Hello everyone. I just did an oil change today and man, is my car really smoking. It has smoked before but never like this. I decided to go with filly synthetic oil since I do have a lot of miles on it. Well, needless to say, the burning got worse. Before, i would have to let it sit idling for about 3 to 4 minutes before I hit the gas and smoke would come out. Now it only takes 2 minutes before it really smokes. Was changing over to synthetic a good move? Or is it something else I should be worried about?
the -96 4.6 V8 had problems with valve seals going bad prematurely, it sounds like that is likely the problem w/ yours. It's probably coincidence that you notice it more after changing to a synthetic, or maybe synthetic burns differently (more smoke) than regular oil.
X3 on valve seals. I would go back to conventional oil also. A lot of people complain of their higher mileage engines developing oil leaks after switching to synthetic. I've heard it actually cause the seals to shrink for a short time.
A mechanic advised me not to use full synthetic oil in older engines. I used synthetic in my '98 cv and it definitely burned more oil. Since then i switched back to regular 5w30 and its better now but still worse then before the synthetic. Engine had about 175000km then.
Personally, I had a 91 Town Car with the same issue and indeed it is valve seals. I switched from 5W30 conventional to 10W30 synthetic Mobil 1 and my oil consumption went down HUGE. Almost half of what it was. I attribute that more so to the change in weight rather than going from conventional to synthetic.
In my opinion, if you are seeing increased oil consumption, I would go with a heavier weight oil but still run 5W30 in the winter. Going to a heavier weight like 10W30 will fill those gaps in the engine that have grown larger from age. You WILL notice less consumption. I did.
Ok, maybe it's the viscosity then. OOPS Anyways, when I went to 10W30, not only did my oil consumption go way down, but it got rid of the valve chatter too. :hy:
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Ford Forums
1.4M posts
115.4K members
Since 1999
Ford Forum is a community to discuss all things Ford. Check out our discussions on the Ford Escape, Mustang, Edge, F-150, Raptor, Explorer, Focus, Fusion, Fiesta and more!