Hi,
A friend has an 02 Ka 1.3. Last week, the oil light started to come on. On inspection (after the car had been sitting on level ground for about 3 hours), the dip stick showed no oil. We immediately bought some oil and filled it up (the correct specification was used according to the handbook). For a couple of days, the car was fine, and running more smoothly than it had been. However, today, there was a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust which smelt of burning (not normal cold weather condensation). The engine seemed to be running ok, and there was no white sludge under the filler cap, nor any loss of power. Could it be the fresh oil working its way through the engine and a lot of gunk being moved around, in which case will it clear eventually? Or could it be something more serious and related to the car having little oil in it last week? I have to say the car has not been serviced for about 2 years. Personally I have my car serviced regularly, but I though the Ka's engine was a tough one, using simple mechanicals from the old Ford Anglia. Any help would be much appreciated.
Regards,
Rob E
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Edited by Webmaster on 19/11/2007 at 23:10
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Rob
An oil light is a disaster light; by the time you see it, some damage has been done.
Is the oil now too full on the dipstick?
If not; you friend has saved the cost of a service and the bother of weekly fluid level , tyre and light checks. The cost of a new engine will outweigh that somewhat....
No engine is tough enough to survive running without oil - it's literally it's lifeblood.
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Remarkably restrained Screwloose, I can visualise you taking a deep breath, and pausing before drafting your reply ;>)
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Hi, thanks so far. As I suspected, it doesn't sound too good. Let's hope it can get over it!!!
Regards,
Rob E
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tom
Maybe a small sigh....
I'm just glad it made it to posting; we're in the middle of the worst torrential thunderstorm for years and the power has been off three times in the last half hour.
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Our deputy headteacher was once busy writing out all the school reports for his classes when lightning struck the telephone line which struck his PC which killled it.
Are you all backed-up screwloose?
And yes, I too suspect the engine is cooked. Reminds me of a friend with a year old Corsa which he knows uses oil (about 1l/6k), but he's relying on the low oil light (yes it really has one) to tell him when to top it up. If God had intended us to rely on dashboard lamps then he wouldn't have invented dipsticks.
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Mike Farrow
Edited by mfarrow {P} on 19/11/2007 at 23:20
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Mike
Maybe I'll get around to swapping from USB to the wireless side of the router. [With BT 8-meg running at 800 - at best - it's not been needed so far.....]
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The red light came on my car once no damage seems to have occured, though it did have oil in it just not enough as it may not have been changed for ages. Been fine since the oil change though and no obvious signs of engine wear.
My mates gets the red light of death every other week and its still going strong despite the frequent top ups it requires.
Also are you sure you haven't managed to flood the sump? My dad did this on the Escort once and that gave a lot white smoke, though this happened straight away. Again no long term damage was caused.
Edited by Rattle on 20/11/2007 at 19:24
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