My Fiesta starts then billows smoke from exhaust and vibrates through steering wheel. Have had problems with is using oil and some oil accidently ended up in a spark plug - changed that and it worked a little better but it struggles on hills now which it didnt before.
It is an R reg
Just need some pointers as to what it can be as have been ripped off by garage before.
R. 97 or 98. Is that the kind that always rusts around the filler cap?
Couple of relatively cheap problems spring to mind. 1) Valve stem seals letting oil past, will show if you drive gently for a while and then drop a couple of gears and boot it - you'll get smoke. Relatively cheap as valve stem seals can be changed without takign the head off and cost about a quid a piece (you'll need 8 or 16...) 2) slow leak on the head gasket - water gets into the cylinder when stood, makes it run rough on startup and chuck out white smoke. Will cause gradual loss of coolant, and also oil on occasion, depending on how the gasket's blown. This is dearer. At least £100 if you've got a tame mechanic, no idea how much for a nasty one.
The other options are a knackered engine. Which may or may not be horribly catastrophic as ford engines are dirt cheap, but you need someone to swap it for you.
Uh-oh! I did that and about 200 miles later the plug popped out! I can't say if it was loose already but it does seem that the oil at least helped it out!
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