Burning oil

[Kelly]

After my Marauder has sat for period of time when I start it up during the initial fireup it sends a oily smelling cloud out the tail pipes, any thing to worrie about? The oil level on the dip stick seems not to have dropped at all and the only time I see or smell burnt oil is during cold starts. :(

[RCSignals]

Mine doesn't do that. Take it to the Service department to have checked.

[WolfeBros]

We have heard that there was a problem with some of the 4.6 L DOHC heads on some Mustangs, Aviators and Marauders. One of the tell tale signs is some smoke out the exhaust on start up.
Get your car to the dealer. Please post back on what you find out.
Good luck.

[TAF]

I have complained about a smell from a cold start-up after mine has set for some time in the garage. As most of you know I travel alot, and can go a couple/three weeks between drives. Best way to describe is a "sulpher-like" smell. I was told it is the convertors and not much can be done.

Thoughts from anyone here?

EDIT: Not trying to "hijack" your thread Kelly...just a little "piggy-back" with a similar concern. Hope you don't mind...

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Kelly
After my Marauder has sat for period of time when I start it up during the initial fireup it sends a oily smelling cloud out the tail pipes, any thing to worrie about?


Sounds like oil is seaping past your valve seals into the intake ports when the car has sat for a while. How many miles on the car? How hard were those miles? How long is a 'period of time'? Are you using 5W-xx oil or something much thinner at cold temps (0W-xx?).

My GTA used to do this (it's very characteristic of small block Chevy motors) when I bought the car in 1993 with 18000 miles on it, and it healed itself over the following 2 years of ownership and hasn't returned, knock on e-wood. However, I attribute this to the fact the car was hardly ever used in its first 6 years of life, and the seals must have dried up, but managed to reseal once I began to use the car much more than it ever had been. That's why I asked how long your definition of 'a period of time' is.

Most likely you will have to get the dealer to look at this, though. A motor this new shouldn't be doing this.

[Kelly]

2,400 miles, and the miles are pretty easy, from over nite to 2-3 days and Iam using the motorcraft 5w-20 semi blend

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by TAF
Best way to describe is a "sulpher-like" smell. I was told it is the convertors and not much can be done.


Try to stay away from Taco Bell.

Kidding... I think it's from the converters. I recall this smell from my MM early on in my ownership (I'm at a ripe old 2 months now) but it went away. I suspect it will briefly return if I push the car hard for a bit, and eventually it'll be gone altogether no matter how I'll drive it. My gut feeling is not to worry about it.

[Kelly]

Mine is a blue oil cloud that is easy to see.

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Kelly
2,400 miles, and the miles are pretty easy, from over nite to 2-3 days and Iam using the motorcraft 5w-20 semi blend


Yup, time to visit the dealer.

Based on your low mileage and easy use and what Wolfe posted, I think you'll need to have your valves looked at... possibly some seal(s) were badly installed at the factory. I have no idea how tough this is, I've never seen this kind of job being done on a multi-valve V8 before.

I'll have a closer look tomorrow when I fire up the MM to go to work. It had a good bit of exercise on Saturday with about 4 hours of highway on it at 70-75 mph, but sat all through today. If there was an oil consumption problem related to valvetrain, I'd most certainly see it tomorrow morning.

[deerejoe]

Break-in 'by the book' is still the best way to seat rings, etc.
First 300 miles are critical to long term engine performance.

I have owned/operated nearly 50 automobiles to date without an oil burner.
The 'book' has not failed me yet........

[Kelly]

Mine is mostly driven on weekends and sits all week in the garage. It was broke in by the book and has had the oil changed twice all ready.

[RCSignals]

Kelly, What is the production date of your MM?

[Kelly]

08/02

[TAF]

Originally posted by TripleTransAm
I think it's from the converters. I suspect it will briefly return if I push the car hard for a bit...

Well...that sucks because I LOVE to "push" this thing...



Originally posted by TripleTransAm
My gut feeling is not to worry about it. [/B]

Thanks 3TA...

[RCSignals]

That's about the time, if Iremember correctly, that the problems with the Cobra and Aviator DOHC 4.6 engines were identified. Supposedly all the "problem" engines were caught before vehicles were shipped, and I didn't think the Marauder engines were affected, but you never know.

[drobin]

Kelly,

Occasionally I would notice blue smoke upon cold crank startup but sinced I changed to Mobil 1 10W 30 I haven't seen any more of it.. Changed over to Mobil 1 at 3500 miles and currently have 8200 miles on her.. Hope blue puffs of smoke will I never see again. Good luck!

Donald

[Kelly]

Might be worth a try, if I remember right from some other threads that any oil heavier then 5w won't lube the DOHC well enough though?

[Smokie]

My MM. gets driven on a regular basis and no smoke on cold start-up, however I own a 95' C/V that sits unused as long as a month, I make it a point to check for smokie start-ups, and the answer is: no smoke. The only vehicles I have ever owned that smoked on start-up all had a minimun of 120,000 miles, I agree with others that oil is seeping past your valve seals and I consider this unacceptable. I suggest strongly take car to dealer and have repaired. Best of luck. Smokie.

[TripleTransAm]

Originally posted by Kelly
Might be worth a try, if I remember right from some other threads that any oil heavier then 5w won't lube the DOHC well enough though?

I would stick to the 5W for startup. The warm 20 and 30 is still up for debate, but from what's been said here the DOHC likes its oil quickly on startup.

Using 10Wxx instead of 5Wxx to cover up a smokey startup is not the best way to proceed. The engine shouldn't smoke on startup, PERIOD, regardless of oil.

I checked closely this morning... no smoke on startup after being off duty all day yesterday. But I didn't expect any... even my 75000 mile GTA doesn't smoke on startup after sitting for 6 months, like during this year's winter storage.

[jgc61sr2002]

Kelly - I had the same problem on my Chev. pick up with a 5.7 engine. As others have stated the valve seals are probably leaking. Mine were missing or defective. A trip to the dealer is in order. Good luck. :(

[Kelly]

Thanks all.

[Kelly]

Thanks guys.

[Murader03]

Had the same problem with my old '99 Cobra. I've only seen thsi happen once with the MM. After setting for sveral days, I'd get the puff of smoke. I also got the puff with the MM after I cleaned the engine. Since it's drivien almost daily, I've never seen it on a regular basis.

One the sulphur smell, I got it when I usesd Shell gasoline. I try to stay away from them.....Otherwise, I haven't had any smells from other brands Of course Tacco Bell causes great amounts of fresh air being drawn in with the windows down.....

[TripleTransAm]

My MM's been in the garage for about a week and a half since it's all shined up, the weather's been crap, and the WS6 was already dirty.

I needed to pull the lawn mower out of the garage today, so I made it a point to watch the tailpipes while firing up the car with the remote start.

Instant fire-up, nice and smooth to 1900 or so, no high revving of any kind. But... about a second after the startup, I got some puffs of blue-ish smoke out of each tailpipe, lasting about a second or two in total.

Damn.

Looks like a valve seal deal indeed. Seeing as how it took close to 2 weeks of sitting still to get this puff, I'm going to keep an eye it to see if it improves by itself through mileage (my GTA 'healed' itself simply by getting some mileage on it... it now never smokes even after 3-4 months of sitting still).

Figured I'd update this thread with what I noticed today... I'm going to be visiting the dealer for the seat squeak this week and will have them make note of this puff of smoke after 2 weeks of sitting still, just to have it on record.

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by TripleTransAm
Instant fire-up, nice and smooth to 1900 or so, no high revving of any kind. But... about a second after the startup, I got some puffs of blue-ish smoke out of each tailpipe, lasting about a second or two in total. Damn. Looks like a valve seal deal indeed.

Points made on the valve stem seals are vailid and historic V8 problems over a wide variety of engine designs, however, let's not overlook the rings on this design. Poorly seated or cracked rings on the 7/8 cylinders is getting a lot of attention lately. Just my .02c...

[martyo]

Originally posted by Murader03
Of course Tacco Bell causes great amounts of fresh air being drawn in with the windows down.....

Remind me not to sit next to you in Hershey!

[BODYMAN]

Mac, you touched base on the rings in this car! poorly manufactured. I have the same problem with mine on cold starts huffs and puffs blue smoke. If I did not have connections to get this fixed by a dealer I would be SOL. w/ the package I have but hopefully all will be fixed shortly!!!!


Todd

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by 93tealcobra
Mac, you touched base on the rings in this car! poorly manufactured. I have the same problem with mine on cold starts huffs and puffs blue smoke. If I did not have connections to get this fixed by a dealer I would be SOL. w/ the package I have but hopefully all will be fixed shortly! Todd
Just something for us MM owners to consider and keep watch on. I'm glad you have a "homey" at your dealer, as I do. But, let's keep our eyes on this problem for new 411.

TTA's theory earns merit because valve seals (across a spectrum of V8 engines) fail. We're "in the hood" here, let's keep the 411 flowing, eh?

[RCSignals]

Who has experienced/had discovered cracked rings on 7/8?

[Zack]

Ive seen a brief puff of smoke once in 7000 miles, im not worried about it. Kind of reminds me of driving an old car. No cracked rings yet, but think about it... A ring cracks, it blows a rod through the motor and manages to take the hood and fender with it. So theres only a bright side to this story, build a motor for it and get a new paint job. Killing two birds with one stone, nice.

[drobin]

The very first time I saw blue smoke coming from initial start, I almost sh-t on myself. The strange thing is that it only happens every once and awhile. My routine is the same week to week, like not starting the MM until the weekend rolls by. You would think that if the rings or valve seals were defective, I would see blue smoke at these start up intervals each and every time. Anyone care to comment????


Donald

[TripleTransAm]

That's the reason why I immediately thought it was valve seals. It usually takes a while for the oil to seep past worn or dried-up valve seals, whereas I'd expect a fair amount of blow-by with cracked rings.

Anyway, I'm having it noted, and will continue to watch the situation.

[Kelly]

Not to spoil my good luck, but the next time I started up the Marauder it did not smoke and has not smoked since, not even if I let it set for a week before I start it.

[Marauderman]

OK --Can't believe I had so much to read--FOLKS--

First of all--We have a high performance engine--given that --you the owner need to understand JUST THAT!--

Lets say you just got up in the morning and you had a long slept ( this of course is a normal over night no-start for the MM)- what do you normally do--well of course--you start out S L O W.. and you do whatever you do to get going --but you do it slowly--and then as time moves on you move on a little quicker..Yeah I know--this may sound funny--but our cars ( the engine) need the same handling--

On start up--do just that-- --Of course you are going to get some smoke/blue stuff/ growling possibile nd whatever..it's been dormant with the oil drained to the bottom and basically COLD! If the engine hasn't been run in many hours-then it's COLD! and drained!

I start mine up --pull it out of the garage --( it hardly can move out the garage with out chugging out like a bunch of guys are pushing it from a hangover) but anyway, I get it out and let it warm up-- a few minutes later--doesn't have to have the needle up half way--but a few minutes is good--this has gotten the oil
circulating enough to settle out the rear exhaust where nothing is coming oujt but a nice growl--almost smiling saying.....lets roll!!...

A long explanation I know--but having been a vol. fireman also and responded with cold and hot engines--thats basically the whole situation-- give her a chance to expell the crap out --the stuff you call blue smoke and stuff..then she should be alright--

Now if this is truly blue smoke and it continues --then of course it should be returned to the dealer for checkup---

Your start'n to notice more but it may have been normal all along--my .o2 cents worth.-- in my case --she is kick ass after warm up--a dirt bag if I don't warm her up---and she is right---!! she treats me the way I treat her--

[Constable]

Ok... now that you said that, read this:

Yesterday, 8-20-03, I ran the car around for about 5 hours... with a few hard runs here and there. I came home and let it sit for about 2 hours. I then started the car to find a large cloud of blue smoke coming, mainly, from the passenger side tailpipe. I do believe there was some from the driver side as well. I almost had a heart attack. So, explain that one with your "car's in sleep mode" theory...

I'm taking it to the dealer on Monday to get a complete checkup... I think the poor baby's sick.

[RCSignals]

Constable two hours is enough time for the engine to cool down and for oil to drain back to the pan.

There should NOT be a large cloud of blue smoke however, and certainly not a continuing one.

Another factor may simply be mileage on the car and break in.

[Constable]

I'm not saying the theory isn't correct, because it IS. MarauderMan was very accurate in his descriptions. I just don't think it applies in my case and maybe not in Kelly's. My MM has NEVER done that before, so why would it just choose to happen all the sudden?? My MM is broken in and I didn't treat it any differently than I did for the first 4,000 miles.

[TripleTransAm]

I haven't had an opportunity to let it sit as long as it did the first time I noticed some smoke, but I have watched it fire up a few times lately after several days of inactivity, and I'd like to put forth the following observations. Simply observations, no conclusions made yet, until I think about things some more, and gather more opinions and data.


Would an oil cloud be thick and hang around a bit after expulsion from the tailpipes?

I thought yes.

Also, wouldn't emitting oil clouds from tailpipes leave a residue on the bumper, especially with tips in stock recessed locations?

I think yes.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on the above.

Now, what I've noticed is that on ALL cold starts (even without the "puff" after startup), the tailpipes will begin to huff and puff some clouds of something at around the time when the engine RPM settles to the cold slow idle (not the hot 600 ish). These puffs look pretty much like the stuff I saw puff out during that one cold start I posted about earlier.

If this was puffs related to burning oil, you'd think I'd be seeing an impact on my oil level when checking the dipstick at the next oil change interval, no?

So one thing I'd like to pursue is the possibility that this is just a result of running pig rich at startup. I know it's been an issue with earlier s/w calibrations to the point where the plugs would foul up, and even though my PCM has some of the latest calibrations in there, I still experienced some rough running after cold cold cold startups (although it seems nothing like what the earlier calibrations were experiencing!). I'm sure Ford didn't set the mixture excessively rich on those early calibrations for the heck of it, and I'd have no trouble accepting the assumption that even my later calibration is still somewhat rich at startup.

I'm going to try to catch one of these startups on video one day and upload it somewhere just to provide a visual reference. I'm not going to sit here in denial over possible oil burning on startup, but I also don't want to get hypochondriac over a problem that may not actually be one.

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by TripleTransAm
I'm going to try to catch one of these startups on video one day and upload it somewhere just to provide a visual reference. I'm not going to sit here in denial over possible oil burning on startup, but I also don't want to get hypochondriac over a problem that may not actually be one.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your MM, TTA. Sounds like a normal start-up to me. Engine runs closed loop until warmed up, approximately seven minutes to reach 188 degrees.

[DetGeno]

Ain't that sum biatcha! Start her up this morning, it's been awhile since the outside temp fell below 60 at night and "BAM" blue smoke that lasted for about two seconds. With only 1250 miles this is quite strange. Had a 98 Ford CVPI with 85k and never happens to it! Please let me know if anyone got any feedbacks from the dealership! Thx! :mad2:

[MassMarauder]

Mine started doing it with 1000 miles on the odo. Because of the Chip....i Fought and fought and fought with the dealer.....finally they put new valve seals in. Problem fixed.

[RedMM]

Checked my 04 this morning. Hasn't been started since before Thanksgiving. fired right up, no ticks or engine noise and no smoke. After 30 seconds or so once the idle came down there was a bit of exhaust smoke that looked like white steam, but nothing blue.

[Sully008]

I had "something" come out of the tailpipes one morning. It looked like white smoke, but I'm not really sure because I just saw the cloud out of the corner of my eye as I was walking past the window after I remote started it. I've got 15000 kms on it. I've put the last 2000 kms myself. I haven't seen any since. I'll keep an eye out now as well.


Oops! I just realized this thread is really old....sorry! :fishslap:

[twolow]

I've got 15000 kms on it. I've put the last 2000 kms myself.
Canadians :rolleyes:










j/k :cool4:

[Mike Poore]

After my Marauder has sat for period of time when I start it up during the initial fireup it sends a oily smelling cloud out the tail pipes, any thing to worrie about? The oil level on the dip stick seems not to have dropped at all and the only time I see or smell burnt oil is during cold starts. :(
Mine's done it from new, under these conditions: I run the car for a distance ~30 miles, then shut it off for about 30 min, then drive a short distance ~5 minutes, then shut it off, then start it in a few minutes, and that's when the puff of smoke comes. Also, it may have something to do with the angle of the parking lot, silghtly up, or down hill. These were the conditions when we went to Haggis' car show at Frederick, last year. I wouldn't be concerned unless it smokes at startup every time. ;)

[04funmerc]

My 04, on cold starts puffed some blue a couple times, I was using 0-20, went back to 5-20 and have'nt seen it since, but if you get a lot of smoke then it may be, IMHO, the valve seals, or piston ring seal, DEALER TIME!

JIM

[Tom Kuznicki]

Guys, Back in 1962, blue smoke on start up probably was not such a big deal, since the technology of that era was what it was. But, in today's hi-tech world, something like this should not be acceptable. Some of you may say, it's a high performance car so thats to be expected. Horsefeathers, Ford Motor Company says that 1.5 quarts of oil in 1000 miles is acceptable, ARE THEY ON CRACK ? I've had vehicles that had well in excess of 200,000 miles on them and NEVER used close to that and Ford claims this is normal. The thing all of you that have this problem NEEDS to do is to take your car to the dealer and insist they fix the problem or everyone will take the problem to either The Glass House or the problem solvers. We paid alot of money for these cars, it's not like we purchased a no frills Pinto for 1999.00. It seems to me that there are those within the company that do not care if there are quality and reputation problems like this. Well, I care, and , I work for Ford and am also a stockholder in Ford. Someone needs to wake up real quick or the company is going to end up like American Motors, GONE !!!!!!

[rocknrod]

YA, What he said.