella was 5w-40. For what it's worth, I've never seen it smoke at idle, only when I press the gas.

 

[dblshock]

Holy jezus god almighty, after only 111k? OO driving like Al Unser on factory spec oil likely...sorry to hear but I'd go back to the T6 or try even 10w40 or 15w40 and run TCW-3 fuel for a couple months....G/L

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by philipp10
A quart a 1000 miles is high but liveable. Think of it this way, you almost never have to change the oil since at 5000 miles, you have all new oil.....

Originally Posted by NormanBuntz
+1. And even if consumption doesn't decrease, I'd learn to live with one quart per 1K miles.
I don't get people who are concerned when their 15+ year old car burns 1Qt/1k miles or has oil leaks. I'm pretty sure my car burns/leaks a lot more than that and I am only moderately concerned, mostly about burning up my stash.
Originally Posted by clinebarger
It's quite common to have oil burning issues on "Pony Cars" at lower mileages because they get driven really hard & are not allowed to warm-up before getting the wood put to them. "Bore Polishing" is also prevalent with the use of high flow air filters that everyone installs on these types cars.
Wouldn't surprise me if it was babied by an old man owner when new and had a bad break in. Low mileage for the year would support that, you would think a car that was beat on by a youngster would have much higher mileage. There's no data at all to support this but I have seen many otherwise well taken care of cars consume oil for no reason at all. Would be the perfect age for a K&N rock catcher, they were all the rage at that time.

 

[atikovi]

Originally Posted by Anduril
In all honesty, pulling the engine and replacing the rings is probably within my skill set if I buy a hoist, so if it comes to that, that's probably what I will end up doing. I doubt it needs a full rebuild since it doesn't knock and seems to have good oil pressure.


Seems like a helll of a lot of work to do on a $2-3K car instead of just spending another $3 a month on oil.

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by Anduril
In all honesty, pulling the engine and replacing the rings is probably within my skill set if I buy a hoist, so if it comes to that, that's probably what I will end up doing. I doubt it needs a full rebuild since it doesn't knock and seems to have good oil pressure.


Seems like a helll of a lot of work to do on a $2-3K car instead of just spending another $3 a month on oil.

Unfortunately, if it continues to smoke, it will fail emissions and I can't drive it.