Skoda fabia burning using oil!

[MinkyMike]

Hi all, it's been a while maybe a couple of months since the head gasket change.. and all as been going well untill now, no gunk in rocker, coolant as stayed pink and clean, not losing any, no smoke from exhaust, but last week I started noticing the tappet noise coming back, some of you may remember I replaced them all whole doing the head gasket, with engine team ones which were quite expensive, anyway, I thought the first bet would be the check the oil, I had checked it nearly every week since replacing the head gasket and it had stayed at half way which was where I initially filled it to, however upon checking last week there was zero showing on the dipstick , I added another litre and half, to get it to max, a week later it's back at half , added another half litre say, to get it back to max,.another week has gone by and it's down to half again on the dip stick, and the tappets still sound ****, it does sound better once the engine is warm. So anyway I'm pretty fed up now and have lost all trust in this engine so I'm gonna start buying cheap oil to ram into it and run it into the ground but thought I'd ask you guys first in case I might be missing something silly, there are no oil leaks at all, the engine is bone dry underneath and is leaving no spots on the floor.  Any ideas , maybe the block was warped ? After the hg change I used liqui moly oil, it was quite expensive I wanted to treat the car.

 

Also the input shaft bearing as got worse and it's making a right old racket now, in good working order the car is valued at 200 pounds now.. I've spent so much time and money on it..

 

Is this the end?

 

Do I buy another car and keep it as a project car ? Or do I just break it up and sell it, I hear a Corsa cat went for 160 near me then I could scrap it.. maybe get some money for the alloys ? 

 

Thanks all

Mike

 

Edited 14 July, 2021 by MinkyMike

[MinkyMike]

Just changed to topic to using oil , because I'm not certain it's burning it , but it's definitely disappearing, I did a full system scan last night showing no dtcs

[TMB]

10 hours ago, MinkyMike said:

Also the input shaft bearing as got worse and it's making a right old racket now

 

It's very odd for that to suddenly get worse as they normally go on for years like that. Has it ever had the gearbox oil level checked?

 

The oil problem can only have two possibilities - either it's burning it or it's leaking. For the oil to drop as much as you say, I would have thought it would be smoking. Puzzled that there is no smoke and no sign of leaking, but it has to be going somewhere.

[TMB]

You probably can't be bothered with the gearbox oil given your other problems, but I'll post the info anyway. The gearbox oil filler plug is 17mm hex and is just above the reversing light switch on the front of the gearbox. Oil level should be up to the filler hole. Very early cars also have a drain plug but no drain plug on later cars.

 

Filler plug location....

 

[MinkyMike]

I'm guessing they would of refilled it, when they did the clutch on the recipient check list it it says gearbox oil level filled checked with a tick next to it, it's very strange , the exhaust blows clear.. 

[VanhireBoys]

Now I could be totally way off but I had a similar problem on an old Mk3 Cavvy  - Was loosing engine oil like anything and the gearbox input shaft also made a racket, no oil anywhere on the floor

 

Admittedly the clutch was also juddering. I ended up just taking it apart to see what had happened - The gearbox input shaft had a lot of play and this might have knackered the rear crankshaft oil seal putting oil on the clutch. Maybe the seal was going anyway and the gearbox racket was unrelated but thats what was found and it was hard not to think liek that given the evidence ! 

 

I took the gearbox out and replaced it with one from a scrappers - New clutch and rear crank oil seal and the car ran on for 3 more years .... 

 

I'm just hoping that the low oil level has not knackered the  new tappets after all the good work you put in.

 

You might have to get the gearbox taken out for a look but then its a bit of work. Keep asking why and make sure you get to the root cause and no matter how daft a suggestion is put it in the mix and rule it in or out ! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MinkyMike]

It's a hell of a lot of oil to be leaking clutch side, I'm not saying it's a no, but I have no clutch slippage either. Could it be burning itself off at the tappets the car always smells like hot coolant, like it's overheating, however the temp never goes over the middle, I did replace the thermostat and hosing , the leaks on the radiator have plugged themself with pink coolant and I'm loosing nothing now.

[StevesTruck]

Any sign of oil that might have come up the breather in the air intake piping?

 

Any smoke on startup when it's been sat overnight?

 

Piston ring issues do happen on the 1.4. Take your spark plugs out and see if there's any oil on them, and their general condition. Might be worth doing a compression test if you've got a guage. 

 

 

[TMB]

8 hours ago, StevesTruck said:

 

Piston ring issues do happen on the 1.4.

 

It's not an issue on the 8 valve mpi. You're thinking of the 16 valve engine.