Ford Focus - Oil Consumption

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Thu 22 Apr 2010 11:52
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - willow

Hi.

Can anyone tell me, if it is normal for my car (which has done 91000 miles) to use some oil? I am having to top it up (a couple of egg cups full) every month. There are no leaks, the water container is not contaminated and the oil itself is not milky from the dip stick. There is no blue smoke from the exhaust, so where is it all going?

Also, is 91000 miles excessive for a petrol engine? The car runs just fine. What is 'high' mileage these days?

Edited by willow on 22/04/2010 at 11:54

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 22 Apr 2010 12:10
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - mickyh7

A couple of 'Egg cups' a month is just fine,sounds like you have a good engine !

150,000 miles is quite common on modern engines,your has lots of life left yet !

Some Taxis go on to 250,000 miles + Regular oil changes are the thing.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 22 Apr 2010 14:59
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - willow

Thanks Mickyh7

She has always been reliable and a good little runner.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 22 Apr 2010 16:22
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - piston power

1 ltr of oil is between min and max so 2 egg cups is nothing it may burn it but you can't see it the catalitic converter will hide this.

Regular oil changes and filters i do mine at no more than 6 months or 5k.

Use branded oil or fords own not cheap rubbish that engine will do startship miles i have worked on engines that did 250,000mls before any surgery needed doing, it was the regular oil changes that did this, neglect is what happens to many and then they don't last.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 23 Apr 2010 01:43
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - 1litregolfeater

Sounds like a good engine Willow, how many miles a month do you do?

Out of interest, what kind of oil do you use?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 23 Apr 2010 09:59
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Peter.N.

Most of my engines have used about a litre between oil changes, so that sounds pretty good to me.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 23 Apr 2010 16:35
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Peter D

Perhaps the OP would like to describe the consumption in cc per km not eggcups per month. Regards Peter

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 24 Apr 2010 12:12
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - willow

Hi 1litregolfeater

I guess around 600 miles a month.

I have been topping up using Castrol Magnatec 5-30 as recommended by Ford, least that's what it says on the bottle. Spoke to my Ford dealer and they said that was okay to use this oil but that they use Total Quartz as standard. The Castrol is synthetic, is this okay I wonder.

Edited by willow on 24/04/2010 at 12:17

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 24 Apr 2010 12:14
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - willow

Hi PeterD

No one else seems to have a problem visualizing a couple of "egg cups full" so why can't you? :)

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 18 May 2010 13:00
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - mouton

My focus is just about to hit 150k and the engine still sounds great, no oil leaks. I've heard of these cars making it to 200k if they're well looked-after. As for the door locks, on the other hand...

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 18 May 2010 20:54
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Viz

My Focus just past 150k miles, and uses roughly half a litre of oil per 25k miles.

No major probs in 8 years.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 25 Jul 2011 16:25
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Waino

Perhaps better to add to this thread rather than start a new one.....

Over the last 18 months or so, I've noticed a steady increase in oil consumption for my wife's 1.6 petrol Focus hatchback - it's a Sept 2002 model, now on just over 86k miles. A few weeks ago, I had to put a whole litre of oil in and I've just had to top up with another 400ml after only 400 miles - the problem appears to be worsening at 1 litre oil per 1000 miles. Until the Focus reached about 60k miles, like my old Mondeo, it didn't need any oil between services.

The car has been regularly serviced. I have been using branded oil of the correct spec and there doesn't appear to have been any change in the car's performance. There is no significant smoke from the exhaust.

Has anyone any ideas before I take it to my (independent and reliable) garage? I have to say that, until this started happening, I thought the car was perfect!

Many thanks Waino

Edited by Waino on 25/07/2011 at 16:27

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 25 Jul 2011 17:00
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - davmal
My advice would be to spend £40 odd quid and get a mechanic to do a wet and dry compression test. This will point to one of the two main possibilities for using oil, worn bores/rings or valve oil seal failure. The latter being considerably cheaper to fix.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 25 Jul 2011 20:28
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Waino

Thanks for the comment, davmal, I'll take it over tomorrow and get the test organised, Let's hope it's the cheaper of the possibilities.

I'll let you know what happens.

Waino

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 26 Jul 2011 12:12
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Waino

I called at the garage this morning and was advised that, as the car is due in for its annual MoT/service in 6 or 7 weeks time, the pressure test could be left until then. As we are only likely to do a maximum of 4-500 miles in that time, It will be OK to drive it; although, of course, we should continue to monitor the oil level.

If the rings/bores turn out to be the issue, then a swap for a reconditioned engine would be the most likely route. Let's hope it's just the valve oil seals!

The question of 'is it worth it?' raises its head again but, as the car is the 'Chic' model with leather upholstery etc and is generally in very good condition, I guess we'll be going ahead.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 14 Sep 2011 08:55
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Waino

Just to bring this up to date...

The Focus went in last week for its annual service and, to my relief, the compression test indicated that the bores were not the cause of the oil consumption.

They changed the pcv valve - something that I knew nothing about, so I looked it up on the net. Apparently, a blocked psv valve can cause a range of symptoms including an erratic idle - which is something alse that I had noticed but forgotten to report before the service. I was surprised to read the suggestion that the psv valve should be changed at between 20k and 50k mile intervals - and I'd never heard of it! Ah, well!

I can already report that the idling speed has settled down so I'll be monitoring the oil level with great interest.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 14 Sep 2011 22:53
Ford Focus - Oil Consumption - Waino

Apologies - about about halfway through, I started referring to the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve as the psv valve. Maybe the mods are able to correct this.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

If you cover no more than 100 miles per day and have easy access to a charging point at home or work, then an EV is ideal for you.

Is an electric car right for me?