Oil usage

[CosKev]

Another thing that can cause oil usage is if the engine is running too rich,the petrol washes the oil off the bores and so it gets burnt/used.

Bore wash they call it. 

A good indication of bore wash is if the oil smells slightly of petrol. 

[Thrustyjust]

If you are using excessive oil  , then a compression test /leak down test is your next port of call. 

[Weekend Warrior]

18 minutes ago, CosKev said:

Another thing that can cause oil usage is if the engine is running too rich,the petrol washes the oil off the bores and so it gets burnt/used.

Bore wash they call it. 

A good indication of bore wash is if the oil smells slightly of petrol. 

This may be a possibility the car pops and barbless a lot on overrun and when it pops it blows flames out of the exhaust ,When I test drove the car I asked about the pops and bangs and the owner said it had cost him a fair bit to get it like that and it was normal for a car that's tuned 

During the summer I had a couple of runs home in the dark and it was only when side of the car lit up orange I realised I was getting flames.

[Kingster]

1 hour ago, Weekend Warrior said:

Ok ,but where is it used and why ?

I suppose if it’s not leaking then it will be getting burned. 

My point was that it’s not a standard engine that is expected to last over 100k miles without a rebuild. It’s a race tuned motor that is built to have higher compression and more fuel & air burned to give it more power. The added power will add strain and perhaps force oil past the rings (which may be designed differently from std and thus could be normal?). As it is a tuned engine, it will need a rebuild a lot more regularly than std and maybe burning some oil is a consequence of this?

[Weekend Warrior]

44 minutes ago, Thrustyjust said:

If you are using excessive oil  , then a compression test /leak down test is your next port of call. 

Thanks for the advice thus far ,hopefully I'm worrying about nothing ,I'll get someone to do a compression , if all is well with that I take it all is good 

As I previously said I had a Saab turbo that I owned for 3 years that I had to top up regularly and never thought anything of it . However I worry or get anxiety about the westy that I've not experienced with any of my other cars .

[darve]

@Kit Car Electronics?

[Kit Car Electronics]

1 litre per 1000 miles is very unusual for a zetec unless you are throwing it out through the crank vent or cam cover breather, or overfilling it.

[Weekend Warrior]

4 minutes ago, Kit Car Electronics said:

1 litre per 1000 miles is very unusual for a zetec unless you are throwing it out through the crank vent or cam cover breather, or overfilling it.

In which case I assume I'd see signs of this in the engine bay or it wouldn't be running right ?

[Kit Car Electronics]

Well it depends on where your breather is vented to... It's common to blank off the crank vent totally, then vent the cam cover uphill to a catch tank with a breather - in which case any oil pushed out should accumulate there. It's also possible to have a false dipstick reading with a shortened sump causing over-fill and then burn or push out too much just because the crank whips it around. 

What does your breather arrangement look like? Do you ever notice blue smoke in your mirrors or oil on the wheelarch? Oily plugs?

[Lawrie]

That was my thought.  Oily/black plugs.

I'm afraid you're going to have to take them out and have a look.  I suspect that they're well hidden too.  BTW you cannot afford to break a plug, as bits can get in the bore and ruin it.

The centre should be light brown

[Weekend Warrior]

6 minutes ago, Kit Car Electronics said:

Well it depends on where your breather is vented to... It's common to blank off the crank vent totally, then vent the cam cover uphill to a catch tank with a breather - in which case any oil pushed out should accumulate there. It's also possible to have a false dipstick reading with a shortened sump causing over-fill and then burn or push out too much just because the crank whips it around. 

What does your breather arrangement look like? Do you ever notice blue smoke in your mirrors or oil on the wheelarch? Oily plugs?

There's a catch tank on the bulkhead with a pipe going to the cam cover there's no oil in it .I've never noticed blue smoke ,no oil on wheel arch and as I said if you rub your finger around the exhaust pipe it's dry .Ill post a picture of the catch tank tomorrow,as for oily plugs I don't know ,

[CosKev]

12 hours ago, Weekend Warrior said:

This may be a possibility the car pops and barbless a lot on overrun and when it pops it blows flames out of the exhaust ,When I test drove the car I asked about the pops and bangs and the owner said it had cost him a fair bit to get it like that and it was normal for a car that's tuned 

During the summer I had a couple of runs home in the dark and it was only when side of the car lit up orange I realised I was getting flames.

Flames out of the exhaust of a NA must mean it's running pretty rich!

Maybe hes had it mapped rich on the over run,if that's the case it shouldn't cause bore wash really.

I would be inclined to get it on a RR with a AFR readout and see what the mapping looks like.

[Weekend Warrior]

19 hours ago, Kit Car Electronics said:

Well it depends on where your breather is vented to... It's common to blank off the crank vent totally, then vent the cam cover uphill to a catch tank with a breather - in which case any oil pushed out should accumulate there. It's also possible to have a false dipstick reading with a shortened sump causing over-fill and then burn or push out too much just because the crank whips it around. 

What does your breather arrangement look like? Do you ever notice blue smoke in your mirrors or oil on the wheelarch? Oily plugs?

Hi Kev ,here's a couple of pictures ,there are a couple of holes on the side of the tank with threads should they be blanked off or is this normal ?

 

if if the car is left for a day or 2 there is no smoke blue or otherwise from the exhaust which is I'm told a good thing .

ill get a friend to take a spark plug out and have a look

[Kingster]

Looks like the crankcase breather is blocked off. 

Jury is out on if that is good or bad, not sure which one it is myself!

[Thrustyjust]

Black tops arent heavy breathers unless unwell. Then you will have oil on the scuttle. There is no need for the holes in the side of the can, as the cap is breathable. Would be interesting in finding what the engine is built with, such as pistons . They are brilliant engines, so in standard trim not use oil, hence why looking at what was changed from standard is a sensible way to look at it.

As for sump breathers, I ran both my rocker cover and sump to a tank. Just remember to remove the poppet valve in the baffle pot on the block to allow it to breath.