Anyone break in engine properly AND have oil consumption issues?

[Bcobb85]

The key is to build high cylinder pressure with moderate heat by loading the engine. Just varying RPMs won't do this. On a low-tension ring engine, it's possible the first 170 miles could be the difference in whether the rings seat or the cylinders glaze.

I took delivery at a dealer 100 miles away from my home. It was in rural Arkansas, so there were lots of hills and turns on the trip, so I had plenty of opportunities to accelerate out of the turns or up the hills. The best way to build pressure and heat is to accelerate hard between 3000 and 6000 RPM and then let it coast back down to normal, bring it back up to 3000 and nail it again. In this way, you build tons of cylinder pressure, but don't create too much heat by extended high-RPM operation. Those numbers aren't exact, either...you can go below or above and it won't hurt anything.

When I got home, the first thing I did was to change the factory synthetic oil to a conventional, lighter weight oil. Synthetics have been known to be too "slippery" to allow the rings to seat. This step may or may not be necessary, but I've had good luck with it over the years that synthetics have been available. I drove the next 800-900 miles in much the same way, although not quite as often - just making sure the engine spent most of its time in the mid-RPM ranges with load whenever possible. I changed back to synthetic oil at 1000 miles. I've driven normally (no track time, but lots of spirited driving) since that time and with 18000 miles on it now, I have zero oil consumption issues. It might use half-a-quart between changes. I'd consider that "normal".

Someone mentioned the valve seal issue...that may be a factor in some engines, and break-in wouldn't have an effect on those, but I would also think if those were the issue, Ford would rather try to replace them under warranty than replace the whole engine or buy back the car. Just my opinion on that.

Good to know, I drive mine similarly and consistently consume around 1 quart every 2k miles which I am ok with. Just for context, what are your oil change intervals?

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[MAV]

June and December. I don't put enough miles on mine to change according to mileage, but I usually have about 3000 miles on it in the 6-month interval.

 

[tex929rr]

Maybe some of you all with more knowledge can tell me if any of this reflects on the OP’s question. My GT350 consumes a quart every 1000 mile or so. I also own a 99 Super Duty with a V10 that has had similar consumption since new, and never has had any problems. It’s now at almost 20 years old and 150K miles. I realize that this is not a high revving engine (although relatively speaking, for a big truck engine it’s a high revver). From reading lots of forum posts, those engines vary like crazy as to how much oil they consume. I also own an almost 30 year old motorcycle that was designed as a homolgation special. That model is notorious for oil consumption and revs to 12,500. Now after almost 30 years and lots of high revs (basically lives at 6K+) and no issues. I guess I am saying that oil consumption in and of itself doesn’t necessarily indicate a big problem.

 

[MAV]

Oil consumption in and of itself is not necessarily a "problem", in terms of something that will lead to premature engine failure. It is more of a nuisance than anything in that in addition to having to constantly check and add oil between changes, it can also lead to fouled plugs, valves, and combustion chambers, clogged catalytic converters, and in extreme cases, visible smoke from the tailpipes. If the source of the oil consumption is caused by insufficient piston ring sealing, then it also means the engine is not operating at full efficiency since some of the cylinder pressure created by combustion is leaking around the rings. Unless the engine is already old and has other issues, this loss is usually negligible and wouldn't likely be a contributing factor to a shorter life of the engine.

 

[oldbmwfan]

I will ask the question again. Do you believe this explains the experience of many of us (including me) who have a motor that consumed no oil for the first 4-5K miles, then rapidly degrading over the next few thousand miles to the point of consuming 1 qt/200-300 miles?

As stated very clearly in my post, I do not know if that would explain the later-mileage onset of oil consumption, and I myself do not have enough miles on my engine to know if I'm "out of the woods." I'm saying IN GENERAL, the manufacturer recommended break-in is pretty useless as a guideline. It is a least-common-denominator method to prevent severe damage early in the engine's life and give the manufacturer a way to deny a warranty claim for a motor that is abused out of the gates. No more and no less. It's written by lawyers and not engineers.

I'm just sharing my perspective from 20+ years of driving across multiple vehicles and 15+ years of track experience; engine oil consumption often seems related to poor break-in and poor ring seating and gentle miles do not seat rings properly.

The forged piston clearances and low-tension rings in the Voodoo motor might make oil consumption relatively inevitable. I don't know. I only own one.

 

[rick81721]

The key is to build high cylinder pressure with moderate heat by loading the engine. Just varying RPMs won't do this. On a low-tension ring engine, it's possible the first 170 miles could be the difference in whether the rings seat or the cylinders glaze.

I took delivery at a dealer 100 miles away from my home. It was in rural Arkansas, so there were lots of hills and turns on the trip, so I had plenty of opportunities to accelerate out of the turns or up the hills. The best way to build pressure and heat is to accelerate hard between 3000 and 6000 RPM and then let it coast back down to normal, bring it back up to 3000 and nail it again. In this way, you build tons of cylinder pressure, but don't create too much heat by extended high-RPM operation. Those numbers aren't exact, either...you can go below or above and it won't hurt anything.

When I got home, the first thing I did was to change the factory synthetic oil to a conventional, lighter weight oil. Synthetics have been known to be too "slippery" to allow the rings to seat. This step may or may not be necessary, but I've had good luck with it over the years that synthetics have been available. I drove the next 800-900 miles in much the same way, although not quite as often - just making sure the engine spent most of its time in the mid-RPM ranges with load whenever possible. I changed back to synthetic oil at 1000 miles. I've driven normally (no track time, but lots of spirited driving) since that time and with 18000 miles on it now, I have zero oil consumption issues. It might use half-a-quart between changes. I'd consider that "normal".

Someone mentioned the valve seal issue...that may be a factor in some engines, and break-in wouldn't have an effect on those, but I would also think if those were the issue, Ford would rather try to replace them under warranty than replace the whole engine or buy back the car. Just my opinion on that.

Thanks I will follow this procedure as closely as possible (tho I'm not going to bother with the oil changes you did). This surely can't hurt, by I have to say I remain skeptical that this is the cause of most of the reported excessive oil consumption "failures". If the engine ring seating procedure is that specific, and if not following it results in excessive oil consumption failure, logic dictates that the vast majority of GT350 motors would have failed via excessive oil consumption in the first year. In any event, we will see how motor #2 fares.

 

[DCShelby]

Mine had a full leak down test, compression test, dye marker test, and cylinder bores scoped with a camera, its passed all tests yet was using 1 quart every 125 miles......that IS a problem. So far engine #2 is doing ok. I did more pulls to 6K rpm then coast, then did more on this motor.

 

[roygriffin2020]

For people like me that had oil consumption, what were/are you driving habits. Is it high revs for the most part or lazy highway drive and never shifting?

 

[JAJ]

I think there's a risk that focusing on the first buyer's engine break-in is a distraction from what's really happening. After all, the gentle break-in instructions in the manual are largely there to keep the trans and diff from developing problems because, as I have read numerous times, while the engine is pretty much what it's going to be by the time it rolls off the truck at the dealer's lot, the diff needs widely varying speeds and loads to make sure it'll have a long and noise-free life.

As others have said, DCShelby most recently above, many engines that fail with high oil consumption have clean bores and pass compression and leakdown tests just fine, even though consumption is heavy. There are two obvious possibilities for this relatively sudden oil consumption to start on an otherwise fine engine. The first is the valve stem seals and the second is the oil-control ring section of the pistons. The valve stem seal issue is easy - one or more seals wears and oil gets into the intake or the exhaust manifold. The piston possibility would be related to the oil control ring and its groove. If this ring itself fails or wears, or if the oil drain holes in the piston behind the ring get blocked, oil consumption will increase. In the not-so-obvious column, we'd have things like casting defects or porosity in the cylinder head leaking oil into one of the manifolds.

The problem with these theoretical causes is that if they were "the problem" then Ford would have made a running change in the components and there would be a clear date-based divide between engines at risk and engines that aren't. And yet we don't see this. A 2018 engine is as likely to start consuming oil as a 2016.

 

[Muligan]

These engines have problems. Buyer beware...

On a mission, ain't ya.

 

[Demonic]

On a mission, ain't ya.

I for one admire his perseverance. Many a night a lie in bed looking at the ceiling thinking to myself "thank heavens guys like Randy M are out there to repeatedly warn me about my car..."

 

[roygriffin2020]

I for one admire his perseverance. Many a night a lie in bed looking at the ceiling thinking to myself "thank heavens guys like Randy M are out there to repeatedly warn me about my car..."

I think you need to sell it. I will give you $2000..... ok, $2500 :-)

 

[MAV]

The problem with these theoretical causes is that if they were "the problem" then Ford would have made a running change in the components and there would be a clear date-based divide between engines at risk and engines that aren't. And yet we don't see this. A 2018 engine is as likely to start consuming oil as a 2016.

I don't disagree with your statements, but I will also say that I just can't figure out why Ford makes changes in some things and not others. For example, they changed the oil filter design mid-year in MY17, but I don't think there were nearly as many engines with oil filter problems as there were with oil consumption problems. And if there were, why didn't Ford recall earlier 2017s and all 2016s and 15s to retrofit the new oil filter design? They did this for the oil cooler lines, and I only heard of one instance of those actually having an issue.

Another known failing is the non-billet oil pump gear. Since Ford doesn't release the actual cause of engine failures on those replaced under warranty, we can only speculate as to how many have actually failed due to a broken OPG, however a cursory search through these forums reveals several instances in which the OPG failure was obvious even before Ford agreed to replace the engine. Why hasn't Ford issued a recall for this issue?

My point is that there just doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason why Ford makes some changes, issues some recalls, and totally ignores others. And in the absence of Ford issuing not so much as a TSB on how to *resolve* an oil consumption issue rather than just stating that it's "normal" for these engines, we're all left to try to address it ourselves. I go back to what's always worked for me, and that's a tried-and-true engine break-in procedure.

 

[GT_Dave]

It is difficult to get a good read on what is really going on with oil consumption with this group. I don’t think the process of break in has much to do with the more serious consumption problems we read about. This engine is unique to most engines that it incorporates the oil spray system under the pistons. This system will help reduce piston temperatures and expansion along with exposing more oil to migrate past the piston. I truly feel this may be a major contributor. As for break in, I picked up my 2016 car in the first week of January in the cold Midwest and started to drive it daily. In the cold weather I could not get on it hard early on due to loss of traction on the cold pavement so I had to drive pretty moderately. I did take it very easy for the first 500 miles and kept in under 5,000 RPM most of the time. I am by no means a conservative driver, I love to rev this car to the limit when possible. Now with over 23,000 miles on my car, my last oil check had the level at the bottom hole on the dipstick after driving 5,000 miles since I last changed the oil. Probably 50% of my driving is highway miles in between occasional autocross and track days, and my GT350 consumes very little oil. I consider myself one of the lucky owners.

 

[Abg123]

Yes. On my 2017 R i broke it in properly (per manuel) and still ended up with an issue at 17k miles

Can we please stop beating that dead horse. It seems a recurring theme here that a person considering a GT350 purchase wants to know about "oil consumption and/or motor failures. Then former and current owners are all to eager to chime in and tell their story. I get it, but enough is enough.

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