Is my truck burning too much oil?

[OffRoad]

today i drove from moncton to saint john
that's 155 km or 96 mi.

i burned about 1 liter of oil. i think that's about 2 pints.
no o/d, going about 65 - 70 mph.
4.3 V6 doing between 2300 and 2500 rpms.
mileage on the motor - about 240,000 kms, which is about 149,000 miles.
is that a lot of oil to burn?
is it more "yeah, old trucks burn oil." or "OMG, your motor is done."?

 

[tRustyK5]

That is a bad oil consumption. A litre is slightly larger than a quart, and to go through that in under a hundred miles is bad news. Is it leaking too? If there are no leaks I'd say you have a problem.

You should get at least 1500 miles or more out of a quart of oil...3000+ would be better.

Rene

 

[bigredblzr]

Yeah I go through about 1qt every 3000 miles. I'd say look into it before driving far distances at high speeds.

 

[BKinzey]

I'm gonna guess you have a leak. If the engine was burning that much oil you'd know it by the constant fog blowing out the pipe Of course you could be leaking & burning oil but that's still a lot of oil. Do you see constant smoke or see drips of oil clinging to everything under your vehicle?

 

[BlazerBud]

I have lots of experience with that type engine in several vehicles. Currently, a guy at work has a 2wd s10 5 speed, about a 1992 or so. His stinks like burning oil, it's the valve stem seals. So what? He just keeps adding oil as needed. I would suggest short term, just keep adding oil, don't buy anything fancy, the cheapest crap you can find, and top it off every couple days. he has put several hundred thousand miles on it in this condition. Your engine isn't going to leave you so don't worry about that.

 

[OffRoad]

ok, thanks, i'll buy some cheap oil and have a look at the leak when it warms up.

 

[onetonbb74]

my old 2.8 liter s-10 went thru a quart every 100 miles both leaking and burning. Mine had 140,000 on it when I started calling it the exxon valdez. It lasted about 20,000 miles more and then rod knock. Pulled the motor, and the crank was toast.

 

[longbedder]

I'm gonna agree with BKinzey and say you've prolly got a leak.

If it really is burning that much, your engine is about done.

 

[vortec]

yeah, using way too much. my 4.3 in my dd has over 132K miles on it (not that much behind yours) and i take out nearly as much oil as i put in. i'd check the basics like oil pan gasket, timing cover, and rear main seal if it comes to that.

if you were burning that much, you'd probably be fouling the plugs and getting pretty pitiful performance, and plenty of smell, smoke, and black oil at changes.

 

[OffRoad]

if you were burning that much, you'd probably be fouling the plugs and getting pretty pitiful performance, and plenty of smell, smoke, and black oil at changes.

yeah i think i have all those things. i'll keep pouring oil in it till spring, or kaboom. hope it doens't, i like that truck.

check the basics like oil pan gasket, timing cover, and rear main seal if it comes to that.

i'll check those things in the spring.

 

[Cowboy_80]

Park on top of some snow, fill up the oil to the mark, fire it up. Let it idle a little, place in drive and 'power brake', but don't spin the tires. Revving up engines not under load is hard on them. Make sure the truck is warmed up while doing all of this. Back truck off of snow spot, inspect snow. If there's oil flung all over the place, something is leaking. If not, something is burning and you need to locate a honda to drive around while you're doing a rebuild.

 

[OffRoad]

my truck is a stick. can i just rev it in neutral?