So I just changed my 2008 GT's oil today, after 6,000 miles. This was also right after a round trip of roughly 700 to 800 miles for a trip to Key West from central Florida with a few hours of bumper to bumper traffic. The oil that was in the car was six quarts of Castrol's synthetic extended edge oil, and that's also the oil I put back in the car when I was changing it. Well guess what... only 2 out of the 6 quarts of oil came out of my car when I drained it out.
Let me just say that I am relatively new to my GT, having owned it for less than a year still. I have never owned a v8 car or a manual car before this. My previous car was an automatic 2007 v6 Mustang, so I am at least somewhat familiar with the platform although the GT is a different beast from the v6. I never ever had any major oil burn off problems with my v6 even after driving it hard and changing it's synthetic oil every 6 to 7,000 miles. Some of you may be shaking your heads but I always use synthetic oil and they are supposed to last that long. I never really checked my oil levels on the GT because I figured it would mostly all be there when it was time to change the oil, so I guess this is all my fault. I feel really bad right now, I hope I didn't do any damage to the engine. It runs a lot smoother now, there was almost a "dry" feeling to it before. I don't really push my car that hard as I'm mostly in 5th gear all the time but I do let it go to 3k or 4k rpm on take off to hear the SLP exhaust note lol. I'll be sure to check the oil levels every other time I visit the gas station now. Doe's anyone have any advice on this? I have read some other threads but I just wanted to share my experience. I messed up...
Nope, no smoke, and nothing out of the ordinary really. I'm probably going to pull the sparkplugs tomorrow and check if there is any oil in there. I've been reading online, it seems that these cars burn synthetic oil a little faster than conventional oil, and 6,000 miles it just too long of a wait anyways. I'm going to change it every 3,500 from now on and check on it more often. I just hope I don't have a major problem somewhere like you said. I see no signs of oil leaks or stains anywhere! I also use a JLT oil separator that helps out a little bit if it means anything.
It's probably worth mentioning how hot it gets down here in Florida... it gets ridiculously hot. If this synthetic oil isn't up to the task, I may switch back to Castrol GTX high mileage oil. It's a synthetic blend oil and I used it on the GT before I went full synthetic. I did change that oil sooner but it didn't show any signs of burning off.
Was that the first time u ran it with full synthetic? Sometimes when u switch from conventional to synthetic there is some loss.... Also, did your temp run hot on your trip?
The only good news is that you had synthetic in there when you were low as that can take a lot more temp extreme..
Yes, that was the first time I ran with full synthetic on the GT. I bought the car with 83,000 miles on it, and I have no idea what kind of oil the previous own used. I heard that synthetic oil can start leaks on older cars because of it's lower viscosity, so I was hesitant to use it. Someone recommend to use a half conventional and synthetic blend oil before going full synthetic, so thats why I used the GTX oil first. I stayed on top of things and changed that oil at a quick 3,000 miles before I went full synthetic.
I kept my eye on my temp gauge for the whole trip and it stayed normal. I flushed the coolant early this year and added the purple ice additive to it so my temps stay down even under the most extreme Florida weather. I was, however, stuck in the worst traffic of my life when I went down to Key West though, it was at least 3 hours of bumper to bumper traffic. I am very good at noticing little differences in the way the car feels, and I have reason to believe that most of the oil probably burned off during the 700ish mile round trip.
Please don't explode on me my engine... I love you :nonono:
There is no way you could burn 4 quarts of oil in 700 miles and not be smoking like a Semi and fouling you plugs too. I think you must have a leak somewhere...a pretty big leak too.
I'll check it out, but everything did look okay and I never noticed any leaks. I think the four quarts just burned off, which is surprising. In any case, I'll stay on top of my oil changes and topping everything off from now on.
Before going down to the parts store to buy dye to put in your oil, go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart or other store, buy some good engine degreaser and a couple of foot spay cans.
Clean engine with degreaser, let dry and spray foot powder on engine. Take for a test drive and see if you have any leakage. If not, you are burning way to much oil.
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try that. I never saw any leaks but with 4 quarts gone. I might have one. I did change the rear main seal one month before I changed to synthetic oil when I put a new exedy clutch on my car. I did everything correctly but I could possibly have a leak there too, which would be a PITA because I really don't want to have to take everything apart again for a while.:lol: I was under the car a couple of times after that however and I never noticed any oil leaks near the transmission.
It's hard to fathom that you would only have 2 quarts of oil in the motor as that would hardly be enough to maintain pressure and if it was actually that low you should have gotten some type of warning on your dashboard.
If you had lost that much oil out of the tailpipes they should be wet with oil unless it coming out the bottom of the car.
When you were under the car did you notice anything unusual or oil anywhere and what did the oil look like.
How many miles does the car have and is the this the first time you've changed oil since you bought the car?
How many miles have you driven your car since you bought it and when was the last time you checked the engine oil.......when you bought the car?
I did spill some oil on the floor but between the oil in the drain pan and the oil that came out of the filter, we are looking at probably 2 and a half quarts tops. I poured the old drain pan oil back into the quart sized oil containers and it didn't even fill the second quart all the way up. I knew something was very wrong the second I looked at the drain pan and saw the oil level so low. Strangely enough, the dashboard oil pressure gauge was on it's normal spot and I never got any low oil pressure warnings. I did notice that while I was out in Key West and for the return trip home, there was a very slight but noticeable power loss in 5th gear. Thats the overdrive gear but I have driven the car long enough to tell when something is slightly off and the whole time I was out on the trip, I had a gut feeling that something was slightly off with the car. Like I said before, it was really hot out there and I was also stuck in REALLY bad traffic for hours. It was also raining so I had my windows up and the A/C on for hours too.
To answer your questions: the tailpipes are fine and I did not notice any smoke coming out from them. There was nothing unusual under the car, the oil pan area and oil filter looked normal and I didn't see any wet areas. The oil filter and drain plug was on there nice and tight. If that much oil was leaking from the rear main seal I replaced three months ago, my clutch would have probably been ruined by now but it doesn't slip or act weird or anything. The oil was black and had a normal consistency to it. The car had 83,000 miles when I got it and it now has 118,000. This is my third time changing the oil. First I used a synthetic blend oil and changed that after probably 3,500 miles. There were no major signs of oil loss, and I changed the rear main seal and clutch while I had that oil in too, so if it was leaking from there I would have known but everything was normal. That's when I used the full synthetic oil and I left it in there for 6,000 miles.
I know this is a bad mistake but I typically don't check my oil level with the dipstick. I was used to just putting in oil in my V6 and having it all come out, and I should have expected that the GT would burn some oil after leaving it in for so long and using it as a daily driver. I do some spirited driving and some hard accelerations, and it gets hot down here so maybe it just burned away. I'll be sure to always check on my oil level from time to time. I also use a JLT oil separator and empty that from time to time too times two lol
It's hard to fathom that you would only have 2 quarts of oil in the motor as that would hardly be enough to maintain pressure and if it was actually that low you should have gotten some type of warning on your dashboard.
If you had lost that much oil out of the tailpipes they should be wet with oil unless it coming out the bottom of the car.
When you were under the car did you notice anything unusual or oil anywhere and what did the oil look like.
How many miles does the car have and is the this the first time you've changed oil since you bought the car?
How many miles have you driven your car since you bought it and when was the last time you checked the engine oil.......when you bought the car?
So in reality we have 4qts of oil consumed in 6k miles? If that's the case there "technically" isn't anything wrong with the car by manufacturer standards. less than 1qt of consumption in 1k miles is not normal, but not necessarily abnormal depending on the car.
The solution is you check your oil on a more regular basis.
I will be sure to do so! I feel dumb because I am always modding my car and I always have the hood open but checking the oil level is one thing I didn't bother to do. If I would have driven any longer, I would have destroyed my engine! I do find it amazing that it worked so normally with such a low oil level. Go Ford? lol
You have to check your oil level at least every 1,000 miles or so. It has been this way since the model-T.
When you empty your oil catch can just go the extra 1 minute and check the oil level. Ronnie
You have to check your oil level at least every 1,000 miles or so. It has been this way since the model-T.
When you empty your oil catch can just go the extra 1 minute and check the oil level. Ronnie
With over 100,000 miles on your engine it is probably due to the previous owner not using the right oil or hardly ever changing it.
If it were my car I would probably just start using 10w-30 semi-synthetic Motorcraft oil and check it every 500 miles when I did my catch can.
Keep a quart at home so it can be added if needed. Stay away from the snake oil additives Motor oil is still the best.
You can probably go at least another 100,000 miles Ronnie
With over 100,000 miles on your engine it is probably due to the previous owner not using the right oil or hardly ever changing it.
If it were my car I would probably just start using 10w-30 semi-synthetic Motorcraft oil and check it every 500 miles when I did my catch can.
Keep a quart at home so it can be added if needed. Stay away from the snake oil additives Motor oil is still the best.
You can probably go at least another 100,000 miles Ronnie
Thanks for the advice Ronnie. I was also thinking of going semi-synthetic again since I noticed it didn't burn off as much as the full synthetic oil I'm using now, not to mention it costs less.
I have had this happen, and, it is DEFINITELY not good to let the oil run that low. But, as long as the engine never lost oil pressure, for a significant amount of time, it will be just fine.
You need to start checking the oil EVERY TIME that you fill up the gas tank! At least until you get a good idea of the rate of oil consumption.
If anything, you can go LONGER between oil changes because it sounds like you are going to be adding a lot of fresh oil in between oil changes.
Thanks for the reassurance, the car is running great and I don't think it suffered any damage. I will definitely check it after every gas refill, which happens often.
I picked up my grandma today bring her over my house, and told her what happened with the oil. She was like "we'll obviously you have to check the oil levels with any car"...
I have had this happen, and, it is DEFINITELY not good to let the oil run that low. But, as long as the engine never lost oil pressure, for a significant amount of time, it will be just fine.
You need to start checking the oil EVERY TIME that you fill up the gas tank! At least until you get a good idea of the rate of oil consumption.
If anything, you can go LONGER between oil changes because it sounds like you are going to be adding a lot of fresh oil in between oil changes.
When I first got mt license in 1959 ALL CARS WERE OIL BURNERS" and My first car was a 1947 Dodge. It drank oil like beer.
In 59 when people had their oil changed at the local gas station the used oil was put through a cheese cloth type filter, put in glass bottles and sold for us real oil burners.
Here is a picture of the oil bottles from the good old days
The dark oil sold for ten cents a quart and the lighter colored oil sold for fifteen cents a quart.
Gas was around 28 cents a gallon depending what station you bought it from.
I sure wish I had that old Dodge now. Ronnie
And if either of you guys are yearning to relive the good ol' days, I have a couple of Veedol oil dispensers, from around the era of those oil bottles, that I am currently trying to liquidate.
I'm betting he has no damage at all because his car did not overheat and the oil pressure light never came on.
His only damage was done by the previous owner by either using the wrong oil, not changing the oil or putting crap like Bardall or Mystery oil ETC.in the crankcase.
I'll bet he can go another 100,000 as long as he keeps an eye on it. He lives in Florida so I would think 10w-30 would be a good viscosity for him to start using. Semi-Synthetic and a good filter like a Motorcraft or Wix "NO FRAM" ever. a pur-o-lator is also good. Ronnie
Sorry for not replying guys, I was at work and also I wasn't updated about the thread posts.
I will definitely keep my eye on the oil level going forward. Ever since I put the full 6 quarts back in a few days ago, the car is super smooth and takes off nicely. I noticed that the car takes off better from a standstill and there is no feeling of a lack of power when in the higher gears cruising around. There was a slight "oscillation" of power when accelerating from a high gear at about 30 to 40mph before I changed the oil. It's a little hard to convey how it felt but if you can picture a wavelength, it would feel like the car was moving then very faintly hesitating then moving then hesitating. It was slight enough to where you probably wouldn't notice it if you weren't used to the car but it was like that for at least a month before I changed the oil, so maybe I had less than optimal oil level for longer than I thought. I'm no expert but I think that parts of the engine probably had less oil that other parts when I was accelerating and it caused uneven power delivery. Hopefully I didn't cause too much wear. Well anyways the oscillation of power is gone and the car feels smooth and ready to rumble. I can't believe how much more confident I feel about the engine now!
I have used the "Fram ultra" filters on my old 2007 V6 Mustang before I sold it, I never had any problems. It is that bad?
Pep Boy's, J.C. Whitney and even Sears and K-Mart Auto sold them.
I also remember the propeller you placed under the carburetor that acted as a super charger.
They did not work very well and actually destroyed the performance of a car.
Please don't ask me how I know that. Ha! Ha!
I worked at a couple of gas stations when I was 15to 17 and changed a whole lot of oil and the old oil bath air cleaners I hated so much. One station was an Atlantic I worked after school and the other was a "ESSO" which now is Exon on Saturday 's and Sunday mornings. Sold Produce at the Farmers Market Sunday afternoons after I turned 16 and got my Dodge and License.
All cars and trucks had "GREASE FITTINGS " back in those days that needed to be greased.
One thing I can tell you is "THEY DON"T MAKE CARS LIKE THEY USED TO" and I gotta add, I'M REALLY HAPPY THEY DO NOT"
Old cars I still love, They are fun and lovable but as far as safe (NO) reliable (NO) fun (YES) Good Brakes (NO) good mpg (NO) use oil (YES) Crappy bias ply tires (YES)
Do I want a 50 Ford with a flathead V8 & overdrive (YES)
Pep Boy's, J.C. Whitney and even Sears and K-Mart Auto sold them.
I also remember the propeller you placed under the carburetor that acted as a super charger.
They did not work very well and actually destroyed the performance of a car.
Please don't ask me how I know that. Ha! Ha!
I worked at a couple of gas stations when I was 15to 17 and changed a whole lot of oil and the old oil bath air cleaners I hated so much. One station was an Atlantic I worked after school and the other was a "ESSO" which now is Exon on Saturday 's and Sunday mornings. Sold Produce at the Farmers Market Sunday afternoons after I turned 16 and got my Dodge and License.
All cars and trucks had "GREASE FITTINGS " back in those days that needed to be greased.
One thing I can tell you is "THEY DON"T MAKE CARS LIKE THEY USED TO" and I gotta add, I'M REALLY HAPPY THEY DO NOT"
Old cars I still love, They are fun and lovable but as far as safe (NO) reliable (NO) fun (YES) Good Brakes (NO) good mpg (NO) use oil (YES) Crappy bias ply tires (YES)
Do I want a 50 Ford with a flathead V8 & overdrive (YES)
I don't mean to hijack this thread..............we had a local guy in Oregon that modified that propeller under the carb idea............he actually filed a patent on it...........and I convinced a friend to test it on F250 which had a 460................long story short one of the propellers came off and when through the motor...............it took a long time but the inventor paid for half of the rebuild on the motor..............that was almost 30 years ago......................It didn't work at all! Yes, the friend is still one of best buddies............
I just love some of the crap we had a choice to buy to ruin our cars
It is A wonder we are still around with some of the crap we did in those days.
The greatest car years in my life were from 59 to 72. Although I was in the Army from 60 to 66 I still enjoyed when I was home between assignments doing my racing and hanging at the diner setting up drag races.
With my job in the Army, I had more time at home then I did in service.
Yes, those were all a great time for car guys & Gals. Ronnie
I'm betting he has no damage at all because his car did not overheat and the oil pressure light never came on.
His only damage was done by the previous owner by either using the wrong oil, not changing the oil or putting crap like Bardall or Mystery oil ETC.in the crankcase.
I'll bet he can go another 100,000 as long as he keeps an eye on it. He lives in Florida so I would think 10w-30 would be a good viscosity for him to start using. Semi-Synthetic and a good filter like a Motorcraft or Wix "NO FRAM" ever. a pur-o-lator is also good. Ronnie
That is if you change a Fram at least every 300 miles or so.
You can never go wrong with a Ford Motorcraft filter. You can get them at Walmart.
Purolator and Wix are also good.
A filter needs to not only pickup extremely tiny trash but also needs to flow the oil smoothly. Ronnie
cheap low cost filter is chap &low cost for a reason.
Spending an extra two or three dollars for a Motorcraft or pur-o-lator is well worth spending.
A cheap filter is just that."CHEAP"
If using a good semi-synthetic oil and changing it every 5,000 miles and you drive 15,000 miles in a year your only spending about $6.00 more to use a good quality filter." IN A FULL YEAR"DUH! Ronnie
The car is running super fine and smooth now, between my long trip and hard driving and idling at traffic lights in the extreme Florida weather for 6000 miles, I just think it all burned away normally.
So an update... one of my rocker roller arms got all wobbly on me, the roller got worn out and the engine made a bad ticking noise. I thought my engine was toast and I spun a bearing or something but after watching a few youtube vids, I realized what the problem was and sure enough, there was a loose roller that was all black. Luckily for me, my camshaft was already in the correct position for my to pop it out with a screwdriver and pop in the new one! Ain't no one got time for a $130 valve compressor tool lol :thumb:
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