I have a 4.7 01 Durango and it goes through the oil. About 2-3 qts between changes (2000-4000 miles). No smoke and no leak. Are there any issues with valve guides or seals with this booger. It has 146,000, but I have serviced it somewhat regular and have been dealing with this for about 50,000 miles. I would hope that I could get more miles on this American bred 8 than this. Especially when 200,000-250,000 is the norm on most of todays engs. Especially when serviced regular or if its imported.

 

Most likely it sounds like the vavle guides and I would't worry about it.

As long as you for sure know that it is not leaking or going anywhere then you should be ok. With that much consumption I would think it has to be going some where? Check the antifreeze for oil.

Hell, as I see it you have gone 50K with it like it is and the fact that you have quite a bit of mileage on it you have your money out of it anyway.

 

Yeah, Thats kinda the way I see it too. I can deal with it...until whatever. I guess I was hoping for some shoddy seal recall, Ha Ha, Yeah Right. Thanks for the input.

 

Hey, heads up, i have an 01' 4.7 aswell, with some oil consumption problems, averaging about the same as you. I found a minor leak on the left Valve cover gasket that leaks alittle bit of oil onto the manifold. Im pretty confident thats my problem. as im 500/mi away from the next oil change and im running about 1/2qt low..

sometimes its 2 quarts between Oil changes, thistime its half a quart..

I've had this rig for 3 months now, im going on my 4th oil change. averaging 1k miles/week.

 

Thats a lot of milage a week!

Good to see your doin great School. That a great idea as well, a valve cover leak hardly goes noticed and dI think you need to check around because i bet the oil is going somewhere. And to your question Shcool, it depends on how many times you shut the engine off for it to puddle on the hole and also how long the motor is running to melt the deposits out of the hole and so forth.

 

Is it normal on this eng. for the oil to drain slowly to the pan? It has always taken, maybe a minute maybe longer, to show full on the stick after a change. I dont think I have seen a car that didnt show immediately, unless it had a problem. I called the dealer when I did the first change just to verify the capacity....I was ready to sock a couple more qts. in it. This was at 20,000. He told me the 4.7 was slow to drain. Can I get a confirmation on this? Does the breather system give any problems? I havent put alot of effort into the problem. But I am going to take a closer look around those hidden and hard to get to spots. Its just that I havent noticed much if any oil on my driveway. You know how oil is....2 drops spilled looks like a qt. when hits the ground. I would think I would have a massive oil slick. And I dont see or smell anything burning off. But I know oil leaks can be a pretty good hider from the seeker. A couple of VC gaskets, a sender, or even an intake gasket may be worth while. If I dont see anything, I may go ahead and put some V-seals in it. But anything else will require it to get worse before it gets better. Thanks.

WHOA! Thats some serious mileage, I would hate to pay that fuel bill. Ur odometer must get more action than a slot machine.

 

I've never heard if a slow drain but I have heard about air locking during oil changes. There is however sluge issues with the 4.7L so you might want to do a clean out on the crank case.

 

Thats another one of my concerns.

OP: I havnt seen a single spot of oil leak, and everything is pretty clean underneath the rig, other then the normal road dirt. I do however have a torn Boot on my R&P, but still no real leakage out of that either.

 

Don't let Indy catch you saying that.

 

TW:

That is a alot of oil for 3-4k miles.

My 01 4.7 is about ready to hit 79k, and so far I feel it uses .5 quart or less between changes.

The 5.2/5.9 motors were known for failed plenum gaskets which would cause horrible oil usage.

You might pull a couple of plugs, and see if you see signs of oil there. The cat convertors these days are so good at what they do, that they can burn off quite a bit of oil and you will see little to nothing out of the tailpipe.

If it is not on the ground, or on the bottom of the rig, valve seals sounds like a good place to look. If you can do them on the car, that could be a an inexpensive remedy.

Pulling the heads would be a last resort since it involves so much labor.

Don