[MAJ81]

Last November I bought a 53 reg Ford fiesta MK6 that had done just over 8000 miles, When I got the car I checked the oil and the level was fine. 6 weeks later the oil light came on for a second, so I let the engine cool down for a few hours and checked the oil level and the dipstick was dry.

I had to put two and half litres of oil in to get the level back up to normal. Since then in the past 5 weeks I've have to put 1 and a half litres of oil in because the level keeps dropping every 2 weeks.

I took the car to a mechanic and he can find any reason for the oil lose as there's no visible oil leak and car is not smoking. He said the only thing that he could do was strip the engine but that It would be expensive.

Other then loosing oil the car seems to be fine. I was wondering if anyone could tell me roughly how long my engine is likely to last if I just keep checking my oil every week and top it up to stop level getting to low? Since I've had the car I've only done 1595 miles.

[Dennis W]

Is it Petrol or Diesel? Manual or Automatic. What size engine?

Engine oil may leak from the drain plug in the sump. or from oil pressure sender switch or other places.

[Santa]

If there is no visible leak, it must be burning it. I assume that your 53 reg Ford fiesta has actually done 80,000 miles not 8,000. If you bought it from a dealer you should take it back and ask them to look at it as you have a six month warranty by law.

[Dennis W]

Was it a Private sale? What is the history of the car, Has it been regularly serviced?

Has it been laid up and unused for a year or two?

[MAJ81]

Yes sorry I meant 80,000 not 8000! It's a 1.4 16 valve fiesta zetec. I bought the car privately from a mechanic who had repaired the car after the cambelt snapped.

As for the service history it was serviced by ford up until 2007 and that's when the service history stops.

I'm guessing from what I've read online that the last owner of the car didn't bother to have the oil changed, which has caused engine wear and caused the car to burn oil. As there are no visible oil leaks around the engine or oil under the car when it's been parked.

But like I said I also haven't noticed the car smoking. I haven't got any money to have the car repaired if it means having the engine stripped down. So that's why I was wondering who like I could expect the engine to last by just checking it regularly and topping the oil up.

[Dennis W]

You need to do a full oil and filter change immediately.

You can expect the car to last 100,000 miles IF you look after it better and get it serviced regularly.

[Hometune]

Check the engine breathers are not blocked up which causes pressurisation of the engine and subsequent burning of oil. These engines are normally quite good so have this done first. If the cambelt broke this is probably an indicator of poor service so the oil may not have been changed regularly.
Think I would add some engine oil cleaner, follow the instructions on the bottle then drain the oil, change the filter and fill up with new oil and keep my fingers crossed this has cleaned out the deposits and the piston rings. This engine should really have 5/30 fully synthetic grade oil but it might help to change to the much cheaper 10/40 semi synthetic as this will be slightly thicker and may last longer.
You can keep adding oil indefinitely but you do risk damaging the catalyst in the exhaust.