tboltmike

My F150 has 20k miles and was bought new Feb 2017

The dealer says Ford considers it normal to use 1 qt every 900 to 1200 miles.

Does this sound right?

About 2,500 mi after the first change, at dealer, I brought it in for engine misfire and that said the oil was not touching on the stick and when drained, they reported only 1 qt came out.

I have had 2 changes since, no misfires, and uses 1 to 1.5 qts between changes.

Thanks for you input.

JCR 56

So, in 2500 miles it used all of it's oil but one quart. I'm surprised there wasn't engine damage. If it keeps using oil like that , hell you'll to have invest in an oil well. That's way more oil than my 97 with almost 250.000 miles would ever use. Maybe it will slow down the more you drive it and not use so much.

Steve83

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tboltmike

There was no oil consumption from new to first oil change. Dealer made the first oil change. 2500 miles later the engine started idling rough and the engine symbol light came on, not service engine soon. Dealer diagnosted misfire and noticed no oil on stick and recommended oil change. They said only one qt drained. This was the second oil change.

Between second and third change it used 1.5 qts.
Between the third and fouth, it used 1 qt.

This vehicle gets 60% of miles on highway in 2 to 6 hour trips.

Ricktwuhk

The 2nd oil change should have triggered a "how is this possible" moment, coupled with a "what damage was done"?

With a quart of oil, the engine likely suffered serious damage.

The question I have is, how was this not noticed in your regular checks of the dipstick? If you're not checking it regularly, or at all between oil changes, that's simply irresponsible.

At the first oil change, I wonder if the dealer tremendously underfilled the oil.

chimmike

I disagree. This is 2017. The reasonable expectation is that a brand new vehicle is not going to consume or leak all it's oil in 2000miles, given the oil change interval of what, 5k miles or more? People now can barely fuel up the car on their own, have no idea how to change a tire (and surely don't teach their kids this)...you can't tell me even .05% of the millions of drivers out there check their oil level frequently, or at all.

I would suggest that if Ford considered that much consumption to be normal, there would be a recommendation in the owners manual to check the oil level at least every couple weeks.

Ricktwuhk

You disagree that vehicles owners have a responsibility to check their fluid levels regularly, to walk around their vehicles and conduct a visual inspection regularly, and to ensure their vehicle is safe? Okie dokie.

What about checking the vehicle after the service department is done with it? I bet you don't think that's smart either?

A former girlfriend of my older son drove her vehicle until the engine seized due to lack of oil. No one's fault but hers. Then she had payments left and went into default and ruined her credit. Totally irresponsible.

chimmike

I think owners have a responsibility, sure. But what is that responsibility? When manufacturers have created oil change intervals that exceed 5,000 miles, how can they, in the same breath, say 1 quart of consumption every 900 miles is considered "normal"?

They advertise low-maintenance as a selling point. There are no owners manual recommendations for oil-level checks at fuel intervals, etc. Monthly oil level checks? sure. That's reasonable

What's not reasonable is to expect somebody to listen to a manufacturer and follow the computer which calculates a 9,000 mile oil change interval, and then be expected to understand a 900 mile 1quart consumption amount is normal. I don't buy it. And that's the manufacturer's fault alone. Manufacturer creates a reasonable expectation amongst consumers that the vehicle is very-low-maintenance, they can't come back after a problem and say "well, 900 miles and 1 quart consumption is normal, so after 4500 miles, you've consumed 5 quarts, that sounds about right, sorry your engine is toast". Guarantee you they'd lose that argument in a civil tort setting in front of a jury.

It's all about reasonable expectations, and where those expectations have been set.

I have a reasonable expectation that my brand new Ford, with the computer telling me the interval is 8,000 miles, based on my driving, that I won't burn through all my oil in half the mileage....or that i'll burn any at all! As far as I'm concerned, 1 quart in 5000 miles is a lot given the tolerances these engines are built to now.

If Toyota started telling folks they need to check their oil every couple of weeks, you can bet another manufacturer is going to say "Toyota makes you do this, but we don't, we're lower maintenance!".
Manufacturers set these expectations in the 90s. That's why you see these stories of people not changing oil, sludge issues, motors getting burned up because people go 40,000 miles without oil changes. Stupidity? absolutely. But it's at the feet of the manufacturers for creating this dubious expectation in consumers.

tuflehundon

I can say that I and my family check our vehicles every 2 weeks, or before and after any long trip. That said, 95% of people out there do not. Some likely never look at the oil dipstick at all, as someone else does the oil changes for them.

On a side not, Chevy replaced my wife's engine under warranty due to oil consumption similar to the OP's.

Ricktwuhk

You're missing the point. The 2.7 holds 6 quarts of oil. OP says that 2,500 miles after the first oil change, dealer said there was 1 quart in it. That means 5 quarts were "gone".

My points were:

- OP should have checked fluid levels after first service. If the dealer didn't properly fill the oil, it would have been known immediately. The 2.7 requires a longer period to drain, and to be checked, but that usually results in OVERFILLING.

- Unless the OP drove 2,500 miles in a week, the loss of 5 quarts should have been discovered in a regular fluid check by the OP. We check all our vehicles monthly.

- When the dealer said "there's only 1 quart of oil in the engine", the OP should have insisted on a full engine diagnosis, because it's highly likely that driving around with only a quart of oil in the engine did significant damage.

I never said that a quart of oil in any mileage range was acceptable. But in doing any math, 5 quarts lost in 2,500 miles isn't acceptable regardless.