pennyanman

I've been running a 4.6L SOHC for about 4 years now and have maintained it religiously, yet I have never gone more than 500 miles on a quart of oil in mixed city/hwy driving. Here's the strange bit..if I go long distance at freeway speeds I might see 900 to 1000 miles on a quart. Visible smoke from the exhaust is evident particularly after sitting and idling more than a minute. The car runs great and delivers in all other respects, but I nearly flunked the emissions check on the DMV inspection a week ago and I have fears of a full "fail" next time around.

Any ideas?

Marqman

This is VERY normal for the 4.6 motors. I owned a 93 Marquis that started burning at 150k. I would burn about the same amount in at the same intervals you mention. It still burned the same amount at 233k when I sold it. Try running a a additive that slows down oil burning. I did it in mine and it helped a little. I am to understand that the Valve seals go out on these causing the burning issue. You could fix that but I am told it really isn't work fixing.
Short of a rebuild there aint much you can do about this one. MANY of these cars burn just like you described.

__________________
Tim
70 Camaro SS // 87 Mustang GT Conv - 119k
93 Z71 - 264k // 01 P71 - 87k // 05 Dodge Magnum R/T - 122k