Oil Level - Consumption or ???

[Hawk777]

Hello Everyone!!!
New to forum and im a new owner of an 01 Cobra. This is my fifth Mustang , four others being GT's. My Cobra is Oxford white , completely stock except for Flowmaster 40 series cat back. Miles on her are only 94,000 and some change. So with low miles for the year im concerned about the oil situation. When I bought the car I half assed checked oil and it was black and obviously needed changed but I didn't check level. I wiped it and just stuck the dip stick back in...bad move! Drove her home which is 4 hr drive and I put about another 600 miles on her on top of the 4 hour drive and decided to change it as my schedule allowed. It was an alarming 3 qts low...I went and bought 7 quarts of Mobil 1 Synthetic because Cobra owners online are saying between 6-7 quarts.
Changed oil...added seven quarts to bring it to Full according to dip stick which I hear Ford maybe off on that as well. So ive put 200 miles on it and checked it cold and dip stick says im down half a quart?!?! What gives....tail pipes are clean,normal soot, no blue smoke at idle,high rpms, down shifting...etc...What scares me the most is these 4V motors aren't cheap to rebuild or replace.

So My question is .....Is the dipstick reading weird, where can oil be going if it is going somewhere, any other Cobra owners have this issue....should I be concerned?
And the car runs perfect, no motor noise what so ever, clean straight car!
Thanks in advance to your insight and hopefully I wont be buying or rebuilding a motor...

2001 Oxford white ,STOCK ,94 k mile, Cobra

 

[01yellercobra]

These are known to use some oil. Just the nature of the beast.

 

[shurur]

Doesn't sound right to me. I go 7k miles between oil changes. I add a little at the 3500 mark, but that's it.

I am in nh (still); so maybe the weather and heat has some play...but this seems like a lot of oil being burned.

 

[black4vcobra]

I've learned that you really have to wait 5+ minutes after shutting the engine off to let the oil drain back into the oil pan before checking the oil to get an accurate reading. The DOHC heads hold a lot of oil and the oil passages aren't as large as pushrod motors.

 

[Hawk777]

Yea ive checked oil semi cold...its been sitting for hours now so its a good time to go check it. and half a quart in 200 miles is excessive in my mind...but im new to the 4v motor and have read different things. I guess ill keep a real close eye on her and check it every 100 miles and write it down. The previous owner was called and he claimed it barely used oil....maybe 1/2 qt. between changes...I told him with it being 3 qts low he must not have changed it in a few years. So I will keep the thread updated for others in case someone else is dealing with the same issue. and more feed back would be great...still open to hear from others. and thanks for the guys that responded so far!

 

[01yellercobra]

When you checked after changing the oil was that before or after starting it? If it was before starting it did you add oil to the filter? Filling up the filter and all the passages will lower the level a little. As was said you need to let it sit for a while before checking. Also, pull your coil covers and check the plug wells for oil. I was loosing some oil and found I had a bad grommet. The plug well was full of oil.

 

[Hawk777]

Good thinking about checking level of fresh oil change after car was started and ran for a bit of time....and then cooled back down .I did NOT start car before I checked oil and I DID put as much oil in filter as possible without spilling all over but that amounts to hardly anything...lol.. Also I just went out and checked it after sitting for hours cold and its reading only a quarter quart low instead of half qrt low. And with the oil filter holding oil...lets say quarter quart....it looks like im good!!! Also if I didn't start car to let oil move through motor / oil filter then my intitial check was accurate at all. So am I really even low...??? Id say rookie mistake and I may not be low after all.. LOL
OH BOY...feeling like an idiot...sorry guys! I do appreciate all the replies and just needed some others to think a little bit for me...lol..also she is my first Cobra and im being a lil paranoid about her...so thanks again and ill keep thread updated just in case!

 

[Hawk777]

maybe a dumb question....How do you remove oil filter whithout dumping used oil all over the rack and pinion? I have half inch of oil sludge built up from years of oil spilling out of filter when doing oil change...Maybe nothing you can do about it but clean it immedietly..which no one as done. So now I have to degrease underneath...no fun!

 

[01yellercobra]

It always spills on the rack whenever I remove the filter. I just wipe it down when I'm done.

 

[99Cobra_vert]

It always spills on the steering rack for me, too. It's a nasty job.

 

[slonech]

I drape an empty plastic bag down into the steering rack when I change the oil... the bag will catch majority of the oil that spills and then you can empty the bag into your oil pan.

 

[3B99SVT]

I put a small funnel just below the oil filter so it keeps oil off the rack. It's a slow process to let it drain but I'm typically not in a hurry to change the oil. I just crack the oil filter off the adapter and let it drip away.