Oil leak?

[Sterling]

My truck seems to be using an awful amount of oil lately. As long as it's sitting still, it's ok, but leaks when hot. I know it burns some, but not nearly a quart in 400-500 miles. It's a stock 5.7L Vortec V8 with about 200K using 20W-50 motor oil. Any thoughts?

[TdmayfieldIV]

a quart every 400-500 miles isn't alot. My bronco used to leak a quart every 30 miles. Could be burning that.

[Sharpe]

The **** isn't just disappearing. Your hoopty be burnin it up!

[TdmayfieldIV]

The **** isn't just disappearing. Your hoopty be burnin it up!

at least his wiring harness isn't held together by 150 red butt connectors

[TexTJ209]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

[Sharpe]

at least his wiring harness isn't held together by 150 red butt connectors

There are only 58 and every inch of your bronco is worse.

[KrazyKarl02]

My truck seems to be using an awful amount of oil lately. As long as it's sitting still, it's ok, but leaks when hot. I know it burns some, but not nearly a quart in 400-500 miles. It's a stock 5.7L Vortec V8 with about 200K using 20W-50 motor oil. Any thoughts?

Most common place for leaks are around the valve covers I would think. Other than that check the color of the coolant and make sure you do not have an intake gasket leak.

[sam_hodnett]

My truck seems to be using an awful amount of oil lately. As long as it's sitting still, it's ok, but leaks when hot. I know it burns some, but not nearly a quart in 400-500 miles. It's a stock 5.7L Vortec V8 with about 200K using 20W-50 motor oil. Any thoughts?

I had a 91 2500 with the 5.7 in it and 275K miles, it used at least a quart a week, which equated to anywhere between 300 to 500 miles, so it is to be expected

[RCcola55]

mine leaks a gallon a month, stop bitching

[Seth]

i thought you drove a ford?

[Seth]

aw ****. theres a sterling and a sparling? wtf?!

[RCcola55]

damnit i didnt realize which one i was talking **** to.

200k is quite a bit of miles on that motor, sounds like bad valve seals and worn out rings, does it smoke at startup?

[robertf03]

200k and its using that much oil?

I'd start by checking the front main seal, rear main seal, oil pan seal, valve cover seal, all the valve seals, timing chain cover gasket, oil cooler lines, valve cover gaskets, intake manifold seals, compression check, find the title, buy an autotrader, eat mexican food, pick out a newer truck while pooping

[Sparling]

It's probably easier to keep it topped off than to fix the problem unless it's something like the valve cover gaskets. Try lots of seafoam through a vacuum line, I'm sure that'll let you know what a bad oil leak is.

[eight]

Are you sure it's leaking, not burning? If so, I'd say it's something that only sees oil when the engine is running, like the valve cover seals.

[Sterling]

It doesn't really smoke on start-up... maybe slightly in cold weather. It really wouldn't bug me if it gradually increased consumption... but it was more like all of a sudden it started drinkin it.

[bburris]

Maybe it's leaking into your transmission. You should pull both out of the truck and seperate them to check the seal between the motor and transmission and make sure nothing is leaking back into the oil pan.

[Sharpe]

Maybe it's leaking into your transmission. You should pull both out of the truck and seperate them to check the seal between the motor and transmission and make sure nothing is leaking back into the oil pan.

Pull both? Wtf? It has a 1 piece rear main. So at worst pull the trans

[bburris]

I was kidding.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/technology/sarcasm.jpg

[Sharpe]

I'm just sayin, that sounds like something you would do...

[FJAggie07]

Maybe it's leaking into your transmission. You should pull both out of the truck and seperate them to check the seal between the motor and transmission and make sure nothing is leaking back into the oil pan.

:laughing:

[bburris]

I'm just sayin, that sounds like something you would do...

Judging by past vehicular undertakings, I would pull the drivetrain, sell everything of value, scrap the rest and then park the sad, hollowed-out shell in a storage shed for a couple of years until I got interested in working on a vehicle again. Then I'd move it into my garage to collect dust and trip over when adjusting my sprinkler system's timer.