2001 7.3 Using a ton of oil, no visible leak

[Cowboy DMD]

Howdy. 2001 7.3L only 130K miles started burning 2 quarts every 400 miles or less. No visible oil leak. Ford replaced EBP sensor and said oil pressure was too high. Continues to burn oil - exhaust smells like burning oil instead of deisel and has blue tinge. Ford did compression check and all is good and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. They said air filter was dirty and I need a new motor. It has not lost power. I suspected turbo so I pulled the turbo hoses to the cooler and found oil puddled at the joints in the hoses. I ran it for 20 min with turbo cooler hoses disconnected (I know, not recommended, I'm kinda desperate and don't want to replace motor) and burning oil smell and blue tinge in exhaust went away and it smelled like a diesel again. One other tidbit, driving at highway speeds (8 hour road trip to San Antonio) it hardly used oil. Uses a ton driving around town. Am I right to replace turbo? Should I replace o-rings on pedestal too? Someone else told me it might be injector o-rings. I am ready to put in new turbo, just wanted to make sure there aren't other ways to diagnose turbo letting oil into intake or if it is getting into cylinders another way. -- Thanks!

[duck fan]

Why put in a new turbo? Rebuild the one you have. Its a much less expensive option and easy to do: Riffraff Diesel: Garrett GTP38 Journal Bearing Rebuild Kit. It is highly likely that could be where you are losing oil. While it's out you would do well to replace the pedestal o-rings. This kit: Riffraff Diesel: Turbo Re-Install Kit - GTP38 has everything you ned for the pedestal including o-rings for the EBPV.

Injector o-rings might not be a bad idea too. An easy check is to remove the fuel bowl lid and see if there is oil in your fuel in the fuel bowl. If so, the injector o-rings should be replaced: Riffraff Diesel: Alliant Injector O-rings

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

[jesilvas]

New motor but compression is good?
Dealer probably has no real diesel techs. What was the oil pressure at?
What does your blowby look like out of the oil filler tube?
The oil in the intercooler tubes was from the crank case, it's normal.
Do you have oil coming out the exhaust? If you did, it would probably be your turbo seals.

[Cowboy DMD]

Thanks for the info! Blowby looks good. No oil in fuel bowl. Lots of burning oil smoke out of exhaust pipe. I'm afraid re-building a turbo is a bit beyond my skills/tool set and time I can't afford. Thanks for all of the tips! Put the new turbo in this morning. We'll see how oil consumption goes now...

[jesilvas]

Why did you not just have someone rebuild it? Woulda been cheaper than a new one I bet unless of course you upgraded turbos.
Turbo pedestal orings should be replaced everytime it is removed.

[mgassel]

Originally Posted by Cowboy DMD

Thanks for the info! Blowby looks good. No oil in fuel bowl. Lots of burning oil smoke out of exhaust pipe. I'm afraid re-building a turbo is a bit beyond my skills/tool set and time I can't afford. Thanks for all of the tips! Put the new turbo in this morning. We'll see how oil consumption goes now...

Hold on a minute you will not see oil like you see on the dipstick.
What color is the fuel in the fuel bowl?
If the fuel is black / dark colored you need injector o rings what happens is the oil mixes with fuel and returns to the fuel bowl.

Bad injector o rings will cause the engine to consume massive abouts of oil.

I took a 100+ mile and my truck used about 2 gallons of oil and 1/4 tank of fuel the fuel was black so I had to do the orings. I sold that truck to my buddy and he had not added any oil since.

[Cowboy DMD]

Originally Posted by mgassel

Hold on a minute you will not see oil like you see on the dipstick.
What color is the fuel in the fuel bowl?
If the fuel is black / dark colored you need injector o rings what happens is the oil mixes with fuel and returns to the fuel bowl.

Bad injector o rings will cause the engine to consume massive abouts of oil.

I took a 100+ mile and my truck used about 2 gallons of oil and 1/4 tank of fuel the fuel was black so I had to do the orings. I sold that truck to my buddy and he had not added any oil since.

I'll check the fuel bowl again. It looked clear to me, but don't ask me about the color (I am severely color-blind). The color and clarity looked normal. Thanks for the tip, I'll watch it.

[mgassel]

If you are color blind have someone else look at the fuel bowl and tell you what it looks like.

[Cowboy DMD]

Update: After lengthy diagnostics and repairs my 2001 Excursion 7.3 is still burning oil! ...but not as much as before. I ended up replacing the turbo, injector o-rings, injector #8, and I pulled the motor and replaced the heads (valve guides on cylinder #8 leaking oil into the cylinder, I also found a bent push rod for cylinder #3). Now instead of 100 miles per quart I get 250 miles per quart. Although, on long road trips it hardly burns any oil. I towed my '94 4x4 F250 7.3 powerstroke 400 miles with the Excursion and hardly used any oil! But, driving around town it uses a ton. Still good compression, no blow-by, no loss of power. What gives?