Been a long time since I posted but hello again.
Where's me oil going? 220 mile run to Southampton, check oil before setting off for home - bone dry, nothing on dipstick. Friend runs me to nearest rural Shell garage (£28 for a litre, owch!), top up with cheaper Tesco oil halfway home again - checked this morning now engine has cooled - all gone again. No (obvious) leaks, just been serviced, all hoses fine, runs a bit raucous but done 123K miles. Where's it going???
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Has it been run low often?, if so its likely wear will have been accelerated.
Possibly general wear to rings and bores, or possibly valve guides.
If you allow the car to overrun for a stretch and then when you resume power do you get a cloud of smoke?, if so then that points to valve guide wear.
Whether you go to the expense of fixing or replacing your engine is up to you, for the time being i'd buy as cheap an oil of the right spec as i could find and keep it topped up between the markers, the next MOT could be the decider as it might fail on emissions.
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I'm afraid its being burnt.As suggested above,very likely to be rings.This is a common problem on this (mazda)based engine.Remove the spark plugs and check for oil contamination/fouling on the electrodes.
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Thanks for advice so far guys. I use the recommended 5w/30, is 20w just thicker and/or will it 'stick' to everything better........?
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I believe Ford engines are very picky about wanting 5W/30 so something like Asda 5W/30 semi synthetic might be a better option: tinyurl.com/kukdm2l than 20W/50.
I guess you only want the engine to last a short while longer so chancing a can of Ametech Engine Restore might do the trick: www.ametech.co.uk/
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If it's guzzling oil and done 123k miles,trying 20w/50 is unlikely to do any more harm!!!One of the problems was pumping-up of hydraulic tappets-this is unlikely to happen at this milage.
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My 2001 2ltr petrol I used to own had bucket and shim tappets. So might get away with a 20/50 brew.
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>> Has it been run low often?, if so its likely wear will have been accelerated.
>>
>> Possibly general wear to rings and bores, or possibly valve guides.
>>
>> If you allow the car to overrun for a stretch and then when you resume
>> power do you get a cloud of smoke?, if so then that points to valve
>> guide wear.
>>
>> Whether you go to the expense of fixing or replacing your engine is up to
>> you, for the time being i'd buy as cheap an oil of the right spec
>> as i could find and keep it topped up between the markers, the next MOT
>> could be the decider as it might fail on emissions.
>>
>>
That's some fine advise right there.
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Ford petrol engines demand 5W/30 oil.
My wife's 52reg Focus 1.6 started using oil - and this rapidly increased to an alarming rate during the period between 8-9 years and 80-90k miles. There was no smoke in the exhaust and there were no drips/stains on the drive. I too wondered where it was all going.
I mentioned this to the local (excellent) garage where I take it for its annual service, and I feared the worst - recon engine or, at best valves/seats needing attention.
They sorted the problem at minimal cost by replacing the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve which, at the time, I'd never heard of. Google for it - there is loads of information and youtube video stuff on the net. After learning about this, I'm only surprised that replacement of the PCV valve isn't a regular service schedule requirement.
IIRC, I wrote a thread about this nearly 2 years ago.
Please return to let us know what happens.
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According to the Ford service schedules,PCV's or their equivalents are a major service item-major service is every 30,000(37,500 on later models) miles or every three years.
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"PCV's or their equivalents are a major service item"
I didn't realise that. None of my friends has ever heard of PCV valves. It's like a dreaded illness that nobody feels comfortable talking about.
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This used to be a problem on the old 8-valve Vauxhall engines which had a breather hose coming off the cam cover and disappearing into the inlet manifold. The base of the hose stub contained a housing with a metal gauze filter element about 5cm square. This filter was always ignored at service time as it was completely invisible in-situ, and accessed from underneath the cam cover, meaning the cover had to come off to get at it. Instead of a valve as such, this system relied on carefully sized apertures and pipes to provide the appropriate amount of crankcase ventilation.
When the filter inevitably blocked, the crankcase ventilation would cease to work effectively, and the engine would start to both consume, and leak oil, usually from the cam cover. The filter element cost about £4 back in the day even from a Vx dealer, and was a 10 minute job to replace. Cam cover off, flip upside down, undo two bolts, remove filter, reverse procedure. I used to do mine on my old mk2 SRi at every other service. Cheap and simple.
Last edited by: DP on Tue 25 Jun 13 at 14:13
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>>Ford petrol engines demand 5W/30 oil.
Ford petrol engines demand an oil to Ford specification which is usually a 5W/30.
I understand this is because of the tight valve stem clearances introduced to meet emission standards. A thin, light oil was necessary to ensure some got in the gap.
On an engine of that age and mileage I'd have no qualms about using an oil of 50W high temperature spec.
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A bit of info' re PCV valves; it's only a short address, I hope it's OK to add it here
www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/197
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Interesting! Would my 2004 Audi A4 V6 have a PCV valve too? It seems to polish off a litre of synthetic 5W-30 every 4000-odd miles.... No smoke or drips, it just vanishes...
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"Would my 2004 Audi A4 V6 have a PCV valve too?"
I don't actually know the answer to that, Nick, but judging by the number of topics listed when I Google for 'Audi A4 PCV valve', I would say that it probably has one! It would be worth mentioning when you take your car in for a service. It appears that there have been TSBs issued about PCV valves, but I don't know if that would apply to your particular engine type.
I don't know what the normal acceptable oil-use figures would be for a 6-cylinder Audi - maybe your usage wouldn't be considered too serious. After using virtually no oil for most of its life, my wife's 1.6 Focus quite quickly developed a thirst for a litre of oil per 1,000 miles. After changing the PCV valve, it is now something like a litre of oil per 7,000 miles. As it has now covered nearly 100,000 miles and only does about 7,000 miles annually, I can live with buying a litre of oil a year.
As soon as I realised that the Focus was using more oil, I started keeping (excel spreadsheet) records (date/mileage/volume of top-up oil/notes on dipstick level). As I monitored usage, the thirst built up quite quickly and I was able to give the garage some detail rather than just a vague idea that oil consumption didn't feel quite right.
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All cars since the 1970's must have some form of positive crankcase ventilation(it's a legal requirement)-at first just semi-closed where crankcase fumes could exit the engine under certain conditions and later fully-closed where all fumes had to be consumed by the engine at all times. A PCV valve is just one system-there are others.
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Yup, even back then it was necessary to occasionally remove the top of the thing and clean out the diaphragm valve in petrol to prevent excessive oil consumption.
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I wonder if Boggy ever found out the cause of the oil-guzzling problem?
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Well I didn't as it happens (sorry for delay in replying, and thanks for all your suggestions guys) - it's still going, used every day, drinking 2 litres of Tescos' 5W 30 a month, and the MOT will be upon it mid-November. Tyres and brakes OK, all bulbs in lights working, bodywork good, 125K miles showing. I don't honestly know now how she will do, but I'll dance a jig naked on the bonnet if it passes. No, I won't post a picture.
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>> I'll dance a jig naked on the bonnet if> it passes. No, I won't post a picture.
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Well, at least tell us where and when you are going to do it, so that we can stay well clear!
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One possibility (which avoids the use of horrid treacle like oil!) is the case where the cylinders have glazed, and the rings are longer sealing. A temporary use of a running in oil may restore the correct operation of the rings.
Sealing is much more to do with the detail of the surface finish between the rings and the cylinders than it is to do with gross wear.
As an example the pistons in my Astra H shocked me by having a massive amount of clearance, but, the engine burns little oil.
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Ford Mondeo III - 01 1.8 Guzzling oil! - -
