Hi All,

I have had my 1.0 eco boost for 7 years and it has generally treated me very well. In all honesty I could have perhaps treated her slightly better but it's been very good to me so far. 

However, i got in the car last night and saw a pop up on the central display that i've not seen before, it said low oil pressure for a second or two and then disappeared quickly. I think the car may have sounded slightly more noisy also for a few seconds but not sure if this is just in my head now. i quickly turned the car off. I was heading somewhere that I couldn't really get out of so to try and repeat everything in the same way i got out and locked the car, unlocked it again and did the same. no oil pop up and the car sounded fine. i checked the oil which was above minimum but not by much so i topped it up and then made the trip in silence so i couldn't listen to the car and watched the thermostat neurotically.

anyway, i got home and discovered the many threads about what this could mean and have immediately resigned myself to the fact the car is dead. After calming down a bit and using some rationale thinking i think I am pretty much in one of two camps:

1 - The oil pump strainer is partially / mostly blocked due to the known wet belt degradation and needs cleaning out / changing as a matter of urgency as well as having the timing belts changed

2 - The engine has now experienced some oil starvation and is toast. 

 

Am i being overly optimistic that option one is possible? I am hopeful because the drive last night was absolutely fine, smooth as anything no funny noises whatsoever. I only had the alert for a split second and have never seen the red oil light on the dash so i have my fingers crossed .  FWIW last nights drive was around 5 miles each way with 2 hour break between.

 

Appreciate any thoughts and guidance on this.

Likey? Unfortunately not. The most likely outcome is that the engine is toast.

It's not impossible that it's saveable just not likely.

By the time the low oil pressure light comes on it's usually already caused damage. Even more so if it's making a funny noise.

I assume the wet belt wasn't changed last year at 10 yrs old? Had it been serviced regularly with the correct spec oil and no flushes?

Problem is, at the least you're looking at that (apparently overdue) wet belt change, plus oil pump belt, oil strainer, etc which, cost wise, is well on the way to a new/recond/good used engine, and might be for nothing if the engine turns out to be beyond saving anyway.

1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

Likey? Unfortunately not. The most likely outcome is that the engine is toast.

It's not impossible that it's saveable just not likely.

By the time the low oil pressure light comes on it's usually already caused damage. Even more so if it's making a funny noise.

I assume the wet belt wasn't changed last year at 10 yrs old? Had it been serviced regularly with the correct spec oil and no flushes?

thanks for the response. do you mean the oil light on the dash? because that's not come on for me, just the 2 second blip on the stereo display once. The wet belt wasn't changed last year no but has barely been driven the last 3 years, it did have correct spec oil yes

55 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Problem is, at the least you're looking at that (apparently overdue) wet belt change, plus oil pump belt, oil strainer, etc which, cost wise, is well on the way to a new/recond/good used engine, and might be for nothing if the engine turns out to be beyond saving anyway.

thanks for the response. yeah you are right its a real rock & hard place scenario. Even rolling the dice on the belt changes etc is going to cost 4 figures but if that's all it needs the it is just about financially viable whereas an engine is not. The best second hand engine I've seen on ebay was 1500 so plus fitting it wouldn't be worth it really.

Call me a pessimist but i just think any garage will just say the engines knackered regardless without actually having any tangible evidence of this so i don't know if they will even let me try a 'change the belts and hope for the best' approach.

 

Cars ey!

If I didn't intend to do the work myself, my advice would be to have a competent mechanic/garage either have the sump off to check the pump strainer and/or check the actual oil pressure.

Whilst it's possible damage has been done, it's doesn't appear clear cut and I certainly wouldn't be guessing or worrying.

If the pump strainer/oil pressure checks out ok you could then confidently tell your mech. to proceed and replace the belts.

 

2 hours ago, RayC333 said:

If I didn't intend to do the work myself, my advice would be to have a competent mechanic/garage either have the sump off to check the pump strainer and/or check the actual oil pressure.

Whilst it's possible damage has been done, it's doesn't appear clear cut and I certainly wouldn't be guessing or worrying.

If the pump strainer/oil pressure checks out ok you could then confidently tell your mech. to proceed and replace the belts.

 

Yeah, I'd echo all of this.

A 10yr old car would typically only have another 10 years to go anyway before it reaching the end of its natural life and my money is on you being able to see most if not all of those years out if you proceed with a new timing belt and getting everything cleaned out at the same time. Start with the sump drop as suggested though as it'll put you in a more informed position to make a decision either way.