Rear cylinder burning a lot of oil - options

[masospaghetti]

My 98 Explorer w/ 4.0 OHV has starting to burn quite a bit of oil, enough that you can smell it in the exhaust. Also, the driver's rear cylinder (#6?) keeps fouling the spark plug every six months or so, so that's likely the culprit.

What am I looking at here? Motor rebuild? New head? Any other options? The motor has 231,000 miles on it, runs great otherwise. Thanks all.

 

[alohamonte]

When you replace the plug, is there oil on the threads?

Maybe run a hotter plug?

 

[koda2000]

auto parts stores sell an anti-fouling device. the spark plug screws into it and then it screws into the spark plug hole. I've never used one, and I don't know how it would work on the Explorer engine, but it's cheap enough to try.

 

[my98nnj]

Most likely a oil ring has failed. If it were the head, the point of failure would be the valve guide seal and that only smokes upon start up and clears once running.

Your only option is to rebuild it.