St220 oil consumption - worth the effort

katy81 · 27 Jun 2024 at 14:10

Seems to be high. Maybe 100 ml every 200 miles.

I was warned about not running low so check regularly. Was told it might be the pcv so did that and spark plugs. No difference. Checked all hoses they seemed fine. Bit oily in the intake and a few hoses

Worth investigating or just sell on? It's low miles, 04. Tidy car. But I imagine it could be the head gasket but doing the pcv was bad enough.

The exhaust smokes a bit under load. I would say it's white smoke. Doesn't smell of anti freeze.
No oil in coolant no bubbles with engine on and resivour cap open. Could it be a stuck injector?

I guess I should just buy a compression tester and try that.

Any advice?

Sinbad2000 · 27 Jun 2024 at 14:21

Sounds to me like turbo seals may be leaking.

Rilot · 27 Jun 2024 at 14:58

Sinbad2000 said:
Sounds to me like turbo seals may be leaking.

St220 doesn't have a turbo.

Jester* · 27 Jun 2024 at 14:59

Sinbad2000 said:
Sounds to me like turbo seals may be leaking.

ST220 was NA wasn't it?

100ml every 200 miles so 500 ml every 1k. There are many engines where acceptable oil use is circa 1L per 1000 miles. So I'd double check there isn't just a well known common amount of consumption before pulling it all apart?

Sinbad2000 · 27 Jun 2024 at 15:02

Oh, mistaking it for a Focus ST then - apologies!

jaybee · 27 Jun 2024 at 15:14

I think it would come down to the usual stuff:

- How much the car is worth
- Miles you do
- How much you bought it for
- How long you want to keep it

I have a similar "issue" on an old Focus 2003. Probably uses a litre a month. In the interest of prolonging the old girls life as cheaply as possible (knowing that she will die soon anyway due to other things on the way out) we just let her plod along and suck up the cost of topping her up with the cheapest oil you can buy on ebay/eurocarparts. I think I can get 5L for not much more than £20 at times.

I know it sounds obvious but have you checked if you have a leak? Sometimes people forget that undertrays can hold a lot of oil back and it can sit in the squidgy foam material stuff and then eventually just burn off due to heat and...well...just dripping onto the open road at higher speed.

Iamzod · 27 Jun 2024 at 16:49

It's very unlikely to be burning it, however that Duratec V6 leakes from everywhere.

I've done rear crank seal on mine, sump gasket & both rocker gaskets, now timing cover has a leak. However it's only leaking at higher revs so no puddles or drips etc.

If it's not leaking it's not an ST220.

katy81 · 27 Jun 2024 at 22:02

Iamzod said:
It's very unlikely to be burning it, however that Duratec V6 leakes from everywhere.

I've done rear crank seal on mine, sump gasket & both rocker gaskets, now timing cover has a leak. However it's only leaking at higher revs so no puddles or drips etc.

If it's not leaking it's not an ST220.

On the passenger side of the engine I noticed a lot of oil around that area near the pully when I did breaks. What's that? I didn't fancy cleaning it. It did not seem to be coming from the rocker.

Also mpg has taken a bit if a hit from like 24 to 18-19ish.

jaybee said:
I think it would come down to the usual stuff:

- How much the car is worth
- Miles you do
- How much you bought it for
- How long you want to keep it

I have a similar "issue" on an old Focus 2003. Probably uses a litre a month. In the interest of prolonging the old girls life as cheaply as possible (knowing that she will die soon anyway due to other things on the way out) we just let her plod along and suck up the cost of topping her up with the cheapest oil you can buy on ebay/eurocarparts. I think I can get 5L for not much more than £20 at times.

I know it sounds obvious but have you checked if you have a leak? Sometimes people forget that undertrays can hold a lot of oil back and it can sit in the squidgy foam material stuff and then eventually just burn off due to heat and...well...just dripping onto the open road at higher speed.

No idea what it's worth I got it for about 2500 in 2023. I do about a. Tank a week, 250 miles.
Dunno how long I want to keep it. I quite like the car. And it is the last ford v6 family car so it may go up in value. I have dry storage so *shrugs*

Maundie · 28 Jun 2024 at 06:30

katy81 said:
No idea what it's worth I got it for about 2500 in 2023. I do about a. Tank a week, 250 miles.
Dunno how long I want to keep it. I quite like the car. And it is the last ford v6 family car so it may go up in value. I have dry storage so *shrugs*

If appreciating in value is what you are after then you need to take it off the road and a complete shell up restoration (including engine removal and strip down to block to rebuild) as in 20 years it may be worth what the XRs\Cosworths are worth now, by the sounds of it you have a 'more than usual' amount of oil leaks so these either need sorting or it's either going to die a death or be worth nothing very shortly.
What it's worth I had a 24v Probe and that lost very little oil (perhaps a pint every 6 months or so) and I sometimes think I wish I'd kept it as it was a nice cruiser, very comfortable and the engine was sweet as a nut, just the bodywork started becoming a bit tatty.