burning oil/running rich

[liamkeough88]

so my truck has been an on and off project over the last few years. Its pretty much done now. Just a few odds and ends.
Its smoking pretty good and burning a fair amount of oil as well as running rich. I will worry about the running rich part later but i was hoping to get some input on the burning oil. Other than adding some heavy oil (20w50) and some engine restore any idea what can help cut down on the consumption? Plugs fowl out and are black and wet after just a few days of driving.
Worse case scenario how much of a pita is changing out the valve seals on the 2.9?
thanks
Liam

 

[TimR]

address the running rich part first, as the excess fuel is washing down the cylinder walls, and causing a lot more damage.

 

[liamkeough88]

working on the running rich part. just replaced the ignition module and doing the air and coolant temp sensors tomorrow. So figured i would have that under control by then. o2, map and just about everything else that could cause it to run rich has been replaced or checked. as it is now though its smoking to much to pass the first part of VA state emissions test.

 

[TimR]

what color is the smoke?

 

[liamkeough88]

well the smoke is quite the mix of colors. a little white at idle from the rich mixture. once u gas it up, especially after an idle for more than 5 mins and it pours out blue/grey/black. if u hit the road right at start up and cruise it seems to be a grey black color.

 

[RustedRanger]

Did you try the Restore yet? Some Lucas with the Restore might help....if it's smoking that bad you don't have much to lose. There are several things that can cause rich running...one thing that's often overlooked is the fuel vapor cannister, it can fill with fuel and allow raw gas to be sucked into the throttle body. For 6 months or better after getting my Ranger I tried everything to keep it from running rich at idle....it still does a little,but runs good and gets good mpg otherwise. I use 15W40 oil for a diesel in it since it resists oil contamination better...along with Restore and Lucas. A weak coil or a bad coil plug in can cause rich running also...have you checked the codes? I had a friend who does mobile auto electric diagnostics put his computer on it and he found several problems and saved me money by me not replacing more parts that wasn't bad.

 

[jhammel85]

It's like it might be time for new valve seals or piston rings to me. Have you done a compression check on the motor? How about Fuel Pressure Regulator PSI?

 

[liamkeough88]

its running on zero weight oil and engine restore. seeing as how the plates are bad til i get it through emissions its hard for me to drive it around to really see if its helping. am going to put some 15w40 rotella in it that i usually save for my bike. only really can go up and down the street til i get it through emissions. as for the codes..ive never pulled them and the check engine light has never come on.
other than sitting for the past few years with the occasional start up and drive the street the truck hasnt had any real miles put on itsince i took it out of service and was running fine at that time. the motor has about 6 years and less than 30k miles on it. was a rebuilt engine from dr. motorworx here in va.. id hope it doesnt need rings or seals . fuel pressure reg was newish when i took the truck off the road so hadnt really looked at it yet.

 

[jhammel85]

As far as the codes are concerned - http://fordfuelinjection.com/?p=13

That'll walk you through it. Even though no light is present, there are most likely still codes stored.

 

[jhammel85]

BTW, that's a great looking truck. I hope you get it sorted out!

 

[TimR]

well the smoke is quite the mix of colors. a little white at idle from the rich mixture. once u gas it up, especially after an idle for more than 5 mins and it pours out blue/grey/black. if u hit the road right at start up and cruise it seems to be a grey black color.

It has a PCV, right? Pull it, and see if it rattles.

 

[liamkeough88]

BTW, that's a great looking truck. I hope you get it sorted out!

thanks. really appreciate that. only been 7 years in the making..lol. i hope to put up tons of pics of the build once its totally done.

 

[liamkeough88]

It has a PCV, right? Pull it, and see if it rattles.

..it does. havent checked it recently. ill check on that too

 

[RustedRanger]

Yeah liam....you gotta run it awhile for the Restore to work. When my friend diagnosed mine he said the vacume was a hair low...the Restore brought it up 2 inches. Get a "good" PCV valve...the cheapies can be crappy even when new...I stopped using the Puralotor ones and got one from the local parts store. As much oil as your truck seems to be burning it could be the PCV valve. Since you have 30K miles it shouldn't be the rings or the seals and the Restore might not do much,but it will help lube the metal to metal parts in the motor. The check engine light not coming on don't mean much,from reading in the archives on some Rangers the light is not even functional and might not come on anyway even if it is. If your truck is running that rich I wouldn't run it much until that's fixed or you will need rings and bearings. If you check the codes or don't find any big problems I would advise getting it diagnosed by a good shop...it is usually $50 or 60 bucks and can save that much or more not replacing what don't need fixed.

 

[rangerlove]

I was having the same problem. #2 and #3 injectors were sticking open and washing the cyliders as has been mentioned in this thread a couple of times. This was building excess crankcase pressure, shoving oil up and clogging my PCV Valve, which was then causing backpressure and oil to shoot into my throttle body through the valve cover vent (which seems impossible, but I've seen it with my own eyes).

I tested all the coils, plug wires, plugs, pressure regulator, removed and cleaned out my oil separator, replaced the fuel filter and PCV Valve with motorcraft ones. Finally had to break down and get some injectors when I *finally* found a Noid Light that would work on my EFI setup that wasn't $150.

Still smokes a little, but it doesn't lope and sound like a lawnmower anymore, and you can't hear the valves out the exhaust. Runs 400 times better. I'm going to check out that charcoal cannister like someone mentioned, though I've never seen any gas in the line to the throttle body. And I might just replace the ICM and FPR (even though it held 25 PSI for 2 minutes). I've been troubleshooting this for about a month now...getting sick and tired of troubleshooting all day and being tired.

*edit*
Just priced an ICM and a vaptor cannister. Yeah, not replacing those anytime soon, lol. When I bought a Duraspark II for my Fairmont Futura it cost me $20. I suppose in an EFI system they do a lot more.