F-150 piston ring question

[pulleye16]

Should I replace the piston rings on my 2000 F-150 5.4L? adding a quart about once a month. What would this cost and should i replace other parts as well? Truck has about 150k miles and really no other problems. I don't see much loss in power so the compression should be good. Did notice oil in the spark plugs when I changed them out about a year ago or so. Any Ideas?

Also, any risks of having this done (professioally)?

[Jeremy airjer W]

If you take off the oil cap with the engine running do you feel a lot of blow by?

Seems like an awful lot of money to save a couple bucks a month.

[Scott K]

I agree with jer! A rebuild will be around 2k or more. You can buy about 800 quarts of oil with that. And that is about 800 months worth! Oil in the spark plug holes on these are usually because of either, wrong spark plugs, or plugs not torqued correctly, or someone missed the filler hole, and dumped it in the top of the intake.

Also before condemning the engine, I would replace the pcv valve with an oe valve, then re monitor the oil loss.

[SkunkedAgain]

In school I had an '83 Mustang with bad piston rings. On a drive to Milwaukee, I'd go through eighteen quarts of oil round trip. When the engine started to knock, I'd pull onto the shoulder and add a few quarts of oil. Now that was an extreme situation, but that car went for years. Eventually I had the motor rebuilt but it cost me $1,400 back then.

If you're tossing in a quart of oil once per month, I wouldn't worry. Wait until it gets much worse. The only reason I'd tell you to get it fixed is if you were extremely environmentally conscious and felt that it was wasting valuable oil. If not, buy a case of oil, send for the rebate, and start saving up money for either an engine rebuild in a few years or a new truck. One or the other is coming someday, but you're fine for now.

[Shack]

The dealers will push a reman instead of an rebuild. They are not just trying to get your extra money. Rebuilding these motors (4.6-5.4) are not like rebuilding the V8's from the 80's on back. So many tolerances need to be accounted for and other special procedures. If you are under warranty (factory or aftermarket) and an engine replacement/rebuild is authorized, they pay the extra money for the reman because there are produced in a facility that is dedicated at rebuilding them. Plus the warranty with the reman units usually goes beyond 3 years. A rebuild is going to to a 1 year or less. Unless planing to rebuild the motor your self, you are going to maybe have an issue finding a shop that will rebuild your current motor. If they say "Ya! Sure" ask them if they have rebuilt more than two 5.4L's in the past and how ling did they last?

Also before condemning the engine, I would replace the pcv valve with an oe valve, then re monitor the oil loss.

I would also check the PVC system first. Replace the valve and check for any leaks.

[spearchucker]

Shack beat me to it. I was going to say change the PCV valve. Only a couple bucks and a minute of work.

[Jeremy airjer W]

PCV valve is not a bad idea!

[pulleye16]

thanks for the info and glad to hear what you are all saying (I was hoping and thinking the same). I'm going to replace the PCV valve and not even worry about buring that oil. The big thing for me was if there was any long term damage from doing this. I understand of course that there "always" will be some sort of damage from something not running the way it was intended but if she makes it to 200k I'd say she's done her job!