Oil consumption got worse. Not sure what to do. Should I sell the car?

[UnhandledException]

Thermostat, Alternator, Air Conditioning and coilpacks all had to be replaced under warranty. My car was one of the first 300 built so the quirks are not surprising but I found them to be unsettling all added up. Overall those 19,000 miles were among the greatest driving experiences of my life but I think a GT350 with 50,000 miles and no warranty potentially could be a very expensive ownership experience. If you're on the fence, buy the car, drive the pants off of it and then dump it. I don't see these as viable long term cars unless these quirks were sorted.

Mine needed a new A/C compressor but thats about it.

I wouldnt own the car without extended warranty anyways. Its very cheap to begin with. We worth the price.

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[Shawnski]

Engine break in

Has anyone considered that changing the oil as frequently as the OP documents has never allowed the rings to set properly? Ford fills this engine with a full syn oil. I am not an engineer, but I have rebuilt 4 SBF and never use syn oil on break in. Ford does not recommend changing the oil after 1k miles. I have 3k on my GT350 and have not changed the oil yet.

I suspect the OP's rings have never set due to perhaps not enough friction. With Bearings one does not want friction, piston rings are another matter. Granted this is a low tention set up much like a competition motor, but not everyone is experiencing high oil consumption.

 

[UnhandledException]

Has anyone considered that changing the oil as frequently as the OP documents has never allowed the rings to set properly? Ford fills this engine with a full syn oil. I am not an engineer, but I have rebuilt 4 SBF and never use syn oil on break in. Ford does not recommend changing the oil after 1k miles. I have 3k on my GT350 and have not changed the oil yet.

I suspect the OP's rings have never set due to perhaps not enough friction. With Bearings one does not want friction, piston rings are another matter. Granted this is a low tention set up much like a competition motor, but not everyone is experiencing high oil consumption.

I have owned a lot of sports cars never before I heard changing oil at or around 1k miles was bad. This is an interesting theory. I am willing to wait 2x long to 6000 miles. My blackstone labs TBN keeps coming back very good and they say I can easily wait till 7000-8000 miles. Now this is probably due to constantly having to add new oil and there never is any old oil sitting there that long.

 

[Shawnski]

Thermostat, Alternator, Air Conditioning and coilpacks all had to be replaced under warranty. My car was one of the first 300 built so the quirks are not surprising but I found them to be unsettling all added up. Overall those 19,000 miles were among the greatest driving experiences of my life but I think a GT350 with 50,000 miles and no warranty potentially could be a very expensive ownership experience. If you're on the fence, buy the car, drive the pants off of it and then dump it. I don't see these as viable long term cars unless these quirks were sorted.

You have never owned an old car.

 

[UnhandledException]

You have never owned an old car.

All due respect, I have owned my M5 for 42,000 miles now. Besides regular maintenance, you know what broke on the car? The ciggarate lighter/charge port. And that wasnt broken, it got loose (i plug in my radar detector all the time) and it did so because of my extremely loud/full of drone aftermarket exhaust.

Besides that, absolutely nothing broke. And I dont baby that car and drive the shit out of it to the point, sometimes I redline it in 20F degree weather as soon as I leave home without warming the engine to catch my train OR carry 1000 lbs worth of top soil in it (i have probably done 50 trips to HD with it) OR I carry 4x4s with it OR i push the differential so much qhen its cold. List goes on and on.

And this is all from a car that costs $120,000 makes well over 650hp, weighs 4300 lbs, has two independent ECUs (to show you how complex it is) and I m sure if I stop each and every member of a mustang forum, 99 out of 100 would claim german cars break all the time and they are overly complicated.

I love the gt350 but its cheaply made and it will break and it will break and it will break some more. It requires constant care and babying.

If I drove the gt350 the way I drove my M5 and abused it, I dont think it would survive 1000 miles. I m not kidding you.

 

[Shawnski]

I have owned a lot of sports cars never before I heard changing oil at or around 1k miles was bad. This is an interesting theory. I am willing to wait 2x long to 6000 miles. My blackstone labs TBN keeps coming back very good and they say I can easily wait till 7000-8000 miles. Now this is probably due to constantly having to add new oil and there never is any old oil sitting there that long.

Is a this your first with syn fill from the factory? Clean oil is good, but syn does not breakdown its molecular structure as quickly as conventional oil. The GT350 like many European auto makers now use syn from the get go, and recommend 10k or one year. It's not intuitive, I know. I had an '08 BMW 135ia, that recommend 15k! Now BMW has gone to 1 year, no doubt due to owner anxiety.

Does changing it to soon effect the rings setting properly, not sure but Ford is confident to use syn with an extended drain interval. It's 10 qts, twice as much as engines this size 25 years ago, let it do the job.

 

[Shawnski]

All due respect, I have owned my M5 for 42,000 miles now. Besides regular maintenance, you know what broke on the car? The ciggarate lighter/charge port. And that wasnt broken, it got loose (i plug in my radar detector all the time) and it did so because of my extremely loud/full of drone aftermarket exhaust.

Besides that, absolutely nothing broke. And I dont baby that car and drive the shit out of it to the point, sometimes I redline it in 20F degree weather as soon as I leave home without warming the engine to catch my train OR carry 1000 lbs worth of top soil in it (i have probably done 50 trips to HD with it) OR I carry 4x4s with it OR i push the differential so much qhen its cold. List goes on and on.

And this is all from a car that costs $120,000 makes well over 650hp, weighs 4300 lbs, has two independent ECUs (to show you how complex it is) and I m sure if I stop each and every member of a mustang forum, 99 out of 100 would claim german cars break all the time and they are overly complicated.

I love the gt350 but its cheaply made and it will break and it will break and it will break some more. It requires constant care and babying.

If I drove the gt350 the way I drove my M5 and abused it, I dont think it would survive 1000 miles. I m not kidding you.

By all means, with all due respect. I agree German cars get a bad rap for "reliability" it's bunk as far as I am concerned. Yes, the interior is very cheap compared to a BMW. However the GT350 suspension, brakes, transmission, differential, Motor and transmission will all survive abuse. Ask me how I know; crude American cars are uterally indestructible long term. Also the cost to replace said parts down the road will always be less than a BMW.

 

[UnhandledException]

477 miles. Now it needed 2.5 qt.

I did 6-7 redline pulls, a lot of 4-5k rpm. Yes I didnt go easy on the car but I dont think this is normal. I have been driving the same way since say one and it used to ask 1/2 qt every 500 miles now its asking 5 times of that amount

Catch can had 3.5 oz as well

 

[mustang1]

this sounds like 2-cycle engine territory. Car doesn't smoke at all ?

Maybe you could wait for a warm day, and then get on the gas before the cats get hot and see if it generates any visible smoke.

 

[MrCincinnati]

477 miles. Now it needed 2.5 qt.

I did 6-7 redline pulls, a lot of 4-5k rpm. Yes I didnt go easy on the car but I dont think this is normal. I have been driving the same way since say one and it used to ask 1/2 qt every 500 miles now its asking 5 times of that amount

Catch can had 3.5 oz as well

2.5 sounds excessive. I would see 1 in that time with similar driving.

 

[UnhandledException]

I know a lot of you said "no" but I will bring this up again.

Can the catch can be causing excessive oil consumption? Take a look at my post with detailed oil log and you can see up until I installed my catch can, my car was using about 1/2 qt every 500-600 miles. Now its consuming 5 times of that. Is it just a coincidence that the car is fine for 11000 miles and this suddenly happens?

Maybe the oil catch can is collecting was also helping cylinders to seal bettee?

 

[mustang1]

why not just remove the catch can and test another 250 miles? That way you don't have to speculate. Probably better to limit the test so the engine doesn't drop more than a quart.

Does that have a pvc valve inline ? I think the pvc valve has a spring that manages air flow. And if it is not working, it may put a lot of vacuum on the crank case during engine braking.

 

[GT Pony]

I know a lot of you said "no" but I will bring this up again.

Can the catch can be causing excessive oil consumption? Take a look at my post with detailed oil log and you can see up until I installed my catch can, my car was using about 1/2 qt every 500-600 miles. Now its consuming 5 times of that. Is it just a coincidence that the car is fine for 11000 miles and this suddenly happens?

Maybe the oil catch can is collecting was also helping cylinders to seal bettee?

I highly doubt the catch-can is the culprit. But why not remove it and carefully monitor oil use to see if it does change or not.

 

[UnhandledException]

why not just remove the catch can and test another 250 miles? That way you don't have to speculate. Probably better to limit the test so the engine doesn't drop more than a quart.

Does that have a pvc valve inline ? I think the pvc valve has a spring that manages air flow. And if it is not working, it may put a lot of vacuum on the crank case during engine braking.

Are you referring to the driver side if so yes there is a piece there not a catch can. I was told by UPR that its function is to drain oil back but its such small amounts it doesnt matter.

The passenger side has a bilet valve piece where you remove the blue plastic oem piece and put the UPR one in. Its an extra $40 or so and I dont believe it to change any functionality just more durable.

I will keep the driver side piece and simply on the passenger side disable the catch can by directly connecting inlet hose back to the engine.

 

[Wriggly]

Something's broken. 2.5 qts in 477 miles is nuts.

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