noisey fiesta engine

[seabasss]

hi,ive got a s reg fiesta 1.25 zetec with noisey engine it sounds like a rattle like the tappets but is starting to get worse,now under idling and under acceleration,this all started when engine ran out of oil,was replaced but only with normal oil not zetec oil,seems to also burn alot of oil but no blue smoke? any ideas?

[LCDMAN]

First question must be, why did it run out of oil? Does it have a leak and , if so, has it been fixed??

If it ran out of oil and you kept driving then you may well have damaged the "big end" bearings. The connecting rods connect the pistons with the crankshaft and where they meet the crankshaft is the "big end". This has bearing "shells" and needs to be constantly fed with oil to prevent damage. If you ran for long without oil then these will be damaged and the engine will rattle badly - worse when accelerating as you are loading the engine.

If this is the case then it is a very bad thing!! Costly (time and money) to repair, it may be cheaper to have an exchange engine fitted.

The other option is that you simply need more oil in. Have you checked the level with the car on level ground and before running it (so all the oil is drained into the sump)? The valve tappets in those engines require oil pressure to work properly or they rattle badly. If you have too little oil (and thus low oil pressure) then they rattle like mad. Check the oil level and top up if necessary.

[Littlejohn]

These engines do use a lot of oil.
You do have to check them much more often than almost any other engine, it's a good engine, but does suffer from this one flaw.
As with any engine, once it has run out of oil the chances of it not sustaining any damage are very remote. Unfortunately it does sound like bearing damage.

[Nkakamasembe]

I would suggest you replace with correct oil first, before you worry about other things.
I am not sure here, but if your engine is has hydraulic valve lifters it could these making noise and not happy with the replacement oil you have used.

[LCDMAN]

Correct oil? Maybe in your infinite wisdom, Nkakamasembe, you can tell us all what the correct oil is? No such thing as "Zetec" oil. Any off the shelf 10W40 or even 20W50 will do him, semi or fully synthetic (not that you can get much else nowadays).

[Blackthorn]

Dont know what zetec oil is, but I would hesitate to use 20/50 in a modern engine, especially if it has hydraulic lifters. Its as thick as glue whem cold, I would go for a 10 or 15/40 semi synth.

[Toureman]

First of all use the correct engine oil in your engine......

Do a complete oil and filer change, the correct oil is Castrol Magnatec 5w-30.

If that does not improve it your engine needs an overhaul.

[Nkakamasembe]

LCDMAN.
YES CORRECT ONLY!!!!
This is found in the owners handbook or the service schedule book.
Thanks alot TOUREMAN for the spec.

[dm1982]

LCD man you are taking s h i t e !! folk who work in the trade know that Ford Zetec engines are only supposed be run on fully synthetic engine oil which most folk refer to as "zetec" engine oil for these particular engines

[Nkakamasembe]

I t gives me pleasure to see the few of us who want to use lubricants as specified by the car /engine manufacturers.
thanks to you dm1982.