'89 Ford Festiva question

[HermitJohn]

I posted this also down in shop forum, so feel free to answer either place.

Anyway the first 1500 miles I had this car (had 119k miles when I bought it) it used quart oil every 500 miles. Think mostly leak from rear main or fuel pump flange as plugs didnt look like it was burning oil.

Oil consumsion then greatly increased and oil slick under car. Replaced rear main. No change. Used 6 quart in 750 miles and oil all over engine and bay. Figured passenger side driveshaft was tossing oil around that leaked from engine. Epoxied around mechanical fuel pump flange and oil consumption dropped to 3 quart in next 750 miles. Happened to open air cleaner and air filter soaked with lot oil in air filter can. Okay has to be crankcase oil up through pcv fresh air intake hose. I am not just absolutely positive but must be as no other way that much oil would get into air cleaner. Pcv valve is functioning properly.

Been looking on internet and couple posts indicating higher mile Festivas have pcv problem. Couple people mentioned installing larger pcv valves and that this helped. Didnt mention oil use to this extent though. Any other Festiva owners out there run into this? How did you solve it short of engine rebuild?

[Donovan K]

Originally Posted by HermitJohn

Any other Festiva owners out there run into this?

At sixteen model years and still running at all, you may have a set a record for the Ford Festiva. I don't mean to be making fun of the car or you.. but, why bother? This is a car that doubles in value when you fill the tank.

I hope you find a solution.

Donovan

[herefordman]

It needs rings if its blowing that much oil into the breather, but I would have thought you would see evidence of that on the plugs.

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by Donovan K

At sixteen model years and still running at all, you may have a set a record for the Ford Festiva. I don't mean to be making fun of the car or you.. but, why bother? This is a car that doubles in value when you fill the tank.

I hope you find a solution.

Donovan

Just had a guy stop come up to me at rest area the other day. Said he had 300k miles on his Festiva. Apparently not that uncommon.

And its also what its worth to me. Getting 44mpg and can navigate my rough steep driveway better than my 2wd pickup makes it worth its keep. It will be around for a while even if I have to go track down a replacement engine. Dont think thats necessary though. Good power, good oil pressure, spark plugs show no signs of oil burning. Just wants to push oil for some reason. I will come up with some kind of baffle to discourage this if nobody has a better idea. Just figured this probably isnt an isolated problem on these and why reinvent the wheel.

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by herefordman

It needs rings if its blowing that much oil into the breather, but I would have thought you would see evidence of that on the plugs.

Think about it though, why all of a sudden and why is it not smoking like a son of a gun? Why do plugs look like they would out of a low mile car? There is something perculiar about these Festivas and their pcv system. One kid posted on forum I found with Google that he got a junk Festiva to deliver pizzas. Said 8qt oil in a month and it came out breather hose just like mine. He drilled hole in oil filler cap and ran hose back to this hole. Said it ran ok and he barely used any oil now. Well I dont think this is the answer as thats not way pcv system is intended to operate. You just as well block the pcv air inlet hose altogether. However one should be able to come up with a baffle to control this. I have seen some cars with very elaborate baffles that were very effective even with very high mileage engine laying down a good smoke screen.

[agmantoo]

Hermit, do you have one of the cheap compression gauges? If so, check each cylinder with and without oil squirted in thru the spark plug hole.
PS...Hermit, have you read this?
http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl777.htm

[Terrabus]

I owned an 87 Festiva. People always made fun of me for driving it. But, I delivered pizzas in it for a year and got about 50 MPG. My carbuerator kept getting clogged up in the idle ports, so I had to continuously add Seafoam to the tank. But other than that, it was a decent enough car with about 150K. Everything else broke on it, but the engine was good. The engine was built by Kia motors in South Korea. I lived in Korea for 3 years and had some of their engineers as ESL students. Here's what they told me about their early ventures for sale in the US markets. They said that their company imported a number of German engineers to get them kick-started. These German engineers taught most of their design departments about how to make certain things work well. You might want to check with German cars to see if there are any similarities. You might find a solution there.

Just a though

Ted

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by Terrabus

I owned an 87 Festiva. People always made fun of me for driving it. But, I delivered pizzas in it for a year and got about 50 MPG. My carbuerator kept getting clogged up in the idle ports, so I had to continuously add Seafoam to the tank. But other than that, it was a decent enough car with about 150K. Everything else broke on it, but the engine was good. The engine was built by Kia motors in South Korea. I lived in Korea for 3 years and had some of their engineers as ESL students. Here's what they told me about their early ventures for sale in the US markets. They said that their company imported a number of German engineers to get them kick-started. These German engineers taught most of their design departments about how to make certain things work well. You might want to check with German cars to see if there are any similarities. You might find a solution there.

Just a though

Ted

With $2 a gallon gas, few people are laughing at mini cars anymore. I am still amazed at number of people that come up to me wanting to talk about it. It is a KIA design car when Kia was independent (went bankrupt and now owned by Hyundai), and the engine may be made in Korea but its a Mazda B3 (1.3L), little brother to the B6(1.6L) used in everything from GLC, 323, Protege, Miata, 3rd generation Ford Escort, etc. The B6 has a good rep. Dont remember ever hearing about it having pcv problems. Hmm, might look at junkyard and see if valve cover on a B6 has a more elaborate oil baffle. Should be a direct bolt on.

[HermitJohn]

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Hermit, do you have one of the cheap compression gauges? If so, check each cylinder with and without oil squirted in thru the spark plug hole.
PS...Hermit, have you read this?
http://autorepair.about.com/library/faqs/bl777.htm

Collapsing pcv hose huh, worth a try. I have a rather good compression gauge. Ashamed to say that I havent done a compression test. When all plugs are clean and engine runs good, I dont usually bother, though would be worth doing.