94 Crown vic burning oil a LOT worse than before...

[fordfan4life]

I have a 94 Corwn vic with approx. 132,300 miles on it. It has the typical dried up valve stem seals that cause the car to burn oil. It was that way when I bought it... wasn't worried about it, only burned a quart every 800 miles or so.

About three weeks ago, the problem got a lot worse. I had the oil changed because I was going on a couple of road trips, and I didn't want to have to worry about it on the road. I told them to put regular, not synthetic in, and that is all I paid for (that's what is on the reciept). Since then, I have had to put a quart in every 400 miles. Not only that, but I notice smoke coming out of the tailpipe just driving down the road, instead of only at stoplights, etc. I have also discovered spots of a gooey, oily substance on the rear bumper that definately wasn't there before. I clean it off, but it comes back after about 500 miles or so. It must be caused by the excessive oil burning, because there is significantly more residue on the right side than the left, and that is where the majority of the smoke is coming out from (i do have dual exhaust).

So my question is this: what are some possibilities for the culprit? Once the seals are dried up, does the problem get progressively worse as the car ages, or do most cars just to continue to burn the same amount? If the problem gets progressively worse over time, is it a very rapid occurance?

Lastly, if it is just the seals, is it worth it getting it fixed? How involved is it doing it yourself (I can do only a very limited number of things... the biggest job yet has been cleaning out the egr channels)? Will the new ones simply go bad again after a certain amount of time?

Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[krewl1]

Seals are a pain. With the amount of mileage you have and the year I am not sure it is worth fixing it or dumping a new motor in it.We had a 98 crown vic that was sucking oil but not as bad as yours is and we used auto-rx in it and it fixed the problem. The people I work with did not want to rebuild it or put in a new engine so this was my last option at $25 a bottle. It basically helps clean sludge and help restore the seals. You can read about it on bobistheoilguy dot com in the additives section. I was skeptical to but not sure if it would help you since you are losing alot of oil.

[fordfan4life]

Ok, well one more thing:

If I replace the seals, will the problem come back after awhile? What I mean is, was the problem with the seals themselves, or with something else causing them to go bad? If it is a problem with the seals themselves, have suppliers updated the design so they don't go bad?