Should this be in the repair forum ?

[Nihilist]

My Festiva has 101k miles on it. It's an auto. It's burning oil. Are Festiva's known to have head gasket issues, or should I just consider this a valve or ring issue ?

Any help will be appreciated.


.........................Blake

[jr.fester]

compression and leak down should point you in the right direction.

[elcamino1]

What city are you in?

[Nihilist]

How so ? Won't they both just tell me I am losing cylinder pressure somewhere ?

To accomplish a leakdown test, I would need to remove the cam, no ? Then pressurise the cylinder and monitor how long it takes to release pressure ?


....................Blake

[Nihilist]

Evergreen Park

[elcamino1]

Evergreen Park

About 15miles from me,pm me your phone number,I may be able to come look at that oil leak/burning thursday afternoon the 13th.

[freshtiva]

Do an intake vacuum test.

[blkfordsedan]

The head gasket has nothing to do with oil consumption. No need to remove anything but the spark plugs. Go buy a compression test gauge kit and follow the directions, or, invest in a Haynes manual. By watching how the gauge reacts you can diagnose many things like sticking or bad valves, leaking head gasket, etc.. Low cylinder pressure will signify the rings and cylinder walls are shot (i.e. oil consumption). Blue exhaust smoke also indicates oil burning.
If it puffs blue smoke on startup only and during acceleration then the valve guides/seals are the culprit. Bottom line: If the motor has low compression on all cylinders then no use going any farther-replace or rebuild.

[Nihilist]

Thanks for the responses !

"The head gasket has nothing to do with oil consumption."

Why couldn't it ? There are oil passages that pass through the gasket.
If there was a leak path between a pressurised oil passage and the cylinder, then the oil could make it's way into the cylinder during the cylinder downstroke , no ?

What about an intake gasket ? I know on a V8 motor , that an intake gasket leak could cause a leak path for oil into the engine . Possible on the Festiva ? Might explain high idle problem, too.

I have a compression tester, just have to find it

It burns oil during startup, accelleration , and idle. It makes me wonder if I have the rarest Festiva of them all : The 2 cycle model !


Seems strange that the motor is shot with only 100k. I guess it really goes to show how important oil changes are.

..........................Blake

PS : "74 Mustang II 4x4, 289 4V, 3SP, 32x11.50 mudders" That's one of a kind !

[blkfordsedan]

I too was thinking of the oil passages between the head and block, but it is highly unlikely that would be the source of oil burning. Anything is possible, but chances are if the head gasket was leaking to that extent you would have the typical water leaks also. Yes, on a V8 the intake gaskets can let oil leak from the lifter valley into the intake ports. The Festiva has no oil passages in the intake. If the engine has a lot of "blow-by" that would also be a result of bad ring seal. If you take the oil fill cap off while running is there a lot of smoke that comes out of the valve cover? My B3 has 125K but I changed oil religiously every 3K-4K. I pulled the head off this week to remove a spark plug that was stuck and the cylinders looked like brand new. There was still enough cross-hatch that it looked like it had just been honed! Stop-n-go driving for short distances without adequate warm-up can trash an engine, even with semi-regular oil changes. When the oil just starts to turn dark then change it, even if its only after 1,000 miles. Eventually it will get to the point it will stay clean for the whole 3,000.

As for the 4X4 Mustang II, I built it when I was 16. Now I'm 39 and still own it!
Good Luck!

[Nihilist]

Thanks for the help.

I just got my 4 Ford shop manuals today. One is the 1990 Festiva shop manual, 2nd is the electrical and vacuum troubleshooting guide, 3rd is engine emissions diagnosis , and 4th is a specifications guide (has about 6-7 different Ford models listed).

Needless to say , I now have some reading to do.

......................Blake