99' 7.3 Powerstroke losing oil

[o_brother]

I had a shop replace three injectors and tighten the bolts on the turbo housing that came lose and was leaking oil. The engine has 190,000 miles and hasn't had any problems untill recent. Has never used oil. Now I have to add a quart of oil every 15 to 20 miles and it has a rough idle. I can't find a leak and its not going into the coolant nor is it smoking. Anyone ever have this happen? I talked to the shop that did the work and they think it may be losing it through the oil cooler. In two weeks I have put over 5 gallons of oil in it. That oil should have showed up somewhere by now. I think it's burning it even though you don't see it smoke.
Thanks for any idea's.
Mike

[DRAGNHOO]

Hope I'm not doing anything wrong by posting this, but the BEST Ford / Diesel site is:
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/index.php

Scroll down until you find the year under the diesel area. These guys know their stuff and are very active. Hope it helps.

[thundertrout]

theres alot of forums to google,www.ford forum.com or the dieselstop.com.

[bowed up]

park on the concrete and let it run a little past idle for a bit and then turn it off and let it sit for 5 minutes or so and then crawl underneath and look for oil leaking ou from somewhere. if it is going into the coolant then you need to get it drained right away

[wfishtx]

Can't help you with what exactly is wrong with the truck, but it would seem to me that the shop that worked on it prior should at least look at it for you at no charge since it started doing this after they worked on it. Then it could be decided whether or not they were at fault for causing the problem, which would mean they should be the one accepting fault and making the necessary repairs at no cost to you.

Just my .02.

[o_brother]

I put this problem on a powerstroke site. Just thought I'd put it on here as well. You never know were help my come from. I haven't taken it back to the shop yet but I have talked to them about it and they want me to bring it back to them. I was trying to find out myself were the oil is going so if it is something they caused I'll know before they can blame it on something else. I figured if I put this on enough forums, someone may have had this problem before and know were to go to solve it.

Mike

[hoosierplugger]

Not sure if this helps, but the fuel on the 7.3L are hyraulically driven by oil pressure from a high pressure pump(HPOP). I wonder if somehow the high pressure oil is getting by the o-rings on the injectors and into the cylinder where it's getting burned. Just a guess, but like you said, 5 gallons of oil oughta be leakin from somewhere by now.

I agree with the ford-trucks.com forums. Go on the 7.3L forum and post those guys, they've saved me a ton of cash, just fixed all my door locks on the truck for free this weekend. Craig.

[Texas T]

Check the seals in the turbo.

[floundergigging]

Sorry can't help you but when you find the answer let us know. I'm very curious

[tinman]

I have a 2000 F-350 with only 87,000 miles and just had a "frame mounted fuel pump" replaced last week. The truck started idleing rough, then would bang out when accellerating. It is apparently an in-line booster pump. Works fine now. ($600.00 fix)
I haven't checked the oil to see if it was low.........I'll do that today. Time for a change anyway.

[Roby]

Hoosierplugger has most likely identified the source of your oil leak. The fuel injectors are controlled by a high pressure oil pump. They are fed fuel by pump that operates at much lower pressure. The only thing seperating these two oil and fuel circuits is an "O" ring on the injector body. If the oil usage problem started after the injector work, it is very likely that one of the "O" rings was damaged on one of your injectors during installation. 5 gallons of oil would have shown up in your radiator or on the ground by now. This oil is mixing with the fuel and not neccessarily all being burned. Since the oil pressure is much higher than the fuel pressure it is very likely that some of this oil is returning to your fuel tank. Has your fuel mileage improved lately? :) Compare the color of the existing fuel in your fuel tank after you have run it fairly empty to the color of new fuel. If it is substantially darker than the fresh fuel you have a pretty good indication of a damaged "O"ring on one or more injectors.

[o_brother]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I'll have to check the the full color and see how it looks. They dropped the tank and took the filters out and installed an in-line filter between the tank and the booster pump. Brand new booster pump too. Yeah Roby, I didn't have any oil lose untill the injectors were changed. But it still doesn't smoke !!!!! I haven't checked the mileage yet. I stay in Town with it because of the oil lose so the mileage isn't going to be as good. It is still losing about a quart of oil for every 15 to 20 miles. I haven't had time to do any thing with it yet. The shop that worked on it last wants me to take back to them so they can figure it out. I just want to make sure they don't blame something else on the oil lose and stick me with another bill for something they caused. Thanks again...
Mike

[MLCinNCTX]

I had a shop replace three injectors and tighten the bolts on the turbo housing that came lose and was leaking oil. The engine has 190,000 miles and hasn't had any problems untill recent. Has never used oil. Now I have to add a quart of oil every 15 to 20 miles and it has a rough idle. I can't find a leak and its not going into the coolant nor is it smoking. Anyone ever have this happen? I talked to the shop that did the work and they think it may be losing it through the oil cooler. In two weeks I have put over 5 gallons of oil in it. That oil should have showed up somewhere by now. I think it's burning it even though you don't see it smoke.
Thanks for any idea's.
Mike
If you are not loosing oil into the coolant then pull the cover on the fuel filter. If the filter and fuel in the bowl is black you are loosing oil through a failed o-ring on an injector(s). I am assuming you di not have this problem before the injector work you had done. Likely they cut one or more O-rings installing the injectors. The injectors use high pressure oil to fire the injector. The PSI is over 2000 PSI so it does not take long to loose a quart or two of oil.

The failure of the oil cooler usually results in coolant in the oil, but sometimes oil in the coolant.

The dieselstop.com is the best Powerstroke site available.

[MLCinNCTX]

If you are not loosing oil into the coolant then pull the cover on the fuel filter. If the filter and fuel in the bowl is black you are loosing oil through a failed o-ring on an injector(s). I am assuming you di not have this problem before the injector work you had done. Likely they cut one or more O-rings installing the injectors. The injectors use high pressure oil to fire the injector. The PSI is over 2000 PSI so it does not take long to loose a quart or two of oil.

The failure of the oil cooler usually results in coolant in the oil, but sometimes oil in the coolant.

The dieselstop.com is the best Powerstroke site available.
Sorry guys, I didn't see the second page before I posted.

[o_brother]

Sorry its taken so long to get back. I took a fuel sample from the water seperator but no oil was in it. Took the truck back to the shop that replaced injectors the first time. They found number 8 carboned up and replaced it under warranty. I've driven it for about a week now with a smooth idle and no oil lose. Thanks for all the advice and info.

Mike

[floundergigging]

Thanks for posting the final fix. It helps us all