Good morning,

The engine management light on my 2006 diesel Zetec S has been coming on the last few days and, on inspection, I've found that there is oil splattered over my engine that has a black tar like consistency.

I took the oil cap off to find that again the oil has congealed into a tar like consistency around the inside of the cap.

Is this an injector issue or something more sinister?

Thanks in advance.

When was that changed??

Not really sure what to say, that's pretty awful!!  Injector fault at least.  Do you have a DPF on these?  EGR may be stuck as well.

Finding out what the code(s) behind that light are might give a clue. Get a scanner, see my post on

 

What is the service history like? Common problems on the 1.6tdci/hdi engine at that age are well documented, and can be a hefty repair bill as basically lots of components need cleaned and other stuff replaced too, to avoid further damage/turbo failure in the future. Probably not had the religious servicing these engines require to avoid problems!  

DV6 problem probably - when was the oil last changed?

Oil hasn't been changed under my ownership - Just level topped up. I've owned for 10-15k miles

I'll try and get the codes out on it this weekend and report back.

Cheers for the help so far.

10-15k without an oil change on a DV6?  No wonder it's full of carbon and ruined then...

You 'might' get away with a good engine flush or the damage may already be done, particularly to the turbo.

Can you pull the engine cover off and take a top-down shot of the injectors, you'll be able to see if they're leaking then.

That length of time without an oil change and you have no idea when it was changed before you got it?   I'd say you've almost certainly got problems.

Oil and filter change every 5k on this engine, new or old shape model, best maintenance you'll do.

Does anyone know just why the 1.6TDCI engine is prone to clagging up like that?

I have just changed the oil in my 1.8 after 13 months and about 8k miles, and it was still slightly transparent, ie not totally black, with no sign of tarriness or excess carbon. And the Ford recommendation is at least 12k miles, I think.

As an engineer, I am curious to know what the underlying causes are.

13 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Does anyone know just why the 1.6TDCI engine is prone to clagging up like that?

I have just changed the oil in my 1.8 after 13 months and about 8k miles, and it was still slightly transparent, ie not totally black, with no sign of tarriness or excess carbon. And the Ford recommendation is at least 12k miles, I think.

As an engineer, I am curious to know what the underlying causes are.

If you type in 'DV6 engine problems' you will find a huge list of issues with this engine, the service history MUST be 100% perfect on the engine otherwise the engine clogs up, the oilways to the turbo clog up which cause turbo failure and a parts need to be replaced. I am amazed you haven't had a turbo failure yet and I specifically avoided this engine due to the long list of issues the engine has.

You might be able to get away with a full oil flush but I don't think the engine is beyond hope as that tar will be in all of the oil passages - oil change must be every 5-6k, to fix the issue properly you would need to replace the turbo oil lines, remove and clean out the sump and oil pick up. My dad has this engine in his C3 Picasso, I specifically told him about this issue and to not get it with that engine, he has just spend just over a grand getting the oil system cleaned out the oil pump replaced.

23 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Does anyone know just why the 1.6TDCI engine is prone to clagging up like that?

I have just changed the oil in my 1.8 after 13 months and about 8k miles, and it was still slightly transparent, ie not totally black, with no sign of tarriness or excess carbon. And the Ford recommendation is at least 12k miles, I think.

As an engineer, I am curious to know what the underlying causes are.

Inherent design fault.