Does your 4.0 burn oil?

[johnboy13]

Ever since I had this 98 ranger, I have had to add oil to it about every two weeks. It's got 130,000 miles on it so a little burning is expected but not this much. I tried switching to a heavier weight oil (20w50) but that seemed like it might be creating excessive sludge. So I changed to high mileage oil (10w-30) and its burning even more it seems!!! Any suggestions? Comments?

 

[exbass94]

How much oil are you adding and how many miles do you drive during those 2 weeks?

 

[AllanD]

burning? or leaking?

AD

 

[Frank The Tank]

STP stop leak..... is some good stuff.

Is the exhaust smoking? this is really odd it would burn that much, and not be extremely noticeable.

Frank

 

[cr_the_machinist]

My '99 Ranger 4.0 OHV was great up untill 2 months ago. I started to burn oil like there was no tomorrow. It passed every test you could throw at it compression, leakdown, vacuum. The heads that were on it used new viton stem seals and it had popped about half of them off the top of the valve guides. I bought some rebuilt heads with umbrela seals..... im not dealing with the same situation again. I'd go through a quart in about a tank of gas.

Have you popped off the valve covers to take a look yet?

 

[Kroeter]

I my first say knock on wood and hope I don't jinx anything:

My 97 Ranger 4x4 with 198K uses none in between changes, I change pretty regular every 5,000. I did notice the last time I checked it that it was down a hair, but it is at the 5K mark. I drive it pretty hard.

 

[stx4.0]

The question Allan D asked is a fair one.Is it burning or leaking?If you dont know for sure I would check your plugs,if its buring that much oil,you'll defineately see it on the plugs.If they are normal then I'd bet its leaking.130k miles is nothing if the motor was properly maintained and should not be burning oil.

 

[johnboy13]

I don't drive too much. maybe 200-300 miles a week. I usually end up adding about half a quart every week or two. I do notice a small puff of smoke only sometimes when I first crank it up. After that no smoke at all. And no its not leaking anywhere. I have the valve cover gaskets replaced about 30k ago. they should be good. I believe I'm going to change my plugs soon so I'll check them then. starting to have a delayed start when cold.

 

[smokey]

Mine burns oil and smokes so bad that I'm sure I kill all the mosquitoes as I drive along.
It burns a qt every 200 miles or more depending how hard it is run. Still gets 18 MPG.