The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Engine Replaced due to High Oil Consumption

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

I purchased the 2017 Ruby Red / Black Stripes Track Pack Shelby GT 350 off the Showroom floor on May 10th 2018 it had been sitting since October 2017, the car had 4 miles in the odometer.

The first 2000 miles I had the oil changed. at 4000 mi I noticed the oil level was low, so I put in 3 qts. I continually checked the oil at every fill up and noticed that I was at least 1qt low at every fill up. then it increased to 1.5 qts then 2 qts. At 6800 mi, I took it to the dealer and they performed an oil consumption test. After several trips back for checkups they determined that I was using 1 qt every 120 miles they also noted that Cyl 1 & 2 spark plugs had oil on them. They said that they were waiting for Fords approval to replace the engine, the service writer said that they never replaced an engine in the GT350 and have never heard of any issues. I was concerned about this comment and decided to take my car somewhere else.

I went to Ted Britt Ford in Fairfax, VA because I met their Chief Master Tech who is a Shelby expert who has replaced engines in the GT350.

Unfortunately, We had to be the Oil Consumption test again. The test results were the same 1qt every 120 miles. I dropped the Car off on Monday February, 4th 2019, for them to pull the valve covers and intake, do a borescope for Ford.
It took 15 min after all results were submitted and Ford approved an engine replacement.

This was Thursday February 7th, on February 15th the car as ready.
Was alot faster than I expected.

I have only Tracked my car twice

The date of manufacture of my car is 9/2017 [H6088]
Completely Stock Engine no mods or catch cans
Oil consumption was 1 quart every 120 miles
35% highway use - I did drive the Car to Erie PA at 1000 miles (700 miles Highway)

I did not drive the Car hard until after my first oil change (2000 mi)

Here are the Borescope Pictures:
ZmxpNVL.jpg
dEBGRHq.jpg
nKC1HI4.jpg
EUn2Bxa.jpg
0ssuqX7.jpg

8M37od0.jpg
The Year Code K = 2019, could this be the Motor with all the new parts and fixes?
the Engine Build date is 12/12/18
 
Last edited:

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,354
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Best of luck with your new motor, and nice to see the replacement was installed in a timely manner. I had no usage at all on my motor, kept it under 4000 rpms for the first 500 miles, and changed the oil at 500 to flush the system. Keep us posted and welcome to TMO.
 
Yours is not the first and won't be the last. Good luck with your new motor.
 

FogCitySF

2017 GT350R
Good luck with the new engine. I agree Ford is standing up to these engines in honoring the warranty (I'm on the 3rd one), but the diagnosis and repair appear to be poor, with repeated failures. I'm not sure Ford has its arms fully around the culprits of the problem (you can see my thread posted).
 
It is My opinion; for the High oil consumption I believe is partially due to the poor break in process, and the use of Fully Synthetic oil. I have been reading a lot about break in procedures used by Hi-performance engine builders.

Here are three good links to why I believe Fords break in procedure is wrong.

https://www.enginelabs.com/news/dispelling-engine-break-in-myths-with-high-performance-academy/

https://dsportmag.com/the-tech/education/quick-tech-performance-engine-break-in-the-right-way/

http://www.badasscars.com/index.cfm...duct_id=82/category_id=13/mode=prod/prd82.htm

And why Ford has not done an engine break in at the factory like all production motors are.
Even the Terminator engines went through a break in after they were built.
 
Last edited:

FogCitySF

2017 GT350R
Nothing surprising from the break-in procedures, which I've used on my two Voodoo engines and my BMW (100k miles for 8600+ rpm engine with 30+ track days). What is surprising is that Ford doesn't recommend a near-term oil change (I've done this and interestingly BMW does require this), and I'm VERY surprised the Voodoo engine isn't broken in at the factory. Are you 100% certain about this? No high performance engine manufacturer I know of doesn't do this at the factory.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,425
8,354
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Was suggested to us years ago, by some of our Engineer friends to keep the rpms down and change the fluid the first time quite early. Have mentioned to all my customers to keep RPMs under 4500 and to change the oil the first time around 500 miles. Did the same on my GT 350 and it never used a drop of oil.

Not saying this is the answer , but from selling a lot of performance machines for a long time, it has been surprising how few issues we have ever had , with numerous manufacturers. I brought it up because the old adage of break it in like you stole it was fine 30-35 years ago when new motors were loose, but today with insanely tight tolerances it just makes common sense to do a break in in a measured way - imho.
 

TMSBOSS

Spending my pension on car parts and track fees.
7,530
5,247
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Illinois
It’s 400 miles from Omaha to my home. I’ll drive the GT-350 home and show it off a bit and then change the oil. All in the same weekend. Should have between 5-600 miles on it by then.
After that, I’ll just have to “Listen to the Music”
 
I usually change the oil at about 1,000 miles on a new car. I did that on both my Boss 302 and GT350. On both I followed Ford's break in instructions to the T. The main concern is running the car at the same RPM for long periods which keeps the rings from seating. In other works don't use the cruise control and vary the RPM's on the fwy. I personally don't see any harm with a few short blasts to redline during the break in procedure. I buy into the break 'em in like you're going to drive it. Of course we know how that turned out for me. LOL

FWIW the first engine in my Boss drank a lot of oil which was a common problem on the early builds. I broke in the second engine the same way and it was tight and didn't use any oil including at track days. My GT350 barely used any oil at a track day. It seemed really tight right up to the point when the OPG failed.
 
225
312
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Virginia
Scary...I read more of these stories than I thought I would on engine failure. I wonder what the percentage of becoming one of the unfortunate that go through this?
 

TMSBOSS

Spending my pension on car parts and track fees.
7,530
5,247
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Illinois
I heard all the horror stories about the Boss engine. My oil consumption was moderate for the first 3k, 1.5 quarts. After that, none.
I wont worry about what I read. I bought the car, I'll deal with issues IF they come up. Life is Too short to sweat the little shiznit.
 
Last edited:

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top