Losing Oil, Where's it going??

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Losing Oil, Where's it going??

Home > Discussion Forum > Mechanic's Corner (general)

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All Messages in Thread	Author	Date
Losing Oil, Where's it going??	Chris	4-7-07
I have an 89' Georgie Boy Cruise Air III with a Ford 460 (7.5L) with a 4 barrel carb. The motor keep losing oil. About 2 quarts for every 150 miles driven. The thing is, it's not burning it (no visible blue smoke out of the exhaust), and there is no puddle of oil under the motor when parked for a week. As a matter of fact, no oil spots at all on the driveway. after driving it for a 75 miles or so, you can smell that smell of oil cooking on the outside surface of the motor. Does this sound like rocker arm gaskets needing replaced? Would I be losing that much oil from the rocker arms covers like that in such a short distance of driving? When the oil starts getting low, the tappet/rocker arm ticking seems to be coming mainly from the passenger side of the motor. (at least that's what it sounds like as I'm driving the motor home down the road). The PCV valve and oil breather filter have been replaced. But the oil breather filter appears to have a lot of oil saturating it and there appears to be a little blowby around the PCV valve as well. This could be from possible overfilling the oils a little when, I top it off, I guess. When I fill up the oil to normal levels, it runs like silk and runs great. Besides the rocker arm gaskets, any other ideas on where the oil could be going? Or any other Ford 460 related history of known problems, that might relate to my situation? Many thanks for your help, -Chris
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	Chris	4-8-07
Thanks for the reply Mike. :-) Now if the weather would warm up a little, it make the whole process a little easier to do! I'd like to add one more question... Are the valve cover gaskets the same part on any 1989 model, 460 Ford engine? How can I identify my specific engine to auto parts stores when trying to buy parts for it? Most auto parts stores (like Pep Boys)do not list RV's or their VIN #'s for finding parts. When I went in with just the basic info, "a 1989 Ford 460 carberated engine", the people working at my local pep boys did not have a clue who to look up parts for it... Thanks again! -Chris
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	mike e	4-8-07
Sounds like the valve cover gaskets are leaking oil.Never owned a 460 Ford but you could clean off engine at a power wash car wash,do it yourself wash.Some of them have a special wand to clean up the engine bay.Just cover up the spark plug wires and distrubitor area with a plastic bag.Then run engine for a bit and watch for any leaks around the valve covers.Usually mine has always been near the back of the covers,harder to see. Good Luck MIKE
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	mike e	4-8-07
Not sure but most of the time valve cover gaskets will fit most all the same size engines and for many years.The newer fuel injected might be different.You might pick up a chiltons motor manual for about 12 bucks or so and do some reading up on it.Also I have some good manuals off Ebay.You can get some good tips on doing home service on your rig from some of these type manuals. You may not find motorhome manual but light truck type will usually have lots of the same info.Good Luck Mike
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	Vern	4-9-07
I had a car once that used 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas. Turned out to be, someone had installed the wrong PCV valve. There was no smoke either. Changed the valve & it stopped burning oil. Yes it was burning oil but the catalytic converter was cleaning up the exhaust. Vern
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going?? -UPDATE	Chris	4-9-07
Well, I had prepared myself for the worst here. Since the general consesus at cartalk.com seemed to be the rings were the problem. I got a couple of estimates for repairs over the phone. Instead of rebuilding, the fist place recommended a remanufactured engine that would come with a warranty. Installed for a mere $8500 and it would take 6 weeks to get done..... The next place was way more intune with the problem. The guy told me, if it needed major work, he recomended just doing a complete rebuild. The cost would be under $3500 and would genrally only take about a week to accomplish. When I described the problem to him on the phone, he thought the problem was sticky rings, valve's etc. He recommended using a product called "sea Foam" see: www.seafoamsales.com I went and bought a can and put it in the crankcase. Within 10-20 minutes, the tapping stopped and the oil pressure dropped from about 70psi at idle down to about 40psi! I checked the oil and filled it to about the middle of the fill area on the stick and took it out for a 50 mile drive. WOW!!! Man that stuff really works as advertised!! No blowby or problems now what so ever!!! I was told by the person I bought the RV from, that the motor had been rebuilt already. The mechanic that recommended the Sea Foam treatment told me when an engine like that sits for as long as mine did (almost 2 years), the rings can sieze up & or become sticky same for the valve seats. At this point it looks like sticky rings etc. was the problem because the Sea Foam product has cured my engine!! I'm grateful I came accross that second mechanic, cause the first shop had me almost convinced I needed to pop for the $8500 engine.... I'm taking her out for a 500 mile trip this weekend, so we'll see how it goes. -Chris
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	Chris	4-9-07
Vern, when your car was burning oil, did the spark plugs look wet, black or oily? Thanks! -Chris
Re: Losing Oil, Where's it going??	Jim	5-9-07
Same problem here and I have been searching for an answer for a while. I have a 1990 malibu cobra with a 460. It has 19k original miles. 15k when I bought it and discovered the oil consumption problem. Since it has abnormally low miles for its age, I have been suspecting things like stuck rings, seals, etc. I have resealed the valley, run Bon-Ami through the intake, all to no avail. I think I may try the Sea Foam route as well...

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