Tuneup recommendations for ‘95 Ford 5.8 with 225k miles

[dccarpenter]

I'm going to be daily driving (and it's my only vehicle at the moment) my ‘95 F250 with a gas 5.8 v8 and 225k on the clock.

It uses oil (maybe a quart or 1.5 quarts every 1000 miles) but no leaks , recently drove it 1000 miles round trip to Ohio and it performs fine as long as I watch the oil.

I don't mind adding oil and can't tear the engine apart right now as it is my only truck. Any tuneup or additive suggestions to keep the old truck running strong a big longer ?

 

[justintendo]

a good dose of some pea fuel injector cleaner like techron and a steady diet of 10w30..maybe check the pcv valve since thats a good amount of oil to not be leaking any. 225k is a lot on the old pushrod fords so its likely just a little tired. if you have a timing light verify the timing is 10 btdc

 

[Chris142]

Sea 40 in that oil burner.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

PCV - OEM

Spark Plugs - NGK or Autolite

Oil - 10w40/15w40, Suggesting a higher moly and zinc conventional, such as QSGB

Oil Filter - Whatever is rated for your OCI

Check distributor/coil pack, replace if you wish

Spark plug wires, might as well replace those too

Air Filter/Cleaner, inspect, replace if needed

Nice dose of Techron in the tank

Drive another 225k mi?

 

[Black_Thunder]

Could maybe try the Engine Restore additive to see if consumption slows down.


pulling he plugs should give you an idea of what kind of oil its burning by how they look.


maybe run an HDEO 10w30 like Rotella T4

and some kind of fuel treatment like gumout, techron etc


if you do change the plugs I'd go motorcraft or NGK, and Motorcraft wires if you can

 

[OVERKILL]

It may be sucking oil through the PCV, checking the hose.

I 2nd the recommendation of an inexpensive HDEO like T4, but no additives.

 

[dccarpenter]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone,I checked the PCV today. It is a royal pain to get to and come to find out the plastic elbow was cracked off on it. Unfortunately my model 5.8 has the plastic disc going into the valve cover grommet than a piece of hose then the pcv in the hose. The plastic part at the grommet is broken off and the whole upper intake has to come off to remove it. For now I will let it be a breather and plug the hose that was going into it from the upper intake so it will function as a breather of sorts. Better than the big vacuum leak it is currently.

Checked the air filter, was a mess so bought a new one of those as well.

I hadn't been using this truck too much other than the 1 long trip so I had never done a proper going over. Got the serpentine belt changed now as well.

Went conventional 10/30 for now, will monitor usage and try the Quaker State or Rotella recommended next.

May consider doing a Seafoam on intake prior to oil change. Any reason not to? MMO work better?

I have a leftover Gumout Regane with PEA from the truck I sold to run through the gas so will do that as well.

During all of this I somehow knocked loose one of the small vacuum hoses on passenger side of engine that I believe goes to HVAC...it is the short piece. Can't figure out where it was headed. It is the shorter of the black hoses that come right after the small red one T's off. Can't seem to find a photo of where it heads , is only about 8 inches long.

 

[OVERKILL]

Got a pic?

 

[dccarpenter]

Figured out the hose location thankfully the port was hidden by the heater box.

Idle is much smoother with the manifold port. Capped and the busted pvc grommet serving as a breather . Mileage is still about 12 mpg for this tank.

I'm doing about 150+ miles a day right now so should hit 1000 on this oil change next week and can check consumption and see if improved.

 

[dccarpenter]

Thought I'd reply back after 1500 miles with a new filter and pcv conversion to breather.

Milage is way up getting 14mpg in mixed city and highway often with air conditioning on. Consumption was about 1 quart in 1500 so significantly better than the previous quart to 1.5 per 1000. I also had used 5w30 in the last change due to that being all that was on hand, top-up was with 15-40 and will go 15-40 rotella on the next change since it will be summer miles.

Going to do a cap, rotor, motocraft plug tuneup once I get a few dollars together next week. Not sure if I should venture into a throttle body clean or not I've seen mixed reviews on forums.