ford focus 1.6 oil issue

shoes · 8 Aug 2011 at 21:04

I checked the oil in my not so trusty focus last week, and topped it up by perhaps a quarter of a pint (a dribble really). I has covered <200 miles since then, mostly commuting to work on A roads behind trucks, not easy to get spirited on the way to work.

Edit: The car is a 2001 'Y' MK I focus 1.6 with 132k on the clock. It was serviced recently by clarkey and myself (<8 months IIRC) and the engine has been running sweet since.

I get home this evening and the oil light comes on about 300 yards from my house, but everything feels normal. I drive home (30mph high gear) and take a look at the dip stick. It appears to be bone dry in there.

My drive is on a slight incline so I moved the car onto a slight decline (I live on a hill), waited for a minute and looked again. There must be some oil in it as it's running ok and it splattered all up the dip stick. After wiping it showed the same result - no oil.

Looking underneath the car I cannot see any obvious sign of a leak, let alone the kind of hemorrhage required to dump it all, nor is my driveway black. I didn't look at work as I left this evening.

The car has been driving normally, I'm not aware of any odd smells or black smoke from the car, it's running as expected. I certainly wouldn't have checked the oil specifically tonight (that's a weekend task) unless the light had come on.

Any idea what's going on? I am going to have to inspect the block properly to check for leaks, I can't imagine it's used that much oil in <200 miles.

The car is it's final warning already so I might just take this as it doesn't want to live any more and take it to the knackers yard. If it's a cheap / easy fix then it may be it's saving grace.

Cheers

On the plus side I know the oil sensor and light works in the car

Ricochet J · 8 Aug 2011 at 21:07

Assuming Mk1, the Focus 1.6 Zetec engine uses a lot of oil. What is "topping up a quarter of a pint" based on? If the dip stick shows that the engine needs more than a quarter of a pint of oil, then you should put in the required amount.

To give you an idea, since January my car has used about 4L of Castarol in about 9000 miles.

shoes · 8 Aug 2011 at 21:29

it was approx 1/8 of a litre that I put in to bring it up to 1/2 way on the dip stick gauge. I was intending to drive approx 400 miles the weekend just gone, we took the mrs' car in the end as mine has been playing up electrically too.

I know it uses oil readily, I have been checking it every weekend and topping up every second or third on average (small amounts, usually 1/4 litre or less each time) to keep it about half way up the gauge. No problem with that.

After such a short distance though it has gone off the bottom of the dipstick scale, the little ball at the bottom of the stick is just about glossy on the bottom third of it.

Dogbreath · 9 Aug 2011 at 02:13

shoes said:
On the plus side I know the oil sensor and light works in the car

You understand that its an oil pressure warning, not oil level don't you?

Liquidfox · 9 Aug 2011 at 08:45

Dogbreath said:
You understand that its an oil pressure warning, not oil level don't you?

Exactly as above. That light means TURN THE ENGINE OFF NOW! Not carry on as before and check when you get home

shoes · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:47

Dogbreath said:
You understand that its an oil pressure warning, not oil level don't you?

Well I do now.

Really not all that fussed with 'you should have.....' comments, they're unhelpful, pointless and frankly this car is going to be crushed so **** it.

Unless anyone wants a POS focus 1.6 as a going concern - make me an offer.

Dogbreath · 9 Aug 2011 at 14:40

They weren't meant to be unhelpful; you now know what to do if you come across this situation again.

If the engine isn't making nasty noises then chances are it's fine and will keep going, but the oil consumption does seem a bit high. However, I would keep running it for now and just keep a very close eye on the level to see if the increased consumption is real or whether it was a one-off caused by measurement error etc.

Ricochet J · 9 Aug 2011 at 19:50

shoes said:
Well I do now.

Really not all that fussed with 'you should have.....' comments, they're unhelpful, pointless and frankly this car is going to be crushed so **** it.

Unless anyone wants a POS focus 1.6 as a going concern - make me an offer.

If you're local I'll strip a few bits off it for beer money if you don't mind. I'm in London or Suffolk.