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Ford Explorer Community - Maintenance - Modifications - Performance Upgrades - Problem Solving - Off-Road - Street
Explorer Forum Covers the Explorer ST, Explorer Sport, Explorer Sport Trac, Lincoln Aviator, Mercury Mountaineer, Mazda Navajo, Ford Ranger, Mazda Pickups, and the Ford Aerostar
Blowby occurs when the piston rings are worn, and the compression "blows by" the rings. It will also allow oil to get into the combustion chamber and burn. If the person you talked to said the motor has blow by, it probably is eating oil, and needs new rings or maybe even an overbore on the cylinders.
"Blow by" refers to the amount of leakage past the piston rings. When the blow by gasses get past the rings and get into the crankcase of the engine, it has to escape somehow, usually through the breather. If there is too much blow by (all engines have some), you can actually pressurize the insides of the engine enough to blow out oil seals. Usually on high-mileage engines. If the piston rings do not seal well, the engine can also allow oil in the combustion chamber, which is called "burning oil".
I hope this helps, but I'm sure others can fill you in more.
I don't know how bad your problem is, but you do have some options. If you don't want to sink alot of money into your 10 year old truck, try some product like Restore and switch to a heavier weight oil. This is not a fix, but can help quite a bit in older high mileage engines. Cost is negligible and won't hurt anything if a rebuild or sale is in your future. I have personal experience with this method and it reduced oil burning and seemed to improve acceleration some. Again, this is only a band-aid approach- but it can buy you some time.
