2007 Focus, have run it from 2010, 28k up to it’s now 98k with narry a foot wrong. Had new battery & alternator last year.

Did about 150 miles in it yesterday.
50 miles from home, started it, oil light stays on.
Revved slowly up to 1500 at which point it goes of & stays off.
Oil level normal so drove home, including 20 miles at m-way speeds – oil light not on.
2 miles from home the engine becomes noticeably rough, though a change of gear / speed seemed to alleviate.
Got home, restarted, oil light again stayed on till over 1500 revs.
Left it for a couple of hours, after starting, oil light goes out as normal…
Restarted again, oil light stayed on till over 1500 revs.
Engine still noticeably a bit rough.

It’s going onto the garage that services it next week but I just wanted an idea of what might be going on and how big a hole in my wallet it might make.

Blockage in the oil system?

It was serviced in February, oil level still normal, no obvious contamination in the water header tank or emulsification on the dipstick.

Grateful for any insights.

I would stop driving it completely and prioritise getting it fixed

Low speed oil light on tdci is usually oil pick up strainer clogging, even more so that it goes off when you rev it.

If it was a duff sensor or oil pump it wouldnt go off, oil pumps usually fail totally so unlikely to be a dying one as oppose to a dead one.

You get this diagnosis wrong and its dead turbo and potentially the engine….

Yep, do not **** with oil in any car but especially a turbodiesel, it’s like leaving a house fire for a while to see if it goes out by itself before you call 999.

Checking the strainer is actually pretty simple on these- a dirty job, sump off and loses the oil though but then if it’s due a service that’s no loss. If it was mine, I’d be out there doing it now. But ymmv, if you’re not into DIY on the car then just get it to the garage, do not pass go.

Cheers, appreciate the replies.
It’s 5 miles to the garage, OK to drive slowly, low revs?

How longs a bit of string….

It could honeestly die next time you turn the key.

Or go for ages.

The fact its sounding rough says its pretty starved to me….

I understand, ta.

Just been out & tempted fate, started it again.
Started fine, sounds fine, oil light went out.
Same second time.

I’ll leave it alone now & nurse it to the garage on Monday morning.

I’ll have to miss out on tomorrow’s ride in Wales.
Bloody cars. 🙂 🙁

An update…
Started it a couple of times over the (last) weekend. Oil light went out as normal.
Drove it to my usual servicing garage on Monday keeping the revs low. Engine sounded normal & oil light behaved.
Garage inspected it on ramp & found oil leak from crankcase seal, (oil level is within bounds). But they don’t think this is relevant & recommend taking it to diesel specialist for oil pressure test.
Took it to a diesel specialist but they couldn’t look at it till Wed.
They have oil pressure testing equipt but find none of their adaptors fit this engine… They change the oil sensor anyway as it only costs £4. New sensor behaves same as old one, occasionally stays on till revs increase, then at idle after a few mins it will come back on. They are getting a suitable adaptor today so I’ll know more later.

Everyone seems reluctant to remove sump & check it out though new garage have discussed engine flush, oil & filter change – car was last serviced in Feb, 5k miles ago.
Also – they’re pretty sure the roughness over 2k revs is the DMF.

Forte Engine flush.

Was it fitted with OEM filters? Cheap filters can collapse and restrict oil flow. Had it on motorbikes and a truck before.
For the cost of an oil change get it done. You have no guarantee the garage even used the correct spec of oil. Too heavy and it won’t move around the engine enough.

Update.

Garage eventually got the right adaptor to do an oil pressure check.
Oil pressure all over the place.
Likely diagnosis is oil pump or pressure relief valve.
They drained some oil out & its got swarf in it – full of teeny tiny glisteny bits of metal.
Surmise some damage either to camshaft or turbo bearings as they’re furthest away. They still think roughness is DMF.
They can replace the pump but cam or turbo may still fail further down the line.
Decided to get them to go ahead with oil pump but not DMF, thinking that I’ll drive it round for 2-3 months to see if camshaft or turbo go in that time before deciding on DMF.

Well, Garage called – oil pump looks absolutely fine… however crankshaft bearings are shot and damage to crank itself has ensued. This is what’s causing the roughness and the oil pressure variation.
Oil filter has apparently been doing a good job as they described what was in the sump as grinding paste.
No idea why it’s happened.

Best fix would be replacement recon engine, but at around 4k it’s twice what the car’s worth.

So I think I’m just going to get them to put it back together, pay the bill & drive it away. I guess I’ll scrap or Ebay it for spares.

Bugger, I really liked that car.

Oil light come on = stop driving the car. An expensive lesson learnt there i think.

Aye, a lesson for sure, although if the oil light came on because of pressure fluctuations caused by wear in the crank bearings, maybe damage already done.

I definitely made it worse though. Possibly could have been fixed by replacement bearings if I’d had it recovered. I’ll never know. It’s a pity the oil light didn’t stay on, instead of going out.

Off to look for a replacement…

johnny p, YGM