Stocker's 1985 LTD Crown Victoria

[Mainemantom]

Since I normally do the Fords/Lincoln oil changes at 2,000 miles, they do not use oil. Past 2,000 I can expect 1/2- 1 quart usage until 3,000 miles.
I prefer to use Motorcraft or Purolator filters. If a no name filter is used at a shop, I will change it when I get home. I don't trust shop filters. Lowest bid junk.
When I lived in the hot California desert, I used to use 10 or 20-50. Here in Maine, it is 0-20 on the Subaru. 5-20 on the 96 CV and 10-30 in the rest.

[Stocker]

I plan to switch to 10W-40 with the next change (just about due but I have a busy couple of weekends coming up). Probably should've done that years ago, and according to the maintenance records one of the previous owners switched back and forth between 10W-30 and 10W-40. If it does turn out that the shop didn't actually fix anything, the car doesn't run well enough to drive below 40°F anyway.

I've always run Motorcraft filters in it - when I still had my F-150 it was nice since I could just buy a whole bunch of FL-1As any time they were at the same warehouse as something else I was ordering from RockAuto.

[Stocker]

I brought the car to another shop because the oil leak was intolerable.

Ended up not costing me much. They degreased the engine to look for leaks, started diagnostics with a compression test, then decarbonized the cylinders.

They didn't go any further because the engine is shot. 40-42% leakdown on all cylinders with no improvement from trying to un-stick the rings. No significant oil leakage, though, so it must be getting forced out from crankcase pressure.

I'll drive it this week and see if it's still dumping oil or if I can at least passably drive it, but... it's over. I ultimately have no choice but to scrap the car. I can't rebuild the engine myself, and used engines are hard to come by around here and most are borderline junk anyway. To spend $2K+ on a reman and put the same failing CFI on it would be pointless, and the rest of the car is far from mint so the investment to truly do it right probably isn't worth it.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

How bad is the undercarriage?

I'm sure someone here might be interested in it if you're lucky.

[Giraffe]

I assume you're not really comfortable with assembling a short block? I ask because it couldn't be that ridiculous to have the bottom end freshened up as long as the block doesn't need to be bored.

[jaywish]

The PCV filter is a typical culprit in causing excessive oil gas pressure which forces out past gaskets and seals. A small PITA but cheap. Also the seal for the PCV may or not need to be built up when you replace it.

[Tiggie]

If a 302 runs and has compression all all cylinders without blue smoke clouds, I'd run it.

It's too nice of a car to scrap.

[Stocker]

How bad is the undercarriage?

I'm sure someone here might be interested in it if you're lucky.

The floorpans are fine - the only body rot is the rocker panels, behind the trim (snake blinders) on the front fenders, and at the top corners of the windshield.
The frame is clean, but I'm 99% sure it's bent. Probably fixable though.

I thought about that possibility, but there seems to be very few members here west of Lake Michigan.

I assume you're not really comfortable with assembling a short block? I ask because it couldn't be that ridiculous to have the bottom end freshened up as long as the block doesn't need to be bored.

I've never even opened up a salvageable engine before. Tearing something down for scrap is one thing, getting it back together and not having it instantly die is another. Even if I had the space to do it I couldn't trust that I'd be able to do it right. But, it may well need to be bored. From the sound of it I don't think it's a matter of stuck rings, I think the block is plain worn out. The one person I know who could help doesn't have the time and really doesn't want to work on this car anyway.

The PCV filter is a typical culprit in causing excessive oil gas pressure which forces out past gaskets and seals. A small PITA but cheap. Also the seal for the PCV may or not need to be built up when you replace it.

The PCV valve and filter element were just replaced (I wish they hadn't been) which is when it started dumping oil. But I'd think if pressure were building up that badly it'd push the valve out of the oil cap before anything else, wouldn't it?

If a 302 runs and has compression all all cylinders without blue smoke clouds, I'd run it.

It's too nice of a car to scrap.

Given that they don't make these anymore (and soon nobody will make any car worth driving), you'd be right. If I could do enough of the work myself it'd be worth saving to me, but the older I get the more inept I get and I don't think I can handle this.

Compression was around 140 psi on all cylinders. It's never burned oil, at least not enough to detect. I'd drive it, but it was leaking so much oil it was getting on the insides of the tires and leaving oil spots 2-3 feet wide anywhere I parked it. If that keeps up I can't justify driving it at all.

[Brown_Muscle]

Something is up here... even with massive blowby the PCV system should make so the crankcase isn't pressurized- and if it did become pressurized and is forcing oil out, a seal must have ruptured, causing these massive oil leaks, which they should have been able to find. It seems like a weird coincidence that this started happening after they touched the PCV system... When we talk about pressure, it's very slight. if it was able to blow out the PCV valve you'd be talking about a LOT of pressure, even .5 psi is a bad amount, considering it should be in a slight vacuum when running. I wish i was closer by, i'd help you out. If it is still in the same shape it was in when you took those first picture of it, then it's worth saving- either by you or someone else

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Where is the largest amount of oil coming from on the engine? Given how bad it sounds, it should be visible while running.

[Stocker]

That's the thing. I was fairly confident that it was coming from the front of the intake, since it was pooling up on top of the timing cover. Maybe the distributor seal, but I don't see how there could be that much oil coming up around that.

But, the second shop couldn't find any noteworthy leaks after degreasing it and adding a UV dye to the oil, although they never did more than drive it around the block. I can see some seepage around some valve cover bolts, but not enough to be the problem.

[friskyfrankie]

One massive leak (which a shop should have been able to find) or MANY smaller ones leading to the issue. Therefore, finding one at a time is not going to set off any alarms!

[87gtVIC]

Good luck in whatever path you may choose.

[Stocker]

Thanks.

I drove it 11 miles this morning, and when I got home, I checked again. There's oil pooling up on top of the timing cover just like before. I couldn't get the camera to focus properly, but the orange arrows show where the oil is. Those spots were dry before, so it must be under acceleration that it blows through the seal(s).

[Tiggie]

Distributor o-ring, intake gaskets are likely culprits. Those are reasonably easy to fix.