Stocker's 1985 LTD Crown Victoria

[Tiggie]

Other than the frame, those *could* all be fairly easily/cheap fixes. I'd have the shop show you what they found.

[jaywish]

Even getting the typical rust spot on the frame repaired is doable.

[Stocker]

all of this is typical, especially the rotten frame rail. Have a look underneath at the frame just behind the passenger side lower control arm mount. Fair bet you'll find where the frame angles over just under the firewall its got a big hole in it. The AC drips there and the frames blow out.

Ah, that's what it was - a dime-sized hole at most though, which is why I missed it before.

I'm starting to wonder the shop even tried to fix anything beyond the A/C. I still smell it running rich from time to time, it still takes some throttle to start when warm, and idling in gear it still sounds like it wants to stall if it sits too long. 10 MPG on that tank when I filled it up; granted, I don't know how much time it spent idling while they were (maybe) trying to diagnose it.

It's leaking oil like never before though. I can't help but wonder if they intentionally sabotaged it.

I'll try to put a pair of valve cover gaskets in it soon, but if it isn't that...

[jaywish]

was the pcv filter changed?

[Stocker]

Yeah, they replaced both the PCV valve and the crankcase breather.

[sly]

Yeah... that screen under the PCV valve is overlooked rather often.

[91merc]

Yeah... that screen under the PCV valve is overlooked rather often.

There's supposed to be a screen there?

[Tiggie]

There's supposed to be a screen there?

On the 86-91 SEFI. On the 85, it'd be there in the air filter housing. I've never owned a box that did not pass oil through the PCV.

[sly]

Oh right... 85.

+1 they all drink oil to a point. It shouldn't be more than about half a quart per 3K miles in good shape. One quart at most with no leaks. At least that's what I've seen.

[DerekTheGreat]

I've had three 302's in my life, so far. One '85 CFI, one '88 (My TC, still have it) and one '89 TC. All of them drank/drink oil. The '85 supposedly had 100k ish miles on it, the '89 88k miles on it and my '88 now has about 125k on it, purchased with 85k ish. Oil consumption hasn't changed on the '88 at all. With fresh oil, it won't start touching it until about after 1000 miles. After that, it will slowly drink it, probably a quart per 1k. The 89' TC was the same way. I don't really remember the '85's consumption. I want to say it drank oil all the time, about a quart per 1K. Ford must've known about it, they've got "Low Oil" warning lights and reminders to check oil printed on the gas caps, least my '88 and '89 TC's did.

[Stocker]

Mine never consumed enough oil to need any added between changes (it might be down a quart at most by the time I change it), but it saturated the breather element so quickly that I gave up on trying to stay ahead of it.

[DerekTheGreat]

Guess that begs the question as to what your OCI's are/were. My OCI's at the time were 3k miles/1yr. Now they're 5k/1yr, yet the 302 never makes it to 1,500 before a year so technically I don't need to add oil any more either.

[Stocker]

For the past few years I've been running 2500-mile OCIs, which usually works out to three times a year depending on how long winter is.

[sly]

My 88 had 160K+ on it when I sold it. I had eliminated all the leaks and it was down to half a quart per 3K miles. With the VC leaks, it would drop about 1 quart per 1K miles. The 82 Mark VI with the HO swap never used more than 1 quart per 3K miles while I owned it. The 93 F150 I had didn't run that great, but did run and still didn't drink oil in that 302 either. So yeah, anything over 1 quart per 3K miles I look for leaks.

[DerekTheGreat]

That reminds me, the 302 HO in my life didn't use oil. Not sure about leaks in the '89 or '85, but the '88 I have does not leak.