Hi.

my 132000mile mk3 1.8 Zetec petrol is in need of help.

Its burning a fair bit of oil, and last week the engine management light came on with 3 codes.

PO173

PO325

PO400

I took it to a local garage, who told me the loss of oil was partly due to Cam Cover gasket leaking, but didnt change it, as he said engine is worn out, and probably needs a replacement transplanted.

I asked him if he did a compression test, and he said no.

I`ve been doing some digging, and found that if car has been running with thermostat stuck open, for a considerable amount of time, which it had from previous owner, that its possible the crankcase breathers are blocked.

Am I clutching at straws?

Cheers

Ian Edwards

think P0400 is egr valve code.i would do a compression check.depending what the oil is like if its black or not i mean mine on 208,000 miles and still going,but read the piston rings on the 1.8 was of a cheap brand.dose it smoke on startup or if you in gear n go down a hill in gear with foot off throttle then at bottom of hill hit the throttle dose it puff blue smoke??i treated mine to a wyns engine flush last oil change

http://autodiagnos.com/fileadmin/assets/en/downloads/pdf/technical_bulletins/ford/ford_dtc.pdf

Try this for codes

or pcv blocked thats poss

think P0400 is egr valve code.i would do a compression check.depending what the oil is like if its black or not i mean mine on 208,000 miles and still going,but read the piston rings on the 1.8 was of a cheap brand.dose it smoke on startup or if you in gear n go down a hill in gear with foot off throttle then at bottom of hill hit the throttle dose it puff blue smoke??i treated mine to a wyns engine flush last oil change

I will try the down hill suggestion. Not seen that before.

Are you talking of engine braking, and then floor it?

yea if you go down hill in like 4 or 5th foot off throttle then when get to bottom put foot on throttle if you look in mirror you might see smoke