My 1.1 1993 L-reg Fiesta seems to be guzzling oil! I have to refill the oil approx every 2-4 wks. I haven't got an oil leak and it doesn't seem to be burning oil.
Ive had a test done on the head gasket and it was all ok. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be?
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Oil can only go 2 places - on the floor or out the exhaust. If you're sure it's not leaking on the floor, then it's going out the exhaust pipe. It could be something as simple as a blocked crankcase breather, but given the age it's more likely to be advanced engine wear. A half decent mechanic should be able to diagnose it fairly easily.
Richard
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Mine also uses a 'bit' of oil meaning half a pint every 2-400 miles depending on driving. As its not leaking its obviously being burnt up but its not failed the last two MOT tests so I havnt really bothered about it. Probably not bad for 89000 miles with indifferent servicing under the previous owner. If yours is 'guzzling' then I'd start to suspect a stuck (or maybe even broken) piston ring. Before opening anything up I'd do any oil change and use flushing oil for a really good clean out together with some petrol treatment and then see if it improves or not.
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If yours is 'guzzling' then I'd start to suspect a stuck (or maybe even broken) piston ring. Before opening anything up I'd do any oil change and use flushing oil for a really good clean out together with some petrol treatment and then see if it improves or not.
If you use an engine flush on a car this age, which is already using oil in sufficient quantities to concern the owner, then you are asking for trouble. The flush will dislodge crud which is probably preventing other oil leaks and consumption and could lead to a catastrophic leak and cause engine damage. Best thing to do is to either source the leak and fix, or keep it topped up.
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I have to refill the oil approx every 2-4 wks.
But what does that equate to in mileage terms?
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It's almost certainly the valve stem oil seals which perish. They can be replaced with the head in place by carefully removing the rocker shaft and stuffing soft rope into one cylinder at a time to hold the valve while the valve spring is removed.
If not, head off job.
(you can cheat and use one of those ingredients which act by swelling all seals.. but the action wears off quite quickly:-(
If not the valves or a leak then it's the piston rings..
1st job tho is to clean the oil breather pipes to ensure the system is not being pressurised by blocked pipes. If subject to lots of short journeys they almost certainly will be blocked.
madf
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Thats an interesting point about flushing oil releasing lots of crud and I know that many people hold that view. I can only say that I've used it in high mileage engines and havn't experienced any bad effects. It certainly helps to clear out mayonaise to which this particular engine is rather prone. Good point about the valve seals though, I should have thought of that because its a more likely cause.
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Im not 100% sure to be honest. I can tell you that I've driven approx 6000 miles since Nov and the mileage is now on 98800 (approx). Ive put about 15-20 litres of oil in my car since then. Correct me if im wrong but i thought that was quite excessive.
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That's between 150 and 200 miles per pint of oil. That's certainly excessive, and will probably result in an MOT fail. A garage should be able to do a compression test to establish if it is the rings/bores or the valve seals, but at that sort of consumption I think your engine is basically shot.
Richard
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My MOT did fail! I had it yesterday and it failed on emissions. That doesnt really mean a lot to me but I asked if my oil problem would have had any connection and they said no.
I've had my engine checked by a garage and they said it was in a really good state - 'one of the best they've seen on an old fiesta like mine' apparently.
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Kel P
Your last post raises a couple of interesting questions
1 - Did the garage who did the MOT suggest what was causing the emissions to be high? (if its not related to burning oil)
2 - The garage who said the engine was 'one of the best...' On what information did they base that opinion? Did they know about the oil consumption?
Hope you can tell us more!
Andy
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1. All the gge said about the emissions was that it was probably the catalytic converter...they said it will cost me anywhere between £100 - £400, depending on what exhaust system i have. There are apparently 3 different types it could be. A few of my work colleagues and people i know think the gge was tryin to get money out of me but they arent car experts. I didnt even think my car had a cat.
I booked my car into the gge who did the mot to sort the problem out but i dont think i will now. I know a mechanic but havent seen him to be able to speak to him about it.
Hopefully you'll be able to suggest something which would hopefully help me to try to sort my lil problem out.
2. The gge who said the engine was one of the best knew about the oil problem - thats why i took it to them. They did a test on the head gasket because i advised them that there was loads of mayonnaise stuff (dont know the technical word) on the oil cap. I originally thought i might need a new engine (well it would have been cheaper to get a new engine i believe). I dont know exactly what he based his opinion on but he said it was a very clean engine. They didnt really suggest a reason to my oil problem except that it was an old car and the mayonnaise stuff was probably caused by condensation (??)
I dont know how much you know about cars but do you think any of the above sounds right?
Kel
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Had a 'M' reg fiesta 1.1 with a similar problem. Massive oil usage but no leaks and no visible oil type smoke from the rear or noticible loss of peformance. Some months later it burnt a valve out and I needed to remove the head to repair it when I got at the piston's there was so much wear you could move them around with your finger!!!
Anyway to cut a long story short I replaced the valve and got rid but I understand that bore wear is a common problem on the HCS engine and I can only suspect that the 'cat' is preventing the usual clouds of blue oily smoke from the rear, this will obviously damage the cat and this was the other reason I got rid of the car.
I belive from previous postings on here people have experianced heavy bore wear on this type engine at extremly low mileges when subjected to poor or infrequent oil changes.
Sorry for the bad news.
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As ive said before - im no car expert - in fact i know nothing really, apart from what i hear from other people!
What would you suggest would be the best thing for me to do? If the car is going to cost me more to repair than its worth, then its not going to be in my favour to get it repaired. However, i now have the problem of having no mot for the car and therefore wouldnt get a lot if i decided to sell the car.
Did you have to replace the cat or did the problem not get that bad?
Even though all im getting is bad news from people - at least i may now have found the actual problem. I just hope it doesnt cost me the earth to resolve!
Kel
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Difficult decision because, from what you say, its looks as if you will have to replace the cat plus do some work on the engine to correct the oil consumption.(It IS excessive!) But even after those items are done I suppose the car is still only worth a few hundred pounds. If you are not able to do anything yourself and are totally reliant on garages you could end up spending more than the car is worth. On the other hand, in its present state its hardly worth anything more than scrap....
Maybe its time to cut your losses and advertise it locally in case somone will take it off you for £75.
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what I am about to tell you I dont agree to myself and I wouldn't do it, but its up to you. The best you can do now, is to flog your car to an auction, you would get much more than the scrappy, provided your car is `visibly' in good nick. This is by far the quickest and the surest way of getting rid of your car and making sure it doesn't come back. Of course as I said you have to think if its something you find in yout heart to do and to pass the porblem to some other poor unsuspecting guy. Its either this or the scrap yard, as any private buyer worth their weight in salt will want to inspect the car and are sure to find out signs of oil burn, and suspect the lack of MOT (you mention mayo on the oil cap,.. dead give away). so you might be stuck with the car for ages, and DON't try to repair it, if its as bad as it looks. Once you start messing with cars like that, its like a can of worm, you end up fixing 20 other things to put the damn thing back together....
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If have problem with low compression or your engine smokes and burns oil, then it's worth to try staff from this site: www.engine-recondition.co.uk Added it to my fifth car allready and gained same results as the ones before: no smoke and oil consumption what so ever! There is plenty so called "oil snakes/thickeners" but this stuff works different
way. Can 100% recomend it as it saves money
Tried this on following cars:
* Vauxhall cavalier 1.7td (isuzu)1993
* Vauxhall combo 1.7d 19995
* BMW 320d 1999
* Mitsubishi Galant 2.0 1999
* Honda Accord 2.0 Vtec (F20B6)
All this cars had high mileage on their clocks and used a lot of oil (average 1liter every
600miles) Hope that help
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What grade of oil are you using?On this engine at this milage,I'd use 20w/50.
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Look at the date of the OP!
Looks like PZR's trying to flog snake oil, his post's repeated twice more.
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