Problem 1: My son purchased a 1998 B3000 a few months ago with 130,000, and it's been working OK. He recently drove it from Florida to Oklahoma, and the oil consumption shot up. In about 1,400 miles, he went through 4 quarts of oil. It's not smoking, and we let it idle around 3,000 rpm on the driveway. In about 5 minutes, there were 2 drops of oil. It's been sitting a couple days, and there really isn't much noticeable under the vehicle. I realize there are 2 ways to lose oil: burn or drip. I'm not seeing either in a significant way.

Problem 2: The engine light has been on, but he never took it in to read the codes. We did that today, but the O'Reilly's guy didn't know how to read the tester and ended up wiping the codes, so I got 1 out of 5 - P0305 Cylinder 5 misfire. We'll have to wait until the other ones refire, but P0305 has already come back. I removed spark plug 5, and it's ugly and coated with oil on the outside. I also noticed what I thought was an exhaust leak before pulling things apart, but I'm not so sure now because of the plug. Also #2 plug is ugly, so both plugs in the middle. The other are the normal grey plug. What are some thoughts on this? My son drives back in a week, so I'm trying to help out as much as possible before he leaves.

Thank you, all.




Spark plug 2

Spark plug 5

 

The B3000 is basically a Ford Ranger truck with Mazda badges......after 1993 (in the States & Canada anyway) all of the Mazda trucks were Rangers. That said, from looking at your picture of the spark plug, it looks like it's been in there a while. I would install new plugs & WIRES and see how that does for now.......the oil is probably coming from leaky valve cover gaskets, so if you could put some new ones of those on also, the oil usage may go down a good bit. This is what I would do, then have your son report back what he finds during the return trip.
Welcome to the forum also!