Fuel in the oil?!?!?!?!

[My Dream]

So, here it is. 2003 F-250 6.0L with 59,123 miles The last 4 times (change every 5k, 20K total) I have changed my oil I have noticed an excessive amount of oil draining out. To be more precise, the last time I changed it I was able to recover all the oil that drained out and it added up to 19 quarts. I always change it hot, and let it drain for approx 25 min and refill with 15 quarts. So I have an extry 4 quarts each oil change, smells alot like diesel, and the oil appears pretty thin.

The truck runs fine, I didnt notice it running any different. My MPG's did go down from 17-18mpg to 14-16mpg. I drive the same routing every day so all is pretty consistant, to include where I get my fuel. I tried switching fuel stations, no change. Coolant is good, no smoke, seems to run fine.

So, down to what I think, I am thinking that since thier is no performance issues, I am using/loosing more fuel, I have more oil draining out. I think that maybe the upper o-ring on one or more of the injectors is leaking fuel into the valve cover and into the oil. What do you guys think? What course of action should I take.

James

[m-chan68]

Originally Posted by My Dream

So, down to what I think, I am thinking that since thier is no performance issues, I am using/loosing more fuel, I have more oil draining out. I think that maybe the upper o-ring on one or more of the injectors is leaking fuel into the valve cover and into the oil. What do you guys think? What course of action should I take.

Next time you drain your old oil when doing an oil change, supply your own direct + and - to your fuel pump, and check for fuel draining from the oil pan drain hole, after all the oil is drained out. If you see fuel exiting, then yes you have a fuel injector o-ring leakage issue. To further isolate the leaking injector o-ring(s) will require removal of the valve covers for visual inspection.

[Black&Gold]

or you could just send an oil sample off to Blackstone laboratories.

[My Dream]

Originally Posted by m-chan68

Next time you drain your old oil when doing an oil change, supply your own direct + and - to your fuel pump, and check for fuel draining from the oil pan drain hole, after all the oil is drained out. If you see fuel exiting, then yes you have a fuel injector o-ring leakage issue. To further isolate the leaking injector o-ring(s) will require removal of the valve covers for visual inspection.

I'm not sure that the leak is that bad.. I guess that at an avrerage of 60mph for the distance of 5,000 miles that would be about 83.33 hours of run time, devide that by the suspect 4 quarts of fuel and that would be about 20.83 hours per quart. So in order to produce at least 1/8th of a quart of fuel to leak down I would need to supply the fuel pump with power for 2.5 hours.

I was hoping thier was an easyer way, this sucks!

James

[m-chan68]

If you have access to a blacklight, you could always add a couple quantities of dye to your fuel and drive it a few hundred miles, and then inspect under your high pressure oil rails with the blacklight to isolate the source of your internal leakage.

[My Dream]

Ive never torn into the 6.0L, would that intail removing the valve cover?

James

Is the engine (to include leaking injector o-rings) covered under a 100,000 mile warranty?

[Big Angry Hillbilly]

Yes valve cover removal is required and if you still have diesel engine warranty take 'er in to the dealer and let 'em look at it.

[My Dream]

Ya, my warranty wa up the end of Jan. I do have an extended war with a $100 deductible. I have never used it nor do I know how to go about using it and if it is a pain or not. Most likely I would take it in to the stealership here and they would say "hmmm, we can't find anything wrong with it. You total $ due for the diagnosis is...." I know something is wrong, I just don't have faith in the techs here to find/fix it.

James

I only say this becuase before when I still had factory warr I had to take it back several times for the same issue before they finally admitted that something was wrong and fixed it.

[VeeDubTDI]

Most of the time your dealership will bill your extended warranty company, and you will have to pay your deductible to the dealership. I suppose it varies based on your warranty company.