My mother's Lincoln

My mother's Lincoln Town car 2002 is running rough...almost tractor like. She had her last oil change was 3000 miles ago and oil level is fine. A mechanic did a look saying not a lot of oil is reaching the engine, but he was an airline mechanic. I look at the oil and it smells like gas and it's black. So, I'm thinking fuel is burning the oil.

So:
Tractor like
Black oil (this early?)
Gas smell from dip stick, could the oil be burned up this early?

What could the problem be?

(Update: I was told by her she never replaced the plugs, could this be why it's running rough? 79K??)

Hi Todd, welcome to the forum!

It would be a good idea to start replacing the plugs and wires and PCV valve. As a recommendation go with original motorcrafts.

If the pcv system isn't working properly it will cause the oil to smell burnt and look dark.

Finally look for vacuum leaks at the pcv, air intake and at the back of the engine; ther is a vacuum tree attached to the firewall.

Best regards,

Oscar.

You have either a bad Coil-On-Plug (COP) or a dirty spark plug.

Pull all of the spark plugs and check for contamination. Oil on the plug will prevent it from firing and will also indicate poor valve stem seals or piston rings. Fuel on a plug will indicate that the plug is not firing. If everything on the plug itself is okay, than the COP that was on that plug is bad and needs to be replaced.

Since you're halfway there you might as well replace the plugs with some new Motorcraft ones. Make sure they are gapped to .054". Do NOT use anti-seize when installing spark plugs! Torque plugs to 16 ft-lbs with no anti-seize or oil on the threads. Apply a liberal amount of dielectric grease to the ends of the COP boots to prevent moisture from getting in.

Regarding the black oil, are you looking at it while cold or hot? My oil looks pretty dark when cold (but it's below freezing here lately) after only 1,000 miles, but when hot it's a golden brown, not much darker than how it poured out of the Motorcraft bottle. If it smells strongly of fuel, this would support that there is atleast one cylinder not firing and the fuel injected into the cylinder is getting past the rings and into the oil.

Once you fix the misfire, change the oil and filter to get that fuel out of there. Be sure to use a Motorcraft FL-820S oil filter or equivalent with an anti-drainback valve to protect your engine on startup!

Is there a Check Engine Light (CEL) on this car?
If a cylinder Misfire's, the injector still dumped fuel into the combustion chamber.