The oil consumption of my '97 Ka, 78000 miles (75k start of Jan so I've done enough mileage to monitor it) is best described as not good... I've just driven 150 miles back from my Mum's and another 50 up and down a steep hill to work and back and around town, admittedly all short journeys on a cold engine.Edit - I meant to say, in this time I estimate it to have used half a litre. In the first 800 miles it used a litre, so the consumption seems to have increased a bit over just 3k miles. That or I'm used to the car and driving it harder ;)
I suspect most of the oil will be used on these short journeys but all the same I realise the amount I'm using is above average.
Can I use cheap 15-50 stuff as a quick fix, as its thicker?
And for a proper solution... how much should I expect to pay for new valve stem seals? Ford quoted me a small fortune and I refuse to pay a third of the value of the car to replace a few seals. They weren't sure the job can be done without removing the head. Can it?
Edited by daveym on 14/03/2008 at 20:33
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If the valve stem seals have gone to the extent it's using that much oil, there will be a fair amount of blue smoke out of the exhaust for a few seconds after starting, particularly from cold.
Is it smoky at all?
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Expect to pay "approx" £200+ for the stem seals fitted at a indipendent garage.
All depends on what they find wrong ie: worn valve guides, valves worn out etc, if these are worn recon engine would be better with a warranty.
Compression test required first.. good luck.....
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Almost worth while to get another head and rebuild that-then just swap them over.
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The only smoke I've ever seen was more slightly greyish and I only managed to make it smoke that little bit by deliberately flooring it uphill in second from a stone cold engine (not how I'd normally treat it, but I wondered where the oil was actually going!)
Normally from cold it produces nothing more than say a little bit of steam - no more than you'd see from other cars so I don't suspect gasket problems.
It definitely doesn't leak. I've had it parked overnight in the same spot enough times to see there's not a drop and the underneath of the sump is dry.
How long can these sort of things be left untreated? I'm poor, and the sump itself may be an MOT fail point in July (garage who used to service it advised me it may start to rust through eventually - touch wood this hasn't happened yet) so I'd rather save for a recon engine later in the year than throw money at the one that's in it now. How much do they tend to cost?
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Oil consumption at this milage is more likely to be worn pistons/bores(cured it in the past with a new set of std. rings).Valve stem seals will normally cause a puff of smoke when first started but the seals will soften as the engine warms.
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