Hot answers tagged oil
8
It's a Diesel, which means that you usually have a high detergent oil in an engine that dumps combustion by-products like soot into the oil as part of its normal operation. Given the age of the vehicle I'm not surprised that the oil has noticeably darkened after 10 miles - one of the older Diesels I owned a while back did that during the time it took to run ...
5
To add to what others have said, diesel lube oil (the code starts with "C", like "CJ") is formulated to hold lots of soot, and after 10,000 miles, there probably was a lot of soot in the remaining oil that got mixed in with the new oil.
When changing your own, never put "S" (for "spark") rated oil in a diesel engine!
5
The very first thing that you should check is whether you actually made a mistake and, if so, which one.
A cap that says "ATF oil only" is for automatic transmission fluid. If you're adding engine oil to the transmission, that's going to make your transmission very unhappy. It is fixable: you'll need to drain the transmission fluid and replace it.
If ...
5
I agree with Bob's comment 100%
Do you want to risk your engine trying something unsupported by guidance from the manufacturer? This will invalidate any warranty from them!
Generally manufacturers give good guidance on running in engines (where necessary) including which oils, what speeds/revs you should use etc.
3
If coolant is getting into the engine, then oil will be getting into the coolant. It's a 2-way street there. I'm really surprised he didn't mention it, since it's expected. However, normally after doing a gasket repair of that type they just automatically change your coolant and oil on the spot since it's contaminated.
3
A good trick is to put a small mark on the filter, e.g. a scratch or bit of marker pen that you can identify, but isn't obvious. When you get the car back, check to see that the mark is gone (i.e. they have changed the filter). If the mark is still there, you still have the old filter, and you know you've been screwed...
3
The key differences between petrol and diesel engines is the method of combustion.
Petrol ignites with sparks or with compression. Diesel doesn't ignite so well, but burns much better through compression.
Petrol engines inject the air/fuel mixture and then use spark plugs to ignite the mixture just after a piston reaches top dead centre.
Diesel engines ...
3
It's not necessarily the oil. You've also changed the oil filter you're using. It's possible the Bosch (either by itself, or in combination with the synthetic oil) allows more flow and better lubrication. I'm unfamiliar with current Fram and Bosch products though, so I don't know if there's any real world difference between them.
3
What you have is the very same issue many Ford Escape owner's have: A leaking timing chain cover. My 2003 V6 is in the same boat. This is a small and somewhat annoying leak due to the fact it drips onto the exhaust and causes that oil burning smell and sometimes visible smoke coming from the right front side of the car. What I hate the most is shutting of ...
2
Somewhere there will be a Ford spec for how much oil the engine is allowed to consume between oil changes. I wouldn't be surprised if it's shockingly high. Check your owner's manual for starters.
If the oil level as measured by the dipstick never gets lower than the low end of the 'acceptable' range between oil changes, it's probably OK to leave it alone. ...
2
What I do is to first hand wash/rinse them in a 5 gallon buckets with a strong mix of laundry detergent. This removes most of the heavy oil along with the smell and the grit. Then they go in the washer on hot wash cycle. I then just hang them to dry on a rope in the shed. Using the dryer seems to release some of the waxes and residual oil onto the dryer ...
2
I'm not a fan of running 15k miles between changes myself (while the oil may be stable that long, you're also circulating all the contaminants that your oil picks up much longer), but if you choose to do so, I'd use the matching oil filter. If M1 Extended Performance oil is what you choose, use the M1 Extended Performance oil filter that goes along with it. ...
2
Assuming that the Engine Oil Level is OK then you're gauge readings should resemble the following.
At idle, the gauge should be between 1.5 and 3 depending on how long the vehicle has been sitting and the temperature outside (there are some other things that factor in here. Just trying to not complicate things too much.)
Accelerating / Driving, the gauge, ...
2
One popular possibility is oil leaking past the rear main seal when running, accumulating in the transmission's bellhousing, and then draining from there when parked. Happens a lot when rear mains start to leak.
Oil around the rear of the oil pan, on the bottom of the transmission are all good signs of this.
2
Just use the manufacturers reccomended oil, oil additives for the most part are gimmicks. If you really want to protect your engine use a quality synthetic like Mobil 1 or the like. Modern engines have more consistent tolerances and can even run oil for longer periods of time. Stick to manufacturer recommendations, whats in your manual. No amount of ...
1
If it's a manual transmission, possibly the starter motor is slow to disengage and is grinding against the flywheel as the engine is firing up. The low oil is very suspicious though and doesn't go along with that. Could just be a coincidence. Or, could be pointing to something far worse. However, engine related startup scary noises are normally more of a ...
1
Oil in the coolant reservoir is usually a pretty bad sign! Are there signs of coolant in the oil as well (a creamy mayonnaise-like substance)? Either of those are signs of Head Gasket failure, which would eventually stop the engine from starting, but would normally give a lot of other signs first...
You say it started off as an intermittant problem - is it ...
1
I've seen similar symptoms a couple times before in other cars (I have no Ford experience). In one case it was the oil pump failing (pump later suddenly seized up). In 2 other cases that come to mind it was actually an alternator going overvoltage and freaking out the ECU causing it to pop lights when it shouldn't.
1
Firstly, on most cars (I don't know about the Escape) the oil and coolant warning lights don't warn you of low levels - The oil light warns of low pressure, and the coolant light of high temperature. Therefore, you could easily have low oil pressure while still having plenty of oil.
The first symptom you describe (the light coming on under braking/idle and ...
1
I agree with Brian either use the M1 Extended Perf oil filter or maybe look at the AMSOIL Ea oil filters which I use and are quite good. I change my oil once a year with that.
Also you might want to look into bypass oil filters. Amsoil sells these but im sure you can get them elsewhere as well basically what it does is run 15% of the oil through a much ...
1
I have used GL-5 in my rear differential for the past ten years and driven over 100,000 miles. I just did a R&R with new GL-5 as recommended by manufacturer. When I examined the old GL-5 , I found no metal flakes in the old as far as I can tell. I recommend following manufacturer recommnedation. No need to try new stuff.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
