GT350 Engine/Oil Usage/Fix thread.

[mustang1]

... I dont know what happens in the case of engine failing due to insufficient oil in terms of warranty claims. It is our responsibility to check it but not sure what the actual interval is.

it's relative to the Owner's Manual. If some of the cars are dropping a quart every 500 miles and Ford considers that normal, they should send out a notice, recommending 500 mile checks. I suspect the Owner's Manual doesn't say that.

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[MCarsFan]

You are probably right, when I had the 2012 BMW M3, when I brought it in for the first time for my "free oil change" with 3000 miles on it. The service rep said I should have come in sooner as these cars use a lot of oil and can get really low in that amount of miles.

I gave him a funny look and said no way. But apparently..... way

I owned the same car for 30k miles. I know the feeling

 

[Minn19]

It was way low. The car has 1630 miles, so I decided to check my oil bcuz of this thread. It did not even register on the dipstick. I bought 3 quarts just in case from the Ford dealer. I added a 1/2 qt at a time. It finally registerd barely after one qt. then i added 1/2 qt at a time, checking the dipstick so I can know exactly what the levels would be. So right now I am exactly half between low and high mark holes.

Soooooooooo, it is either burning that much, or, or, or some dipstick forgot to add more oil when they assembled the car and hooked up the oil cooler, which might take a qt. Just a guess.

I am hoping it was just a diphead that wanted to leave early on Friday. But this could have turned out very bad if I did not check it.

Realize this, I have changed all my own oil my whole life, I have rebuilt a Chevy truck new clutch by myself, no transmission jack, and have only owned new cars since 1980. I have never checked the oil level at 1630 miles. Why would I have to do that, it is new?

I dodged a bullet

Glad the thread helped in an indirect way and hopefully saved you a huge headache.

If you end up bringing it in to the dealer they will most likely just verify that it is using it and recommend an engine swap. They probably won't do anything else.

 

[unavailableGT350]

it's relative to the Owner's Manual. If some of the cars are dropping a quart every 500 miles and Ford considers that normal, they should send out a notice, recommending 500 mile checks. I suspect the Owner's Manual doesn't say that.

It says 1000 miles. But no one in their right mind would think of that out of the showroom floor. No salesperson told me that.

 

[unavailableGT350]

Glad the thread helped in an indirect way and hopefully saved you a huge headache.

If you end up bringing it in to the dealer they will most likely just verify that it is using it and recommend an engine swap. They probably won't do anything else.

You are correct. When I bought the oil after checking the dipstick, the service rep said that he had already changed out a motor, so it was not that big of a deal. He said just whenever, bring it in and have it checked. I will after my highway driving benchmark and see what it burns.

 

[GT_Dave]

Ford puts the 10 quart oil pan in that car for a couple reasons, one is for track activity support the other is for a longer service interval under harsh conditions. You can most likely run this engine minus 4-5 quarts and it would be fine under normal driving conditions. The oil pickup would still be pulling oil in and the pressure wouldn't drop, it would probably trigger a check engine alert before it got that far down. I find it funny when I see guys post in a thread that they try to get every last bit of old oil out of their oil pan when they doing oil change. They don't consider the quart and a half+ of oil that's still in the cooling system and hoses. That retained oil may be part of the reason that some of you see inconsistent oil levels between a hot and cold engine.

 

[unavailableGT350]

Ford puts the 10 quart oil pan in that car for a couple reasons, one is for track activity support the other is for a longer service interval under harsh conditions. You can most likely run this engine minus 4-5 quarts and it would be fine under normal driving conditions. The oil pickup would still be pulling oil in and the pressure wouldn't drop. I find it funny when I see guys post in a thread that they try to get every last bit of old oil out of their oil pan when they doing oil change. They don't really consider the quart and a half+ of oil that's still in the cooling system and hoses. That retained oil may be part of the reason that some of you see inconsistent oil levels between a hot and cold engine.

Exactly, of all the oil pans I have dropped, the oil pickup is pretty close to the bottom of the oil pan, just for that reason.....is when the oil gets low or sideways in a corner or long hill.

 

[rfcs550]

Under spirited driving conditions (some redline pulls and cruising at 4000 rpm in 5th gear and lower shift pulls at 5000 rpm or more for over an hour), my car used up .25 Qt in 326 miles to be exact. There was some residual oil (about one tablespoon full) in the passg side catch can. At 4000 miles it is using less oil than before. Maybe the valve seals are seating, hopefully.

 

[Agent_S550]

Exactly, of all the oil pans I have dropped, the oil pickup is pretty close to the bottom of the oil pan, just for that reason.....is when the oil gets low or sideways in a corner or long hill.

Correct. Most performance motors are set to 3/4" pickup depth.

 

[Strokerswild]

I used to build a lot of engines in my spare time, and typically you want to see about 3/8" clearance between pickup and pan.

You can get away with running 1/2" if it's a deep sump pan, but I'd personally never go more than that...

 

[TNcoupe]

Every engine Ive ever built had a Canton, Moroso, or Milodon pan on it and they all recommend 1/4"-3/8" pickup to pan clearance.

 

[Voodooo]

Correct. Most performance motors are set to 3/4" pickup depth.

I hope this is a typo because 3/4" is WAY TO MUCH. 5/16"-3/8" is norm. 1/2" is max on all the engines I built and that clearance includes the gasket thickness. No way would I ever go 3/4".

But. This subject doesn't mean anything to the voodoo because the pickup is apart of the oil pan anyhow. Along with the windage tray.

 

[altjx]

Not to really change the topic or anything but since we're talking about oil and stuff, does the "Oil level" percentage in the settings actually measure the amount of oil remaining, or is this just an estimate based on mileage? Because I noticed that you can "reset" this, which is a little weird for me.

 

[Agent_S550]

I hope this is a typo because 3/4" is WAY TO MUCH. 5/16"-3/8" is norm. 1/2" is max on all the engines I built and that clearance includes the gasket thickness. No way would I ever go 3/4".

But. This subject doesn't mean anything to the voodoo because the pickup is apart of the oil pan anyhow. Along with the windage tray.

Yes it was. I reread it and was like "Oh fuck". Hope nobody sets there's to that 3/8 is what I usually run. It's what I've used on the last two 10 second 4.6 cobra motor's I've built. They're both running so I reckon it works

 

[unavailableGT350]

Not to really change the topic or anything but since we're talking about oil and stuff, does the "Oil level" percentage in the settings actually measure the amount of oil remaining, or is this just an estimate based on mileage? Because I noticed that you can "reset" this, which is a little weird for me.

If you are talking about the Oil Life Monitor, that is measured by the number of revolutions of the motor in relation to the max number set by the manufacturer and how many are left before max is hit

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