So I've decided to keep my 03 4x4 instead of going into debt again so I at least want to spend a little money to take care of a few issues. When I bought the truck it supposedly had a fresh rebuild on the 4.7 and I don't doubt it because it runs like a top. The only issue is it must have some blow by or something. You can smell that it's obviously burning some oil and when I get on it it smokes a little out one pipe(true duals). So I'm assuming it's probably just a seal that didn't seat good. It doesn't burn much at oil change it's probably only half quart low, but I hate driving around smelling like I'm driving a jalopy. I haven't been to a shop yet I wanted to get some opinions before he tells me I should just do a full rebuild. If it is just one cylinder leaking how big a job is it to replace just the seals on that one? Or cost wise should I just get a rebuild?

 

I would not consider a 1/2 quart over an oil change to be something to do anything about. How many miles since the rebuild?

 

It's had less than 10,000 since the rebuild. The point is it's bad enough that I don't want to drive it around. Burnt oil does not smell good to anyone. I've actually got the wife talked into letting me do some work on it so I better do it while I can. I just don't want to spend the money on a complete rebuild if I don't have to. I've never rebuilt one myself so I don't know what all's involved in just replacing the rings and seals on one a cylinder if that's all it turns out to be. I want to be somewhat knowledgable and prepared before I'm face to face with a mechanic and he's trying to presude me just to rebuild the whole thing.

 

If you really want to be informed you should get a Compression Test done so that you can identify which cylinder it is that is bad...

Now then, to tear down the engine in order to rebuild one cylinder isn't all that much more in labor.... parts however are where it starts to increase as you increase the # of cylinders rebuilt....

You see if it's only one cylinder they only have to drop the oil pan and ONE of the heads... so that cuts down a considerable amount of labor and parts right there....

So honestly I would get a compression test done, and have the mechanic write down the results for each cylinder.

Then we can start making recommendations, b/c honestly if it's two bad cylinders and they are on opposite banks then you're prolly better off just doing a full rebuild on the short-block.... but if it's one or two on just one bank then you're prolly better off just rebuilding those select cylinders.

Again it will all depend on the current state of your engine... so I suggest you determine that ASAP.

 

I'm no expert mechanic by any means, but with my mechanical experience and knowledge leads me to believe that your issue may lie in either bad valve stem seals or improperly seated valve stem seals.

But, as stated previously, have a compression test done as that will rule out any compression loss assumptions.

 

With that low of miles, it is possible the rings did not seat correctly. As stated do a compression check, it will save you money in the long run.