Smoking F150

Les Shollenberger · Oct 18, 2009

I have a 2001 F150 with the 5.4 engine that has 84,000 miles on it. It has used a quart of oil every 900-1000 miles since the day it was new.
I have always used Valvoline 5-20 or 5-30 and change every 3000-4000 miles. I can live with a quart every 1000 miles, but for the past several months it has been putting out a big cloud of blue smoke when fist started in the morning.
At first it was once a week, but now it happens just about every day. It looks like bad valve guide seals to me. The Ford dealer has "never seen this before", which is their usual answer for something that goes bad long before it should. A few of the plugs, especially #5, are showing deposits that shouldn't be there.
Has anyone out there had this problem? What was the fix?

Lumpy · Oct 18, 2009

Your "neer seen this before" dealer is lying to you! This was a common issue in the past for the 4.6. But, for some reason it seemed to be centered around the cars like the crown vic, lincoln town car, etc. It wouldn't suprise me at all if the 5.4's were doing it. BTW.... ford consideres any oil consumption above 500 miles to be normal use.

jCarroll · Oct 18, 2009

look around at F150online(dot)com

Anonymous-0 · Oct 18, 2009

It is hard to say why it smokes on start up, but it may be from valve stem seals. If it doesn't smoke driving I would'n worry much about it. Might try a little heavyer oil. Stan

Wesley Stephens · Oct 18, 2009

we have a 95 Town Car that has been a great car but is approaching 200,000 miles. It uses some oil and will start smoking once in a while if it idles for a long time. I have never paid it much attention, though. I keep a check on the oil and the car still gets close to 24 mpg on the highway and is very reliable. It has been some cheap riding for us.

S.Crum · Oct 18, 2009

A gal at work has a 2001 F-250 with the 5.4 engine with about 100,000 miles on it and we keep her oil checked for her. This uses about a quart every thousand or so and sounds like a PowerJoke for about 15 seconds after it's started up cold.
She's amazed at my 89' F-150, it uses about a quart of oil between 5,000 mile change intervals.
And it has 216,000 miles on the clock.

bc · Oct 18, 2009

Try the two ford forums. My 2000 f150 with 5.4 has used a qt about every 2000 miles since I got it. If I forget, I can get to 3 qts low and it never ever shows on guage in the cab. Got it changed at walmart one time and it didn't show on the stick (normal). They made me sign a waiver. Now when it gets to 5000 miles, I usually have to check it and add oil to get it changed. I told the ford salesman that it used a lot of oil and he said that was normal which was the exact opposite of what he said about my trade in.

My pickup also has the common intermittant odometer which I haven't bothered to spend a oouple hours to fix.

Mine also has a common problem your lady friend may have SCrum. The right rear exhaust manifold bolt either comes loose or the head breaks off. The exhaust leaks rattles at start up until it warms up and seals itself. Haven't bothered to fix that yet either.

schmuck · Oct 19, 2009

I have taken engines apart and found almost anything you can imagine. Everything from broken rings to missing valve stem seals. If it is still under warranty, I would raise the biggest stink you can, because something isn't right. You may have to go as far as a friend of mine did, which was 2x8 plywood signs on both sides of the bed painted lemon yellow with " I bought this lemon at so-and-so's Ford" and getting the local media involved. Good luck, I would say you'll need it.

MF165farmer · Oct 19, 2009

www.ford-trucks.com

1936 · Oct 19, 2009

Had a 93 with a 5.0 the same way just kept adding oil. Dad had a power stroke the same way a qt. per 300 miles when pulling. He dumped the truck for 5.7 and no oil problem at 100,000. Driving a Tundra 4.7 and no oil problem at 75,000. A real screamer the GT's are the only thing that pulls away on the road.

bradk · Oct 19, 2009

Probably a defective or damaged valve seal.Eventually gave out.Should have raised a stink about it while under warranty.

dhermesc · Oct 19, 2009

The 4.6 (the smaller version of the 5.4) had a huge issue with this on their 1990 to 1997 models. Age or wear (or both) would lead to shunken or cracked valve seals. The cars wouldn't burn all that much oil but they'd smoke like &*(& when every you started them or took off at a stop light. Problem was on those they were good for 5-8 years or 80-100K miles. I bought a grandma's Grand Marquis with only 10K on the engine when it was 7 years old. At 40K it started blowing blue smoke. $600 later and an entire new set of valve seals and it ran like new again.

Given that this has been like that since new I'd say the post below about an incorrectly installed valve seal that eventually gave out is probably correct. Should have screamed like *%&$ when it was under warranty now they'll tell you are SOL.

If you are getting blue smoke you need to get it fixed. The cats won't handle the extra oily smoke and will clog up - leading to even more expensive repairs.

Larry D. · Oct 19, 2009

That GT was it a ;93 Mustang? Larry

Smoking F150

Les Shollenberger

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Lumpy

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jCarroll

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Anonymous-0

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Wesley Stephens

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S.Crum

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bc

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schmuck

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MF165farmer

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1936

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dhermesc

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Larry D.

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