Oil Consumption + Valvetrain or Drivetrain Noise

[radiantm3]

I picked up my GT350 late last year , did a break-in oil change at the dealer at a little over 1000 miles and I'm currently at around 3500 miles. I have the Ford Performance oil separators installed and while I have found a little oil in those, I've had to top off my oil fairly often and have gone through almost 3 quarts (of purely topping off so the oil is near the top of the dipstick full mark) since I got the car.

I do mostly city driving and don't go above 4000rpms often on the street (couple times a week if that??). I've only done 2x 20-minute track sessions and 1x 30-minute so I'm definitely not losing oil from driving the car hard.

The car seems to run perfectly fine other than some valvetrain (or possibly drivetrain) noise around 3000 rpms at 10% throttle. It goes away when the revs go up or if I increase throttle. I know there's been talk about that on various forums as well. Mine has been doing this since I purchased the car new with about 50-60 miles on the ODO (which I consider quite a bit for a new car). I wonder if this is more common than owners think? If you drive with the windows up, music/aircon off, and exhaust valves closed, you can hear it pretty well.

Just wondering if anyone else is experiencing similar oil consumption and noise?

 

[bpracer]

I think the noise is the pistons rattling around in the bores until you get it HOT.

Between 6600 to 7700 miles I added a quart and had 30cc of oil in the seperator. I get some oil in the passenger side oil separator and virtually none in the driver's side, I think that's typical for everybody. The driver's side doesn't do much. It really doesn't seem to be impacted by a track day. I'm thinking it is worse babying the car, but I may imagining it.

As long as it doesn't start burning at a faster rate, I don't really care.

 

[JAJ]

It doesn't sound like anything is wrong. My car uses about a quart of oil per thousand miles when I'm running around town or picking up groceries in it. However, when I drive 450 miles to and from a race track, with 150 miles of track time in the middle, oil consumption is almost unnoticeable. If my engine's running hard under load, it doesn't burn oil; if it's loafing along at low power and low rpm, it'll use some.

The noise is probably "piston slap". The pistons have extra room in the bores so they can expand when they're hot. Under light load, they are free to move a bit and they rattle, but as soon as you apply a little load, they're under some pressure and they settle down.

 

[VoodooBoss]

My GT350 didn't drink any oil which was a nice change over my Boss 302 which drank a lot.

 

[Black Boss]

The noise is probably "piston slap". The pistons have extra room in the bores so they can expand when they're hot. Under light load, they are free to move a bit and they rattle, but as soon as you apply a little load, they're under some pressure and they settle down.

+1

Most likely piston slap. Mine had it.

 

[radiantm3]

Thanks guys. None of these things bother me as long as it's considered normal. I just wanted to hear from a few other owners about it.

 

[CSL]

It doesn't sound like anything is wrong. My car uses about a quart of oil per thousand miles when I'm running around town or picking up groceries in it. However, when I drive 450 miles to and from a race track, with 150 miles of track time in the middle, oil consumption is almost unnoticeable. If my engine's running hard under load, it doesn't burn oil; if it's loafing along at low power and low rpm, it'll use some.

The noise is probably "piston slap". The pistons have extra room in the bores so they can expand when they're hot. Under light load, they are free to move a bit and they rattle, but as soon as you apply a little load, they're under some pressure and they settle down.

Exact same experience for me.

 

[93cobra]

SSM 46173 - Some 2016-2017 GT350 Mustangs Might Exhibit Piston Rattle From Idle To 3000 RPM
Some 2016-2017 Mustang GT350 equipped with the 5.2L engine may exhibit a rattleor rapping type sound during cold operation at light loads and speeds from Idle- 3000 RPM. The noise will be most noticeable during light acceleration in the 1500-3000 RPM range and may also be noticeable in the 800-1200 RPM range with neutral throttle blips. This sound is caused by the piston motion in the cylinder bore. This is an inherent characteristic of the forged aluminum pistons utilizedin this high performance engine. Once the engine reaches operating temperature the noise will diminish, although it may still be noticeable even when fully warm. There are no durability concerns with this sound.

 

[93cobra]

Is this the noise you are describing at 5:17?

 

[radiantm3]

Is this the noise you are describing at 5:17?

Nope.

 

[DocWalt]

Mine has the same noise, though at a slightly lower RPM like 2750-ish.

My oil consumption seems to be pretty good considering I mostly sit in traffic, about 1 quart every 4500 miles. When I got to the end of a change (6k miles) it started using a lot more oil due to the thin oil (and ambient temps got pretty cold which meant it took longer to heat up). Your oil usage seems fairly normal and mine seems pretty low. It is what it is, whatever.

I was collecting oil fairly often in the passenger side can. Always smelled heavily of fuel. I have a feeling on a track I'd smell less fuel and see less oil consumption.

 

[radiantm3]

Mine has the same noise, though at a slightly lower RPM like 2750-ish.

My oil consumption seems to be pretty good considering I mostly sit in traffic, about 1 quart every 4500 miles. When I got to the end of a change (6k miles) it started using a lot more oil due to the thin oil (and ambient temps got pretty cold which meant it took longer to heat up). Your oil usage seems fairly normal and mine seems pretty low. It is what it is, whatever.

I was collecting oil fairly often in the passenger side can. Always smelled heavily of fuel. I have a feeling on a track I'd smell less fuel and see less oil consumption.

I did more testing on the noise yesterday after I posted this thread. Seems like I can hear it from 2000-3000rpms with very light throttle (maybe more like 5% depressed). Once I go over 3000 I think the engine noise takes over so I can't even hear it if it was still active.

 

[RES_22]

Piston slap due to thermal characteristics of forged pistons.

High performance cast pistons will do this also when coming to temp...especially if the thing was broken in aggressively or if using thin oil.

No issue unless you can smell/see oil on plugs... or if you are driving a Lada.

 

[FogCitySF]

On the oil consumption part, would say the 350 burns at 2x-3x the rate of the M3. I stopped using the driver oil separator as literally nothing was in there after a hard track day and a couple thousand street miles (compared to the passenger side).

Anyway, welcome to the 350 club! I love this car (but still keeping the E90!)