St220 oil consumption - worth the effort

[katy81]

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?

 

[katy81]

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.

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*