Lady with car problem .......Any Ideas???

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.

Umm.. some oil ended up round the plug? How much went into the hole when you changed it?

Vibration through the steering wheel could be a misfire. That combined with a lack of power sounds more like the head gasket.

How much oil does it use? A litre a week? a day? a month?

What colour is the smoke? Does it stop when you've been driving for a while?

Thanks for those ideas .... have got a tame mechanic so will work on him .. but sons never seem to want to work on mummies car : )

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!

Tony

Remind them of their duties, it's Mothers Day on Sunday. I know 'cos I have to go through this yearly ritual of hell with my mum! :P