Yeah, sounds like oil level is low -- add oil to mark!

While a 10K oil change interval is OK with the driving situation you have I'd prefer to do so more often -- 7500 miles.

Why did you have to have an oil seal replaced and when/how did you discover that you needed work done?


Brian

 

Yes I realize I have to add oil to the mark before I do any more driving. When I bought the car, I thought new cars may consume some oil breaking in, so I checked my oil regularly at that time, and at less than 5,000 miles I was a quart low. Dealer decided to add oil and wait to see whether that will keep happening. Then at about 7,500 miles I was a quart low again. Then the dealer took the car diagnosing the problem and decided to replace the oil seal.

After the oil leaking problem was fixed, I checked my oil less often, thinking the problem is fixed (maybe I should not think that way). But somehow the car is still leaking or burning a noticeable amount of oil. I am going to keep an extra bottle oil in my trunk from now on.. But I wonder whether it is common for Mk.3 Focus to have oil running pretty low before oil changes.... Do many of you add oil between oil changes?

 

I dont want to turn this into a discussion about how often you should change your oil but what i woud say is if you are going to go that long on a oil change, make sure you are checking the level. I check mine once a week when i get gas but do it at least once every other week. you never know if you are going to get an oil leak or something. better be safe then sorry. if that light comes on then you are dangerously low on oil. Add oil now!

 

The engine is transverse.. So the oil can flow toward one end or the other of the engine when in a long hard turn.
You MUST add oil!!!!
you ARE slowly destroying your engine every time you have that happen. Eventually it will just lock up and die. And you can buy a new engine.
Basically IMO you are an fool to allow this to happen more than once..
Once should have been a warning enough.
Let's all hope you add some oil! [?|]

 

Yes, if you plan on going 10k between changes you should probably just add a half quart or so to top it off sometime in the middle of that time frame

 

I dont usually have to add oil but i change mine much more often then you. i would say it's normal to lose a little oil going 10,000 miles on a change.

 

Thanks for the replies. Certainly it varies on each car, but I guess my car is not consuming more oil than normal. I will need to do oil change earlier or add more in between oil changes.

 

Well i would definitely recommend checking your oil more often and toping it off as needed. as for shorter oil change intervals, that's up to you, you do a lot of highway mileage so you can go longer then others. I would suggest using a full synthetic oil thought if you do go that long.

 

"but I guess my car is not consuming more oil than normal" Yes it is!
Did the dealer see the seal leaking or was he guessing? Are you still low after 5k on a oil change? I'd make the dealer do a oil consumption study, you are under warranty and it shouldn't be using that much oil. Make them fix it!

 

What he said!, make the dealer fix it. You paid good money for a newer car so make the dealer back up their satisfaction guaranteed warranties

 

If you where driving a Contour with the V6 you would be replacing the engine right now due to spun rod bearings.

Does any one know how many qts of oil the engine would need to be down to turn the oil light on? Also, that much oil has to go somewhere, are there any signs of a leak?

IMHO, the engine shouldn't be consuming any oil. My Mystique w/Zetec was leaking oil from the rear main seal and I never had to top it off between oil changes. But then again I only went a max of 4,000 miles between oil changes. None of my other vehicles consume any noticeable amount of oil either.

You might want to go to the dealer and get this documented incase anything else happens in the future.

 

On my 2014 I lost NO OIL(or an imperceptible amount) for my first 6000 miles. You should not be using oil at all IMHO.

 

Ford, and essentially all other manufacturers, define normal oil consumption as anything less than 1 quart per 1,000 miles or so. So I wouldn't hold my breath expecting Ford fix the OP's issue. Unless there's a leak, of course.

 

Your Probably right, personally I wouldn't be concerned about being 1 qt short at 10k miles. However the dealer will still look it over for him for free and give him an opinion for free if he takes it in

 

If you don't know where it started you won't know how much it has used.

I have a 2014 Focus, currently at 26,000 mi. Last oil change was at 20,000 mi. I do around 70% highway, and 30% local road. No extended idle or city driving.

... I know the oil is low.. but is this rate of oil consumption normal, and is it common? ...

If someone else did the oil change at 20,000 miles, did you check the level yourself right away, or at least within a few days?

If they underfilled it (good practice for first fill to avoid over-filling) but then forgot to top it off after the refill had settled (easy to forget if it's not your own car you're working on) then you don't really know what the rate of consumption is. You'll have to start at a known mileage with a known (full) level to determine that.

On the other hand, if whoever changed your oil had over-filled it, the consumption might be even worst than it appears. That also could have contributed to the seal going bad -- if it really did.

... Then the dealer took the car diagnosing the problem and decided to replace the oil seal. ...

... that much oil has to go somewhere, are there any signs of a leak? ...

Or the smell of oil underneath your car, or at the exhaust pipe?

 

Agree the checking of the oil level before 'discovering' it is now low matters.
If you have no idea what it WAS before...
And yes it should be checked when it has sat for a long time, and preferably on a level surface. (or at minimum the same surface)
If you check one time on an angle, and the next time on a different slope. nothing will matter as it will all be guessing.
And yes the check the day after getting it changed should happen to find out where it really was at the start.
Discovering it is a 'quart low' after driving 5K miles (but you never checked it when the oil was changed 5K ago...) means nothing.

 

Thanks for all these inputs!

Every time right after my dealer had changed oil, I verified it the next morning before I started the car. And they did fill it to the top mark, the same as they had told me. I am very certain the oil is gone.

It could be leaking again, or it could be burnt. I have not much experience in dealing with this, so I cannot tell or take any educated guess.

I am going to take the car to the dealer sometime in the future. Although we have warranty.. if I am correct, Ford does not usually give loaner vehicles unless you have purchased extended warranty. So it still costs me time and some other transportation expense to let the dealer keep the car for several days to check the car.

In the end, if they can fix it, that's good. If they tell me that rate of consumption is "normal", I am not going to waste any more time at the dealer....

It seems to me that many manufactures define normal oil consumption as less than 1qt per 1000 mi... which is shockingly high...

 

I recommend heading back to your dealer to have this looked into. Please send me a private message with your VIN, mileage, best daytime phone, full name, and dealer name/location. I'll search out some options.

Meagan

 

It's not clear from your messages how low your oil level was when you noticed the dash light coming on. If you're down a quart or less and the oil pressure light is illuminating, there's something else going on, and it's not good news.

1) It's not unusual for an engine to use a quart of oil or so over 10,000 miles. So it's worth the trouble to check periodically.

2) But it's also true that you won't damage your engine if you wait until it's down a full quart before adding oil. For example, p. 249 of the 2013 Focus owner's manual says: "Make sure that the level is between the MIN and MAX marks." When your oil level is right at the MIN mark, you're down a full quart.

3) if you're not down more than a quart and oil pressure drops low enough during normal driving to turn on the dash light, your engine already has much more serious problems than just an oil leak. Get the car to a mechanic you trust ASAP and do not drive it until the problem is diagnosed. Driving with low oil pressure will cause more serious and more expensive damage.

Is it possible that when you had the oil leak, your oil level got critically low (down two or three or four quarts) for some period of time? That could explain why you're seeing low oil pressure now.

 

I think you are giving good advice, but are missing the main point of 'around curves'.. The Contour problem mentioned earlier is the same one. In a long sweeping curve, at high 'G' the engine oil tends to move away from the oil pickup, and if the oil level is somewhat low, the engine will suddenly have no oil pressure due to the oil not being where it is supposed to be.

This is different than a general loss of oil pressure.
As the exact problem is pretty well known. So basically the op adding more oil IS the total solution. (or not making such high 'G' force sweeping turns!!)

 

Some sporty cars have mods. included for higher tolerance of cornering, all need to be filled to the max. for the best results.

Surprisingly, even the last generation Corvette turned out to blow engines when used more than a few laps on the track - even with their version of a partial "dry sump" system that was supposed to prevent the problem. This from a car designed for good performance under those conditions.

Haven't heard before of MkIII's loosing pressure (like at an autocross), but those weren't run a quart low either.

 

I've seen also oil pan baffles... they require a lot of testing at different force (lateral, acceleration,braking) most are custom designed... never saw a duratec kit yet!

 

http://d5otzd52uv6zz.cloudfront.net/70192ab2-01d1-4121-a19c-3c1c0ceceea8-350.jpg

This one from Massive is a basic type for an earlier duratec. They sell it along with the balance shaft delete kit now.

Same delete kit fits the current ST's, they don't list a baffle for MkIII's yet.


Fancier baffles cast into the pan would be nice, none for our cars that I've seen. English aftermarket had short pans & dry sump for earlier engines, the current TiVCT isn't supported that way AFAIK. (Silly high cost for some of the earlier duratec performance pieces)

Earlier duratec had aftermarket to an insane level, from Cosworth formula car engines on down as it was also used in many RWD applications, racing & kit cars.


We're still wondering how many d20 pieces that fit the '05-'11 engines might fit or be easily modified to work with the current d20 TiVCT. Exh. manifolds turned out to be close enough, even if not "official" for it, I wonder if Massive's pan baffle will be possible to fit.