Engine oil use?

[Mike d92]

Just wondered what your 1.7 is like, does it use any oil? how much? and in a certain way?

Pretty much i ask this as when i just drive around normally mine never seems to use any oil. But when i decide to be a bit enthusiastic i notice that it quite often needs a little top up.
I no revvy engines can use oil when you give them some, just wondering if this is normal with the 1.7?
Its a FRP engine btw.

 

[TGPlayer1]

If there's no loss of power then it's probably just normal, with it being a performance engine and that. If it feels down on power then you may have worn piston rings. That's my problem and it only surfaces over about 2500rpm.

 

[red]

You can have worn piston rings without it feeling down on power. My FRP was using about a litre of oil every 300 miles and still felt great.. in fact at a rolling road day it was among the top standard FRPs for power.

.. Then it started billowing white smoke..

..Hopefully that's not your issue though.

 

[TGPlayer1]

Alright well it depends how worn they are, but speaking from experience worn rings leads to power loss.

But if it's just a little top up when you rag it then i don't think there's anything to worry about, it's when you look like James Bond from the smokescreen that you have issues.

 

[Mike d92]

I rebuilt my engine a while ago but was low milage just was peace of mind, but i never replaced the pistons and rings as there was no sign or wear anywhere. Among power it goes very well and i wouldn't say it has any powerloss at all.

 

[ElDude at Allison Automotive]

valve stem oil seals are an issue over time too, they get very brittle..

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

Alright well it depends how worn they are, but speaking from experience worn rings leads to power loss.

Normally, engines have three rings: the two top ones are so called compression rings, and the bottom one is so cslled the oil ring; it's job is to wipe the oil from the cilinder wall. If that ring is slightly failing, the engine will use oil and still produce plenty of power as the compression rings are not leaking.
Needless to say that the rings are very different (the oil and compression, i.e.).
And AFAIK, formula 1 engines have only two rings, one compression and one oil to minimise the friction losses.....

 

[Wild E. Coyote]

valve stem oil seals are an issue over time too, they get very brittle..

If that is the case, the engine uses oil when you lift up; the butterfly closes, and you create a vacuum in inlet plenum (as the engine is still drawing the air and turning). As you have just created the lowes possible pressure after the butterfly it sucks in the oil if the valve stem oil seals are not doing their job properly. In excessive casses someone driving behind you will notice a puff of blueish smoke when you lift up....

 

[TGPlayer1]

Without wanting to disagree (although i am :roll i'd say most engines have two rings to reduce manufacturing costs. Plus they aren't supposed to wear out. I'm almost certain the zetec se only has two rings. Seeing as mine has lost a lot of compression it seems more likely there is one compression ring.

But if you know for sure then forget that :grin:

 

[ElDude at Allison Automotive]

 

[danbrush]

mines on 66k miles and lost about a litre over 2 thousand miles,it doesnt smoke and does get driven pretty hard

 

[PumaNoob]

Ive not built an engine yet that doesnt have 3 piston rings, but ive not built a vast amount of different types of engine, only loads of the same lol. I had 3 1.7 engines, and i found that all of them, from a 33k engine to a 75k engine all used a little oil. Not a lot, but if driven spirited daily, id have to top up every few months, only a small amount.

 

[oilburner]

In my experience of variable valve timing (Honda VTEC) and variable cam timing (Puma) engines the way the systems work uses a small amount of oil, my old Honda would use close to a litre a month and Honda said it was normal

 

[yippeekiay]

Sheesh, and people say my car uses a lot of oil. It feeds it continously to lubricate the rotors but I'm using less oil than a lot of Puma owners (or Honda for that matter) it seems :lol:

Lets not talk about petrol, bit of a sore point :roll:

 

[PumaNoob]

Sheesh, and people say my car uses a lot of oil. It feeds it continously to lubricate the rotors but I'm using less oil than a lot of Puma owners (or Honda for that matter) it seems :lol:

Lets not talk about petrol, bit of a sore point :roll:

Not to mention road tax!

 

[yippeekiay]

:'(