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Ecoboost consuming oil when towing

13K views 50 replies 4 participants last post by  mass-hole  
Three things I can think of -

1. Excess crankcase pressure under boost, causing oil to be pushed out into the turbo inlet. Could also be oil out of the turbo seals.

2. Something in the intake is restricting the turbo causing excess vacuum to suck out oil from the CCV. Check the air filter and snorkel.

3. The PCV valve was stuck open during vacuum causing oil to be ingested.

How are you checking the oil? Are you letting the truck sit for a few minutes?
 
That’s from the CCV and not the turbo seal since the oil is pre-turbo.Seems like you may have had excess crankcase pressure. It’s going to take some time for that excess oil to clean up. You will get some oil/blowby but not enough to pool like that. Almost seemed like it was all because the PCV wasn’t working.

Before we get too far, what valve did you replace it with? Should’ve been - KR3Z-6A666-A.
 
Well if a considerable amount made it to the Intercooler, the recirculation from the BPV(BOV) puts it right where you pictured.

I think when the PCV wasnt functioning correctly, a majority of the blowby was then pushed out the CCV into the turbo inlet. Pooling in the intercooler. Some was ingested and some was then recirculated whenever the BPV released boost back into the intake tube.

I’m afraid you are going to need to remove and clean out the intercooler.
 
Try removing the oil cap with the truck idling. That will give you a good idea. You can use a piece of paper and test how the pulses in the crankcase are.

The only two ways oil can be there is from the CCV or a turbo seal.
 
Thank you kindly for your help. I’ll do that tomorrow morning. I am guessing at idle there should be a pretty good vacuum at the oil cap with a slight flutter of the paper a bit like a diaphragm as the pistons go through there travel?

I have a vacuum gauge and various connections so I am sure I can measure the vacuum at idle with actual numbers too. Knowing Ford’s NA engines I am guessing normal idle vacuum should be about 15” hg? Any suggestions on where I should measure the vacuum pressure?
Correct. Ideally there should be a very small amount of vacuum but you may not notice it. You should not however have pressure coming out. Meaning the paper should suck and/or not move at all.

Manifold vacuum shouldn’t matter in this situation. If you hooked a gauge to the oil dipstick hole you won’t get much of a reading because the CCV is wide open port.
 
That sounds about right.... Ideally it would not move at all.

One test you can do but you need to be very careful about - disconnect the CCV connection on the valve cover. Then with the truck idling, place your finger on the valve cover connection for at most 1-2 seconds. Be careful not to hold it too long. As you pull your finger away you should feel a slight amount of suction. That confirms the pcv is working as it should. You can do this procedure if you are comfortable with it.

The only other option I can think of is checking your air filter. If it’s too restrictive or clogged, it will pull excess vacuum from the crankcase carrying oil.

Besides that, you did mention negative degree weather. I wonder if blowby is condensing more pronounced due to your extreme weather. The intercooler is basically a GIGANTIC catch can. If it’s condensing there, then it will get recirculated back into the intake tube (BPV).
 
CCV is the driver side connection. PCV is the passenger side connection. When you remove the CCV tube , you place your finger on the hole on the valve cover.



Was the crankcase overfilled from the last oil change?
 
That is also true. I totally forgot you have the CCV sensor. It’s designed to see atmospheric and vacuum. So ideally if there was crankcase pressure outside it’s specs, you would’ve gotten a code.

If that’s the case you can totally disregard testing the PCV suction.

Edit: However I do know there was an oil consumption TSB but your expedition is a 2017. This awfully sounds like symptoms of it....

 
So it’ll be a few days before I get it into service and as such I decided to keep troubleshooting and did the above. The thing is, there definitely was not vacuum on the valve cover side of the CCV. We attached a little ballon to the stem and it filled it up just a little. This was at idle; cold engine. Would you have any insights on this?
Theoretically there should be a very light amount of vacuum. So that balloon should’ve sucked in. The fact you have none and it’s pushing out is a bit worrisome. But you did test on a cold engine and not while it’s hot.
 
Tomorrow I’m going to get it up to temp and then do similar troubleshooting in and out of gear and under load too. Interesting enough that CCV line is nearly dry with just a slight film inside it unlike the PCV side which is soaking wet with oil every time I take it off.
The PCV side will always be the “dirty” side. A big part of it is just fuel vapors and little bit of oil. As whenever the manifold is in vacuum, a constant flow of air is pulled thru the crankcase. A majority of the time you will be in vacuum when just cruising around.

Before you start the truck tomorrow, take a look at the oil level and make sure it’s not overfilled.
 
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