Hello, I recently bought a 88 F250, 460 v8, runs great lots of power, but for some reason it's using a lot of oil. There's no smoke and no apparent leaks. Example: I'll check the oil its full, then drive about 20 miles check again it's 1-1.5 qts low. Refill and the process repeats.

 

The oil has to be going someplace. How is the coolant?

 

Hello Hanky,
Thanks for responding as far as I can see the coolant is fine, I plan to flush the entire system. I'm not over heating, it's not frothy or the oil dip stick. It looks feels and smells like coolant. I do need a heater core though. This is a mystery

 

Did you check out the crankcase vent system?
Did you actually get under the truck and see if the oil is getting blown somewhere?

 

Good morning, Hanky,

Yes I looked under the truck it looks about the same as my 2000 chevy that's not using oil. I took it to a mechanic that works on late model 4x4 and it's puzzling him. He's doing a compression test today. He said this truck came from California all of the emissions stuff is still on it, how well it works or if it working against I don't know. Forgot to mention it's a 3 speed trans don't know what the rear is. I drove it About 60 miles at speeds no higher than 55 mph and the truck use 12gl of gas and 1 qt of oil. As of right now it appears that truck just uses 1 qt per day. I'll keep you posted on any new developments.

 

I just noticed something and that is your thread states a 7.3 which I assumed was a diesel. And yet your 1st post states it's a 460 CID. It probably is a candidate for rings and/or valve seals. The compression test should help eliminate the possible ring problem.
The 460s were never that great for gas mileage. That's a big mouth to feed and it eats gas.