Low/No Oil - Extent of Damage?

I ran an old mondeo which had the same thing happen to it for a quite a while with big ends knocking like crazy. Never dared to take it much above

3000 revs, and filled it with thick oil to stop it burning so much...

I had a motorbike that holed an oil cooler- I didn't notice when it happened because I was paying attention to other traffic and was moving quite fast. When I stopped at traffic lights it was plain something was wrong (I could smell the oil and it was smoking). Had a look and saw it was dripping oil.

I had 5-10 miles to go and was running late so just thought 'f*ck it' and continued on my journey trying to keep the revs and engine strain down. Before I got to my destination the oil light came on and it sounded like a bag of spanners. When I finally got it home and drained the oil there was less than a litre left in the bike (should have had about 3 to 3.5l).

I replaced the oil cooler and checked the top end- there was some obvious wear on the cams. However it went on for another 5 or 6 thousand before I traded it in with no obvious ill effects in the short term.

Now I'm not an expert but... what have you got to lose? Try a 10 mile journey and see what happens. If it seems ok change the oil, if it doesn't drop it at the scrap yard.

By the sound of it, as long as you keep the oil topped up, you can carry on using it. The chances of the engine actually breaking, IMO is pretty slim. You say you're not a total idiot. Maybe not total. Lets just say, if a car uses a lot of oil, it's wise to keep a can of oil in the boot.

Personally I wouldn't worry very much about what oil was in it. If you decide to continue using it just buy the cheapest you can find, and don't forget to keep a spare container of it in the boot. Mike. .

In my younger days I had a marina that had similar problems, drank about a litre per tank, run out on the motorway- drove some more and found a garage, filled up, still got more than 6 months out of it after that but rather than keep running it the same, I used can of Neulon (you know, these snake oil ptfe additives for old cars) and while I agree that the chance of it gumming up a more modern engine is a valid risk, it cut more than half the oil consumption for the rest of the time I had it. YMMV.

Diesel oil is similar to car oil but with more additives and detergents- one recommendation is if you've not changed the oil in a car for a while (or you have but its an old and gunky engine) run it on diesel oil for 500 miles or so then drain it and replace with high quality oil and all the crap and sludge that builds up with normal oil is all washed out clean when you drain the diesel. Obviously if your engines naff to the point of leaking so much then refilling with quality oil wont be good advice but certainly itll survive with the diesel oil in it- just make sure you buy some proper oil next time.

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Did you stop as soon as it made the racket, or were you singing along to Kylie* and didn't notice until a break in the tracks.

*Or whatever floats your boat, heh.

Are you sure it doesn't have an Alfa Romeo engine instead of a Fiesta? :)

Empty showing on the dipstick...

Usually, a replacement is cheaper - however it may not need it. You didn't say what engine it is, but I'm guessing it's either a 1.1 or 1.3 'cos you didn't say otherwise. ;)

Rightio.

Hmm. You may have to pay to dispose of it, sadly, but you might get some more mileage out of it. How much tax and test is left?

Yup...

It might be okay. Several drivers on the various fleets I had didn't bother checking their engine oil until the light flicked on, or until I gave them the once over. They often had low oil... No signs of ill effect.

It might - your best bet is to stick with usual Fiesta stuff.

The Ka's Endura-E is a relative of the HCS (more so the 1.3), and when abused (thrashed) with low oil levels, it gets noisy, but it keeps on going. The camshafts eventually die but more often than not the owner crashes it before hand!

Personally, unless you have another vehicle lined up, I'd tentatively use the Fiesta. Perhaps a trip to a local autoparts store for some oil, not far. If it has plenty of tax and / or test, you may well find that you'll make it to the end of that. Maybe further?

If you've still got plenty of cover with the RAC then I'd just put some thick oil in and run it until the MOT expires. Running without oil would have caused bearing wear - specifically main and big ends, and camshaft/followers - but that doesn't mean that they're about to fail horribly and leave you stranded (in any case, that's what you pay membership to the RAC for).

Darren

Get some 20/50 oil and a can of Wynn's oil additive (the syrupy stuff) and run it until you can find a good replacement car. 20 years ago I had a 50's

650cc motorbike where the big ends started rattling so I chucked in a can of Wynns which quietened it down a lot and reduced the oil consumption to 25% of previous. Anyway, this went quietly on for about another 2000 miles and an oil change was due so I replaced the oil but couldn't get another can of Wynn's until the weekend. It never got to the weekend, the big ends disintegrated the next day.

Thanks for the advice everyone. If I hadn't asked I think the thing would have been with the breakers by now. I'll see what further mileage I can get out of it.

Cheers, Tom.

Remove the sump and drop a couple of bearing caps to see how the crank looks. Minor scuffing isn't too much of a problem, but any deep scoring is bad news. You might have been lucky enough to get away with chewing the bearing shells though.

Or , it being an L reg fiesta just fill it up & ignore it.

There is that, but what's a set of shells cost for one of these? A tenner a set, plus sump gasket?

I'd drop the sump just to see how bad things were anyway, it's not like it's a major job on one of these, IIRC.