2018 LB GT350 (J0238): Oil Consumption Stats

Wanted to throw in my personal experience with oil consumption thus far. I picked up my '18 on 04 November, and have just over 15XX miles today. I have now used 1/2 of a quart, within the expected burn rate. I have been sure to keep an eye on it, while measuring per Ford's service manual instructions.

I picked her up in Knoxville, TN and drove back to NoVA (approx 500-miles). During this drive (Interstate-81), I used a series of long pulls in 3rd or 4th gear from around 2500 to about 6000 RPM, ensuring not to lug the engine. At about 2500, I'd ease into the throttle, making at or about full-throttle by the time it gets to 6 or 6500, then let off completely and let the engine slow it back down. Next, I'd drive normally for a bit and do it all again.

The break in procedure I used was recommended by [MENTION=17943]MAV[/MENTION]- thanks for that pal!

I hope my information is useful for someone. Thanks all!

Wetarded Goat said:

Wanted to throw in my personal experience with oil consumption thus far. I picked up my '18 on 04 November, and have just over 15XX miles today. I have now used 1/2 of a quart, within the expected burn rate. I have been sure to keep an eye on it, while measuring per Ford's service manual instructions.

I picked her up in Knoxville, TN and drove back to NoVA (approx 500-miles). During this drive (Interstate-81), I used a series of long pulls in 3rd or 4th gear from around 2500 to about 6000 RPM, ensuring not to lug the engine. At about 2500, I'd ease into the throttle, making at or about full-throttle by the time it gets to 6 or 6500, then let off completely and let the engine slow it back down. Next, I'd drive normally for a bit and do it all again.

The break in procedure I used was recommended by [MENTION=17943]MAV[/MENTION]- thanks for that pal!

I hope my information is useful for someone. Thanks all!

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Similar situation here - picked up mine Nov 6, about 1200 miles so far. I haven't seen any change in oil level yet - and as someone else reported, measuring 15 minutes after a drive or overnight cold, it's almost exactly the same level.

Car was purchased new in March 2017 with about 8 miles on the clock. My consumption was minimal until about 2,000 or so miles then she began to consume some. Started to consume one quart per 750 miles. First oil change a few weeks ago at 5,3xx miles. 5,8xx miles as of today. So in the last 500 miles zero oil consumed. I’ve read a few others’ oil loss decreased after 5,xxx miles. So far mine appears to be following suit. Zero drop on the dip stick in 500 miles is encouraging.

Oil Consumption

I would expect a little oil consumption through break in. Mine burned about ½-1qt in the first couple thousand miles. Now pushing 10,000 miles, daily driving, zero oil consumed... am getting an ounce or two in my passenger side catch can every couple thousand miles, but not enough to notice a loss in the dipstick.

1600 miles on mine. This is where I'm at. Does this mean I'm a 1/2 quart down?

96cobra said:

1600 miles on mine. This is where I'm at. Does this mean I'm a 1/2 quart down?

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Yep, I would only add ¼-½ qt. And then recheck after it cools off after a drive.

Has anyone done a Blackstone oil analysis? This would give you the best idea of EXACTLY what is going on with your oil and bearing/ring wear rates.

Houston Kid said:

Car was purchased new in March 2017 with about 8 miles on the clock. My consumption was minimal until about 2,000 or so miles then she began to consume some. Started to consume one quart per 750 miles. First oil change a few weeks ago at 5,3xx miles. 5,8xx miles as of today. So in the last 500 miles zero oil consumed. I’ve read a few others’ oil loss decreased after 5,xxx miles. So far mine appears to be following suit. Zero drop on the dip stick in 500 miles is encouraging.

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This is great information -- these metrics help the monitoring process.

rb92gt said:

I would expect a little oil consumption through break in. Mine burned about ½-1qt in the first couple thousand miles. Now pushing 10,000 miles, daily driving, zero oil consumed... am getting an ounce or two in my passenger side catch can every couple thousand miles, but not enough to notice a loss in the dipstick.

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Same thing here -- the more metrics, the better.

96cobra said:

1600 miles on mine. This is where I'm at. Does this mean I'm a 1/2 quart down?

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This was exactly how my dipstick looked -- 1/2 quart nailed the top off.

rick81721 said:

Similar situation here - picked up mine Nov 6, about 1200 miles so far. I haven't seen any change in oil level yet - and as someone else reported, measuring 15 minutes after a drive or overnight cold, it's almost exactly the same level.

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Very nice -- glad to hear your rate is so low.

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Thanks all for your inputs. I have no false expectations about the oil burn, why it happens, or how many quarts to keep in the garage haha. Just wanted to throw out some more data since the '18s are just rolling out'ish.

On another note. I had an excellent experience yesterday with a 25-yr master Ford mechanic. I went in for an oil change way ahead of my traditional first service, at 15XX-miles. Normally prefer to wait a bit, but have some road trip action soon and wanted to have her checked out. The service tech's first statement was: "you don't need an oil change. you would be wasting not only cash, but stripping your engine of the break-in additives". He explained his take on the first batch of oil having unique properties (via additives of zinc and other materials) that greatly impact the initial few thousand miles on the engine's break-in and sealing. Basically, your engine will never have the same experience of wear, pressure, and oil-use once you pull that fluid out.

I know this won't be new information to a lot of people, and is merely an echo-chamber/validation of what some already do/believe. Simply some num-num for meta-physical brain activity.

Gotta leave this to an actual true expert but my understanding is there is not any kind of special break in oil in there when you buy this car new.

Everyone is entitled to do what they want and I personally do keep a close eye on the oil level. But I wouldn't go "fanatic" and put little sips in every time your between the two holes on the dipstick. Let it get to the bottom hole before adding.

CANTWN4LSN said:

Gotta leave this to an actual true expert but my understanding is there is not any kind of special break in oil in there when you buy this car new.

Everyone is entitled to do what they want and I personally do keep a close eye on the oil level. But I wouldn't go "fanatic" and put little sips in every time your between the two holes on the dipstick. Let it get to the bottom hole before adding.

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Yeah, this was new to me too. I was under the impression that break-in oils were a thing of the past. His explanation was that while there is an additive provided to the oil, the oil itself is simply OEM Motorcraft juice. I didn't mean to imply this was now fact, only a piece of interesting dialogue. Sorry for that, should've added more context.

As for adding oil, agreed! The service manual even says the same thing...above the holes, leave it alone (bring on dirty jokes).

96cobra said:

1600 miles on mine. This is where I'm at. Does this mean I'm a 1/2 quart down?

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I would NOT add oil. The manual says only add oil if you are outside of the range on the dipstick.

I can tell you that my car "likes" to have the oil level sitting roughly where yours is. After an oil change the level will fairly quickly go down to the 1/2 way mark. Then once at the half way mark the oil level doesn't move at all for thousands of miles. The oil level never gets below the bottom mark prior to an oil change.

I guess if you want you can add oil. It's your car. I'm just telling you my experience with my car. I don't want the car to consume more oil than necessary, so I don't continually add oil. I let the oil level sit where it wants to be.

Hack said:

I would NOT add oil. The manual says only add oil if you are outside of the range on the dipstick.

I can tell you that my car "likes" to have the oil level sitting roughly where yours is. After an oil change the level will fairly quickly go down to the 1/2 way mark. Then once at the half way mark the oil level doesn't move at all for thousands of miles. The oil level never gets below the bottom mark prior to an oil change.

I guess if you want you can add oil. It's your car. I'm just telling you my experience with my car. I don't want the car to consume more oil than necessary, so I don't continually add oil. I let the oil level sit where it wants to be.

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What Hack said; manual also specifies not to add oil if in between the marks... Just follow that. Too much oil is just as bad as not enough.

96cobra said:

1600 miles on mine. This is where I'm at. Does this mean I'm a 1/2 quart down?

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No thats more like 3/4qt down

I would be interested to find out the mechanic's source of information on this break-in additive. I know of no car manufacturer that does this, and my source is that if they did, the owner's manual would specifically mention not to change the oil for a certain period of time in order to obtain the full benefit of these additives.

Manufacturers simply fill the crankcase with the recommended oil and send the car on down the line. And 95% of the time, this is perfectly okay - some of these engines are running nearly 500,000 miles like that (we have a couple of pickups in our fleet at work that are well over 400k).

But for this car and this engine, I went "old school" and broke it in like I have all my rebuilt and race motors - conventional oil for the first 800 miles, then synthetic for another 1200, then change again for fresh oil and done. I have zero oil consumption at 11,500 miles. I can't prove it was the break-in procedure, but this procedure has never failed to produce similar results.

Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.

MAV said:

I would be interested to find out the mechanic's source of information on this break-in additive. I know of no car manufacturer that does this, and my source is that if they did, the owner's manual would specifically mention not to change the oil for a certain period of time in order to obtain the full benefit of these additives.

Manufacturers simply fill the crankcase with the recommended oil and send the car on down the line. And 95% of the time, this is perfectly okay - some of these engines are running nearly 500,000 miles like that (we have a couple of pickups in our fleet at work that are well over 400k).

But for this car and this engine, I went "old school" and broke it in like I have all my rebuilt and race motors - conventional oil for the first 800 miles, then synthetic for another 1200, then change again for fresh oil and done. I have zero oil consumption at 11,500 miles. I can't prove it was the break-in procedure, but this procedure has never failed to produce similar results.

Your mileage may vary, see dealer for details.

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The next time I speak with him, I will ask for a source. Very curious myself...should have asked at the time.