Blue smoke

[pacman1500]

I have a Ford Fiesta 2003 1.4 88k miles.  When the car's engine is on and sitting idle for a while in traffic or parked there will be a lot of blue smoke after i start moving again but the smoke would disappear after a few gears.  There's no smoke at all any other times.  I have to top up the oil more than usual and the engine light is coming on sometimes.   Anyone have any ideas on what the problem is.  Replys would be greatly appreciated.

[pragmatix]

Worn valve guides are a common source of excessive oil consumption as are worn bore/piston rings.

Is it a petrol or diesel if diesel could be turbo oil seals.

[pacman1500]

5 minutes ago, pragmatix said:

Worn valve guides are a common source of excessive oil consumption as are worn bore/piston rings.

whats the mileage?

88k miles petrol.  I suppose that will cost me an arm and a leg? ☹️

[isetta]

"and the engine light is coming on sometimes."   can you clarify which light exactly, how long does it stay on for and when does it go on / off.

with regard to smoke, as long as you can get it to pass MOT then it would be uneconomic to fix if you have to pay someone else to do it.

I did have a petrol Escort years ago that sounds similar to your problem and it did fail the MOT on smoke. I fixed it by replacing the rubber seals on the top of the valve guides. The rubber seals had gone hard and were crumbling. The MOT tester told me he reckoned that would fix it and it did. I did the work, not a particularly easy job but  easier than valve guides.  (that was a different engine than yours, it was 8 valve CVH engine which was current from about 1980 - 1995)

[Tdci-Peter]

On 8/9/2018 at 6:35 PM, pacman1500 said:

I have a Ford Fiesta 2003 1.4 88k miles.  When the car's engine is on and sitting idle for a while in traffic or parked there will be a lot of blue smoke after i start moving again but the smoke would disappear after a few gears.  There's no smoke at all any other times.  I have to top up the oil more than usual and the engine light is coming on sometimes. 

I also think it is most likely piston rings or valve seals. Both would, I suspect, be major work, not economical for a 2003 car, unless you love it to bits!

An OBD2 code reader is a good investment (under £20) for any car owner, finding the codes that make the light come on might just help. Petrol cars had to be OBD2 compliant in 2002 if I recall, so most should work. But in this case the codes could be less useful, the ECU can not directly detect oil leakage.

88k is a very low mileage for the age. I do not know why low mileage is seen as a benefit. It usually means the car has been used, early in its life, for a lot of short journeys. This will always cause problems, inducing gummed up rings and worn valve guides and seals. My car clocked up about 100k in its first 4 years, and is now on 170k, & still going! (mostly!)

Get a couple of compression tests done, some garages will do it free if they think they might get the work. If it is major engine problems, Google for an additive that claims to seal up oil burners, select one and give it a try. It probably will not work, but there is little to lose, so it could be worth a try.

4 hours ago, isetta said:

The rubber seals had gone hard and were crumbling. The MOT tester told me he reckoned that would fix it and it did. I did the work, not a particularly easy job but  easier than valve guides.  (that was a different engine than yours, it was 8 valve CVH engine

I had a CVH (in a Sierra) that was a serious oil burner. Before I bought it, I spotted the half empty oil tin in the boot, and the dipstick on min, so I had no big surprise. But it was cheap! I also had the oil seals replaced, £68.15 at a garage, in 1998. But the CVH is unusual in being able to replace the seals without removing the head, it would be very much more expensive on most cars now, sadly.

 

 

[jace1969]

I had the old 1.6 Escort a nice few years ago and had the same sort of thing and was valve seals as was very common problem.

It was the old CVH engine.