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excessive oil useage in Grand Marquis?

jwhalen3jwhalen3 Member Posts: 1
edited April 2014 in Mercury
My 2000 Grand Marquis with 15,000 miles on the odometer uses one quart of oil every 1500 to 2000 miles while on trips. I change the oil myself and am very careful about keeping records. Dealer seems to feel this oil use is within accepted specifications!? This is the 4.6l v-8. I had the same engine on a '97 Marquis that had 91,000 miles on it and never burned or used a drop of oil. There is no sign of oil leakage on or under the vehicle. This is crazy! Anyone got any suggestions? It looks like the dealership is not very sympathetic. I'd sure appreciate any input.
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  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    Every 1,500-2,000 miles for a quart of oil is acceptable, yes, and doesn't mean anything is wrong. Should it drop below 1000, or start to plummet drastically, I'd start to worry, otherwise it's about dead middle in the range of acceptable. Actually, burning a little bit of oil is probably good for an engine--gets some lubrication into the upper cylinder area.
  • kinleykinley Member Posts: 854
    I've discovered lowering my cruising speed lowers my oil consumption while increasing my gas mileage. At or a little above the limit,70 mph, the 95 T Bird gets 25 mpg and the 94 TC gets 23.
  • brorjacebrorjace Member Posts: 588
    jwhalen3, My Dad has the same car ... and he had a '94 Grand Marquis which was a pretty good car up to 80,000 miles and then it started burning oil like crazy. I was told that the Ford 4.6L has lousy valve seals and they tend to go at this point and once changed, your oil consumption drops right back down to what you are used to.

    Now, for your 2000: Did the dealership tell you to leave the factory oil in for 5,000 miles? My Dad got that advice because (supposedly) Ford is now using a special break-in oil in many of their cars. He followed it and his car burns no noticeable amount of oil in 2-3,000 miles. I've heard of people dumping the factory oil after 1,000 miles or so (which USED TO BE the conventional wisdom) and then having oil consumption problems because the rings failed to seat properly. Could that be your problem?

    --- Bror Jace
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