Vehicle End-of-Life Decision

[swampratt]

Looks like possibly worn valve guides or guide seals.
A stuck PCV valve on certain engines will suck oil right off the oiling rocker arms. Most factory rocker covers have baffles in them to prevent this.
I have seen clogged drain back holes in the heads pool oil in the valvetrain area and suck a lot of oil.

Those 3.8 V6 engines of Ford make like to blow /scrub head gaskets I usually see head gasket failure between 75,000 and 145,000 miles.. sometimes you get a keeper that makes it past 200,000 miles.

If it was mine..I would part with it.
I do not like V6 engines.
Slap in a hotter set of spark plugs.
That will prolong the plug changes. Then sell it.

 

[scottb42]

Thank you all for your advice. I don't know if the decision is any easier, but I do have some options now to consider.

I don't know why I didn't consider the donation angle... and I had never even heard of oil defoulers until just now.

 

[dennishoddy]

Donate it, you can get a charitable contribution deduction on your taxes. They'll come pick it up and haul it off for free.

New Federal rules say that they can't issue a tax deductible receipt until the unit has been sold. If the unit sells for under $500 you will get a letter saying it sold for $500 or less and you can deduct up to that amount, but not over.
Back in the day, folks were donating rusted junkers and getting receipts for $5 grand. It doesn't happen anymore.

 

[raeken45]

I agree with rickm. Keep it for a spare for those just in case, dead battery, flat tire moments. Mine has saved my butt a few times.

 

[dlbleak]

I think the NRA has a car donation thing going right now.

 

[swampratt]

oil non- foulers are for all us old guys that drove a $75 POS from point A-B.
But that POS was cheap and usually never let us down. so we just kept limping them along.

Yes 75 bucks and I wish I still had all those 75 dollar or less cars.
1966 mustang, 75 mercury comet, 67 Newport custom, 78 mustang cobra. 69 camaro.
73 Datsun 240Z, 77 280ZX. the list goes on and on.
Seems cars cost more now for real POS.

 

[MacFromOK]

Yes 75 bucks and I wish I still had all those 75 dollar or less cars.
1966 mustang, 75 mercury comet, 67 Newport custom, 78 mustang cobra. 69 camaro.
73 Datsun 240Z, 77 280ZX. the list goes on and on.

I also bought a '66 mustang for $75, and a '52 ford pickup for $60. But man, those dollar amounts were hard to come by back then.

If this V-6 is using that much oil on just a couple of cylinders, oil-foulers will help some, but still may not eliminate the plug fouling completely. However, it helps a lot that spark voltage is so much higher than "back in the day" of mechanical points.

 

[n423]

oil non- foulers are for all us old guys that drove a $75 POS from point A-B.
But that POS was cheap and usually never let us down. so we just kept limping them along.

Yes 75 bucks and I wish I still had all those 75 dollar or less cars.
1966 mustang, 75 mercury comet, 67 Newport custom, 78 mustang cobra. 69 camaro.
73 Datsun 240Z, 77 280ZX. the list goes on and on.
Seems cars cost more now for real POS.

Bought a 1964 Chevy stepside p/u for $75 cash in the late '70's. Only had to buy a battery. Ran great for years. Used no oil...

I have used hotter spark plugs in vehicles before.

 

[swampratt]

It is higher if it needs to be.
My wife's corolla well mine now.. would have carbon tracking lines on the porcelain very faint but you could see it was miss-firing.
I had to tighten the gap to .0025" and it smoothed out and I had tried many different spark plugs..
Seen the same on one of the dual turbo Forv V6 engines. tighten the gap and all solved.

I had used a Big Allen oscilloscope to check spark voltage and watch it on the big screen.
I tested a factory GM HEI VS a GM single point distributor.
45,000 volts on the HEI at idle and to about 2000 rpm then voltage took a steep curve down and by 5000 rpm it was down to 15,000 volts.
The single point started at 35,000 volts and at 5,000 rpm was at 25,000.
I tested the same 2 at the track and this was a high compression 350 11.9 compression and 245 psi crankin pressure.
The single point was 2 tenths quicker with the same curve.. shift point on that little cam one then was 6900rpm.

But yea the majority of vehicles do have a hotter spark available.

 

[magna19]

Definitely a car to get rid of while its still running. Since Swampers closed his spark plug gap .0025 and it smoothed out maybe you could close your gap twice as much (say .005) and maybe yours will too.