My 9 year old Focus is giving me its first major problem. 52000 miles on clock, in January oil warning light came on. Check oil and dipstick was dry! Refilled will oil, kept eye on it for a couple of weeks then forgot about it. Last week same problem. There is no sign of any oil leaks, no blowing black smoke, no sign of oil in coolant. My local garage are suggesting a engine flush, new head gasket, oil & filter as it “may be gunged up”. Does this sound plausible?

Which engine is it?  1.8 petrol?

Does the filler cap have any white residue on it? If not it may be the
PCV has failed and is allowing oil to be pulled from the crankcase into the manifold.

i remember years ago when I had my pug 806 hdi oil filler cap was full of white cunk people were saying head gasket was gone but I drove like that for about 2 year never let me down,,lol

7 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Which engine is it?  1.8 petrol?

Yes.

This topic covers the same issue and possible solution.

 

1 hour ago, F0CUE said:

Does the filler cap have any white residue on it? If not it may be the
PCV has failed and is allowing oil to be pulled from the crankcase into the manifold.

No sign of white residue.

if its run out of oil twice the engine is bin material....  

trying to fix it is pretty pointless, its a NO oil light not a Low oil light

new car, new engine or more cost trying to fix the old one

2 hours ago, JMCKG said:

Yes.

Thought it would be!  Most likely is worn piston rings, very common on this engine.

I wouldn't waste money risking a head gasket on it but an oil flush might be worth a try for how little it costs.

13 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Thought it would be!  Most likely is worn piston rings, very common on this engine.

I wouldn't waste money risking a head gasket on it but an oil flush might be worth a try for how little it costs.

A decent flush such as Wynns is worth a go, my wife's MK2.5 1.8 Duratec was using quite a lot of oil and the flush made a massive difference.  I've only had to top the oil up once after I serviced it last year and that was only half a litre.

13 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Thought it would be!  Most likely is worn piston rings, very common on this engine.

I wouldn't waste money risking a head gasket on it but an oil flush might be worth a try for how little it costs.

How does an oil flush help if it's worn piston rings Tom?

3 minutes ago, Albert27 said:

How does an oil flush help if it's worn piston rings Tom?

There's no confirmation that it IS the piston rings, it may be something else and minimal cost (£10 for a decent flush plus the cost of some decent oil) it's a potentially very cheap fix/mitigation for the issue the op is having.  As stated my wife's car with the same engine was having similar issues although the issue wasn't formally diagnosed by a garage and the flish in the case of her car resolved the issue.

39 minutes ago, Albert27 said:

How does an oil flush help if it's worn piston rings Tom?

Exactly as Damian said, it won't help piston rings at all, engine is scrap if it is them (due to high cost of engine rebuild) so it's worth try a flush to clean and recondition other seals that could be causing the oil loss.  

9 hours ago, 1979Damian said:

There's no confirmation that it IS the piston rings, it may be something else and minimal cost (£10 for a decent flush plus the cost of some decent oil) it's a potentially very cheap fix/mitigation for the issue the op is having.  As stated my wife's car with the same engine was having similar issues although the issue wasn't formally diagnosed by a garage and the flish in the case of her car resolved the issue.

 

8 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Exactly as Damian said, it won't help piston rings at all, engine is scrap if it is them (due to high cost of engine rebuild) so it's worth try a flush to clean and recondition other seals that could be causing the oil loss.  

I'm get it now, thanks !

you added some oil in January and you need to add some more in July. That is 6 months, it may be more oil use than many cars particularly at that low mileage but I would not think it was worth spending money on engine work so as to avoid adding oil every 6 months.  As indicated above, it's an oil pressure light, not an oil level light. If the oil pressure light comes on it means the engine is being damaged all the time it is running with the light on as no oil pressure to keep the metal surfaces apart microscopically in the main bearing, big ends and more. These bearings need oil under pressure being pumped into them. They do not work from being splashed with oil or dipped in oil. 

Just check your dipstick more often and add oil when needed.

On 7/10/2019 at 9:59 PM, isetta said:

you added some oil in January and you need to add some more in July. That is 6 months, it may be more oil use than many cars particularly at that low mileage but I would not think it was worth spending money on engine work so as to avoid adding oil every 6 months.  As indicated above, it's an oil pressure light, not an oil level light. If the oil pressure light comes on it means the engine is being damaged all the time it is running with the light on as no oil pressure to keep the metal surfaces apart microscopically in the main bearing, big ends and more. These bearings need oil under pressure being pumped into them. They do not work from being splashed with oil or dipped in oil. 

Just check your dipstick more often and add oil when needed.

How much distance did you cover over 6 months?

My old Corsa had an oil consumption amount of 1L/1000km which was the amount listed in the manual - it's not listed in the Focus manual, but if it's giving you no other troubles i'd just check and topup the oil a bit more frequently!