Quick Increase in Blowby

[jhenegh]

Over the past year my truck has gone from no significant oil consumption or oil out the draft tube to about 2 quarts per 500-700 miles. I think most of it is out the draft tube but there is no for sure way to know that. My draft tube is a 1" hose off the valve-cover mounter CDR to out under the truck. It used to have just a slight bit of blowby out the hose, even when warm & towing, and didn't coat the bottom of the truck. Now the bottomside is covered in oil (rust-proofed? ) behind where the tube exits at the end of the cab.

I used to do 5k oil change intervals with Delo 400LE and a powerstoke filter. When I went to change the oil this fall, the oil that came out after 5k was terrible. Sticky, and much more tar-like than it had ever been, like it had been in there for 15k, not 5k. It stained my hands and clothes like I'd never seen before. I added a few quarts along the way, and during this interval is when I started noticing more blowby. I dumped in fresh oil, ran it 500 miles, changed it again, and have now gone 2000 since and plan to change it again here soon.

This truck is rarely driven unloaded anymore, and does a fair amount of towing heavy. This was a shift in the last 18 months, and I'm worried I went too long on that 5k interval while towing basically the whole time and gummed some stuff up and basically put on a bunch of internal wear, especially on the rings it seems.

Pictures are for reference of the truck's duties. A few loads per month max, but it is the designed towing vehicle around here. Any ideas or experience with something like this?

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[jhenegh]

Update: We're now at 2 quarts per hour of oil consumption when at interstate speeds :***:. Blowby is hellacious and it is visibly smoking white. Something took out my rings I'm afraid!

Currently pondering what to do about it. Truck is basically off the road except for a here-and there trip if absolutely needed until it eats less oil than fuel.

 

[genscripter]

If your oil was like a jelly, then it was likely not flowing through the oil pump and subsequently not getting to the oil squirters for your piston rings. Your rings deteriorated, and caused the increase in blowby and other catastrophic issues.

The engine will require a rebuild, at the very least.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

What kind of shape is your turbo in? If there's a seal out, it could cause it to drink a lot of oil.

 

[chris142]

Air filter sealed? It's not a K&N is it?

 

[tbrumm]

Maybe try an engine cleaning cycle with AutoRx? I think our trucks require 3 bottles of it. Run it with Rotella T (yeah, I know our engines drink Rotella but AutoRx suggests it because of its "detergency"). Maybe your rings are coked up, and the AutoRx may get in there to some degree and do some cleaning. At 60 bucks, it would be worth a try.

 

[junk]

yeah, I would wonder if you're rings are coked up also? Might want to do a compression test and see if it's across the board or just a single hole.

I hope you can get it back without a rebuild.

 

[MtnHaul]

I recently read up on AutoRx and Marvel Mystery Oil, and the consensus seems to be that for a faster treatment the Marvel MO is the better way to go--a lot cheaper too. That being said I am almost 3000 miles into an AutoRx treatment. I used AutoRx since I didn't have an immediate problem but with 338k on the clock I figured why not clean out the beast a little.

 

[Macrobb]

Mmo seems to work decently well, if slowly. Good part is Walmart carries it cheap($3.88/quart around here), and you can price-match that to your local auto parts store usually.

 

[chris142]

Stuck rings would be very unusual. The HDEO we use regardless of brand is a very high quality oil and stuck rings with it would be an extreme rarity.

 

[Macrobb]

I do want to point out, going back to the original post, that the truck specifies 5,000 mile oil changes when driven unloaded most of the time, 2500 mile oil changes under "severe conditions":
(...)
When operating your vehicle for trailer towing over long distances (Over 1,000 miles), sustained high speed driving at Gross Vehicle Weight Rating during hot weather(over 90F), frequent or extended idling(over 10 minutes per hour of normal driving), operating in severe dust conditions, or frequent short trips(10 miles or less) during freezing weather, the following procedure should be followed:
Change engine oil and oil filter every 2,500 miles.
(...)

Taken straight from my '93 7.3 Liter IDI Turbo Duesel Owner Guide Supplement.

Personally, I change the oil every 2,500-3000 miles no matter what. Not that expensive to do(Motorcraft filter for $9.99, Mobil Delvac 15W40 for 6-7/gal after rebate), and I've seen too many gunked-up IDI heads.

After a year of doing my own procedure on my '93, when I pulled the valve covers to do the head gaskets the underside was... spotless. Nice film layer of oil, no deposits at all, everything looked clean. This is despite pushing that motor a /lot/, towing etc.

 

[jhenegh]

I actually tried the Auto RX, and I had to add so much oil over the last 3,000 miles I'm not sure how much of a chance it got to work. Oil consumption has gone from a few quarts per 500-700 miles to a quart every 30-40 miles in just these last few thousand miles.

Turbo seals seem fine, intercooler pipes were clean as can be until I rerouted the draft tube into the intake last month as a last-ditch effort to avoid the blowby fog.

I know my oil change interval got long, probably will be learning a lesson here on it. My thought was FL1995 filter, better oils than the 80's/90's when these engines were designed; a 5k interval should work. Looks like I was probably wrong.

It hasn't been starting as well lately, so compression is almost guaranteed low, the blowby alone tells me the rings are gone.

Funny thing though..., still runs fine! Turbo helps compensate for any loss of compression I think. Despite the gross oil consumption, I did 1600 miles last weekend, stopping every HOUR to dump in 2 quarts. Keep water and oily slippery something mostly inside these engines, and it'll probably get you home. (Truck burned 8.5 gallons of oil on this particular escapade... Had stuff that needed moved!)