Oil Consumption (can you say LEMON)

10874 Views 50 Replies 15 Participants Last post by jcarr, 7 d ago

john8228

Discussion Starter · Jul 29, 2011

My fiesta seems to be going through oil on a regular basis and I have been working with ford on this but I'm starting to lose my patience.

This is the 5th attempt at ford doing an oil consumtion test.
The fisrt two times were just bs, they were just scribing the dip stick which to this day has no marks on it.
The next 3 had the following results.
test 3 - 1,000 miles - a little over a half of a quart
test 4 - 1,500 miles - a full quart
test 5 - 1,500 miles - 24 oz
(if I try to go a full oil change (5,000 miles) I have added as much as 2 quarts and still been a little low on the stick.

After the 3rd and 4th test they told me to bring it back after 1500 miles so they could check it. After the 5th test they said thanks we topped it off for you, with no other instruction. I called the next day to talk to the service guy that did the other test and he said he would get back to me as did my customer service manager on the ford side. It has been over a week with no response. What are my next steps?

And yes, my speedo is off (they say it is within standards), the transmission did only move in reverse (fixed with a update to computer), the door seal leaked (fixed after 3 attemps), the stereo speakers were making noises even with the radio off (eventually just went away), and finally the gas gage is messed up (stil not fixed, made many attempts).

21 - 40 of 51 Posts

grafxman

· #21 · Aug 2, 2011

FORDSVTPARTS said:
New engines use oil, it's a fact.
.

I've bought 4 new cars and one new truck in my life. The truck and 3 of the cars were built by Ford and none used any oil whatsoever. The other car was a '66 XKE Jaguar. The Jag would always be a quart low when I hit 3,000 miles throughout its life. It had about 80,000 miles on it when I traded it in. The Jag had a large oil capacity, I think 6 quarts or maybe more so getting a quart low wasn't a big deal.

So I must respectfully disagree with your statement. It is not a fact that new cars use oil, at least not in my experience. I suspect a few other folks here might also have similar experiences. Also, FWIW, thus far my Fiesta hasn't used a drop of oil. I stand by my previous statement "if I had a car that used a quart every 1500 miles I would get rid of it". As for driving 4500 miles in a week, just take a vacation from Florida to California and back. People do that all the time.

Mustang Man

· #22 · Aug 3, 2011

grafxman said:
I've bought 4 new cars and one new truck in my life. The truck and 3 of the cars were built by Ford and none used any oil whatsoever. The other car was a '66 XKE Jaguar. The Jag would always be a quart low when I hit 3,000 miles throughout its life. It had about 80,000 miles on it when I traded it in. The Jag had a large oil capacity, I think 6 quarts or maybe more so getting a quart low wasn't a big deal.

So I must respectfully disagree with your statement. It is not a fact that new cars use oil, at least not in my experience. I suspect a few other folks here might also have similar experiences. Also, FWIW, thus far my Fiesta hasn't used a drop of oil. I stand by my previous statement "if I had a car that used a quart every 1500 miles I would get rid of it". As for driving 4500 miles in a week, just take a vacation from Florida to California and back. People do that all the time.

What were your 3 cars you purchased new from Ford?

Also a vacation is not normal driving also Florida to California and back is a HORRIBLE vacation, that is 4 days of driving and only 3 days of spending time in California.

grafxman

· #23 · Aug 3, 2011

Mustang Man said:
What were your 3 cars you purchased new from Ford?

Also a vacation is not normal driving also Florida to California and back is a HORRIBLE vacation, that is 4 days of driving and only 3 days of spending time in California.

Purchased new-'72 Ford Courier truck, '82 Mercury Lynx, '95 Escort GT and '11 Fiesta. None of those vehicles ever consumed any oil whatsoever between oil changes throughout their life. BTW I drove the Courier from FL to S. TX several times as well as from FL to WV. I drove the Lynx from FL to Mexico and from FL to WV. I drove the GT all over FL, SC, OH and WV. Just check my photo sets at flickr. The only trip I've taken in the Fiesta was about 1,500 from Jacksonville to Atlanta for a week of photography and back. FWIW I bought a Mazda B2200 pick up new in '88. I still have it and doesn't use a drop of oil either.

OK Mustang, say we take two weeks or three weeks. The manual calls for monthly oil level checks. The end result is the same, a destroyed engine running 3 quarts low. Using a quart every 1,500 is bad, bad, bad! For the third time here I say this: If I had a car that used that much oil I would get rid of it. It is not normal!!!

billnchristy

· #24 · Aug 3, 2011

I totally agree dude. I bought a new car to not have to worry about this crap.

*Note mine is fine and has not eaten any oil.

FORDSVTPARTS

· #25 · Aug 3, 2011

Unless I missed it you still didn't say how many miles are on the Fiesta currently.

grafxman

· #26 · Aug 3, 2011

FORDSVTPARTS said:
Unless I missed it you still didn't say how many miles are on the Fiesta currently.

You didn't miss it because I didn't say how many miles I have on the Fiesta. Not that its relevant but its not very high, perhaps 3,000 miles or thereabouts. I don't drive much during the summer months because it's too damn hot all over the country to run around outside carrying a bunch of camera gear. This fall, winter and spring is when it will be driven a lot. I've checked the oil several times after sitting overnight and it's still right where it was the day I bought it. I wipe the dipstick off, stick it back in, pull it out and check it again. It's staying right at the top.

FORDSVTPARTS

· #27 · Aug 4, 2011

grafxman said:
You didn't miss it because I didn't say how many miles I have on the Fiesta. Not that its relevant but its not very high, perhaps 3,000 miles or thereabouts. I don't drive much during the summer months because it's too damn hot all over the country to run around outside carrying a bunch of camera gear. This fall, winter and spring is when it will be driven a lot. I've checked the oil several times after sitting overnight and it's still right where it was the day I bought it. I wipe the dipstick off, stick it back in, pull it out and check it again. It's staying right at the top.

My question was directed towards the original poster who says he's having oil consumption issues.

john8228

Discussion Starter · #28 · Aug 14, 2011

I have purchased the following new cars from Ford;
1987 mustang gt, 1990 ranger, a taurus(in the 90's?), 1991 thunderbird, 1995 escort, 2011 fiesta
used
1965 mustang fb (still own), 1969 mustang, 1971 mustang, 1973 mustang, 1979 mustang, even a tiempo, winstar, econoline, 2005 taurus (still own), 2007 freestyle (still own), i'm sure i missed a few along with a few GM beaters to get through winter in the old days.

john8228

Discussion Starter · #29 · Sep 20, 2011

Just thought I would update everyone who has shown interest in my oil problems. After numerous consumption test, the dealer and CSM decided to involve a Ford Engineer. They started by running additional test and then started to disassemble the engine, what they uncovered was a score in the wall of the #2 cylinder. Since there have been issues with the oil since the first oil change they have decided to end my misery and order a short block. Knowing that other things can go wrong when working on these new cars, especially when dismateling the entire engine compartment, I hope I won't be seeing other issues related to this replacement.

grafxman

· #30 · Sep 20, 2011

So they did find a problem. I hope the short block resolves your situation satisfactorily. I was absolutely certain that your oil consumption was abnormal despite what others here have claimed. Good luck and please keep us posted.

missourimule

· #31 · Sep 20, 2011

This is obviously something that occasionally happens even on the best of cars. I'm relatively certain that 99.9% of other Fiesta owners aren't noticing any oil consumption. Once the short block is put in you shouldn't have further difficulty. I wouldn't worry about it after it is replaced.

So far as I know I haven't used a drop of oil in 2600 miles.

Iceracer

· #32 · Sep 20, 2011

5000 mile, still hits the top mark.
It did use close to a quart in the first 1000 miles, none after.

Norm201

· #33 · Sep 21, 2011

john8228;110663 what they uncovered was a score in the wall of the #2 cylinder. [/QUOTE said:
We may never know but I will bet there are several engines out there that have this same condition. It had to put in by some machine or manufacturing process that was not corrected immediately.

john8228

Discussion Starter · #34 · Sep 21, 2011

you would think that the computer could report out the loss of compression due to the score in the wall.

Mustang Man

· #35 · Sep 21, 2011

The loss of compression from a score in the cylinder wouldn't throw any red flags to the computer because it would be a very small compression drop.

FORDSVTPARTS

· #36 · Sep 21, 2011

The car has no way to measure compression. It can sense misfires and knock but not compression.

grafxman

· #37 · Sep 21, 2011

Most likely a bit of metal or sand fell in through the spark plug hole or got in unnoticed before the heads were attached.

FORDSVTPARTS

· #38 · Sep 21, 2011

Norm201 said:
We may never know but I will bet there are several engines out there that have this same condition. It had to put in by some machine or manufacturing process that was not corrected immediately.

Possibly but it could also have been a defect in a piston, ring, grit falling in to the cylinder during assembly, debris from a defective spark plug etc.

There's any number of scenarios that could lead to an issue like this.

.

71Grabber302

· #39 · Sep 22, 2011

My 2010 Focus had an oil consumption problem to, I went to basic training and wrongly expected my wife to step up and check the fluids often and get the oil changed at 3000 miles, when she drove the car down to my graduation ceremony the first thing I noticed is that it was filthy the second that the engine was knocking, I checked the oil and it wasn't even touching the dipstick.

I then asked her if she had gotten the oil changed at 3000 like I had asked (the car now had 7500 miles) and she said the dealer turned her away and told her to come back at 7500 miles, they didn't even offer to check the fluids.

I ask her if she had even bothered to raise the hood once since I've been gone or at least have somebody else do it, of course her answer was no.

I'm not saying they are responsible by any means my wife ruined that car in 2 months by not maintaning it properly, I still don't think it should have used 4 qts of oil in a 4 mnth 7500 mile stretch tho. (I even wrote reminders in the letters I sent her while I was gone

)

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Mustang Man

· #40 · Sep 22, 2011

FORDSVTPARTS said:
The car has no way to measure compression. It can sense misfires and knock but not compression.

Not exactly true, the PCM can monitor the power balance of each cylinder, it won't give an exact compression ratio but it can tell the computer if one cylinder doesn't have the same pressure as the other 3.

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