New Ford Figo 1.5D Engine Oil Leak: Cause & Solution?

[Commuter]

Hi everyone! I bought My New Figo 1.5 D on 5, January 2016. The odometer reading stands a shade under 19000 Kms as on today(01,November 2016).

The background:

The car has been returning an amazing Fuel efficiency of over 21 kmpl consistently and had been very suitable for my 80 kph(highway) highway runs and docile city maneuvers. I'm very gentle with my car and hasn't raced at all. I take road safety very seriously and view accident pics for keeping me sober on road. I serviced the car twice at the right intervals.

The problem:

I started noticing the oil leakage in the engine bay and took it to the service center. The service center people looked at it and say that its harmless. I am worried about having a problem so early in the ownership.

The questions

1. Is the problem critical?
2. What is the cause of the issue?
3. Can it be fixed? What needs to be replaced or set right?
4. Is the issue affecting critical parts in the long run? Especially the turbocharger.

Please help me friends.

 

[Vishak]

Re: New Ford Figo 1.5D having engine oil leak - Cause and Solution discussion

This is not normal and you should take the matter higher up and get it fixed.Might be harmless for now its better safe than sorry

 

[1989rs500]

Do keep us updated on the issue
Is there any change in cars performance?


Keep checking engine oil every 1000 kms or so...
If there is a drastic change in the dip stick, elevate the matter with Fird higher ups.

 

[Commuter]

Thank you vishak and 1989rs500. I posted my query along with the link to this thread in Ford India FB page and sent mail to custmail@ford.com yesterday 10pm. Today Sri Kumaresh called from Ford customer care and asked about background details. He has assured a service appointment for further clarity on the source of the issue.

Just as I am typing this,I got a call from Aksha Ford service center, Customer care manager Sri Shivaram and have fixed the appointment after inquiring about their lunch time(1-2) at 2pm for a thorough look at the issue.
Waiting for now.

 

[TSIVipul]

Update after getting it checked, rest I guess this is nothing serious too even if it is not normal. Keep driving as the oil seems to be around the hose of mr. turbocharger.

 

[1989rs500]

Update after getting it checked, rest I guess this is nothing serious too even if it is not normal. Keep driving as the oil seems to be around the hose of mr. turbocharger.

yes, an oil leak in turbo hose wouldn't be an issue, but the oil stains that is seen in picture shows too much of oil out
So it could be some drain rupture which on the long run could do harm

 

[Commuter]

Yesterday, I reached the service center and met the customer service Manager, he took the floor manager to take a look. They said that they need to keep the car in the center for two days and check the source of leak. I have left the car there. Waiting for a positive outcome.

Yes 1989rs500, the leak spilled out lot of oil and what alarmed me was the suddeness. Though I dont know the exact duration of the start of the leak, I know thats its worsening fast. And on top of all that I maintained 80kph on the highway as a matter of rule after an accident with a cyclist at night in my previous car. Such a strong engine bleeding at such a gentle place is out of place, especially given the I am very possessive of my first car and have not allowed anyone to drive in the past months, even during 18 hour 600km drives for family tours.

Desperately looking up to the service center people to fix the issue.

 

[1989rs500]

Yesterday, I reached the service center and met the customer service Manager, he took the floor manager to take a look. They said that they need to keep the car in the center for two days and check the source of leak. I have left the car there. Waiting for a positive outcome.

Yes 1989rs500, the leak spilled out lot of oil and what alarmed me was the suddeness. Though I dont know the exact duration of the start of the leak, I know thats its worsening fast. And on top of all that I maintained 80kph on the highway as a matter of rule after an accident with a cyclist at night in my previous car. Such a strong engine bleeding at such a gentle place is out of place, especially given the I am very possessive of my first car and have not allowed anyone to drive in the past months, even during 18 hour 600km drives for family tours.

Desperately looking up to the service center people to fix the issue.

As far as I know such a leak could be directing to a leaky turbo oil seal,
This means best option is to replace turbo,
The turbo itself will cost around 22-25k, but since car is under warranty it should be done free of cost, except maybe labour charges.
Still a leaky turbo at just 19k kms is surprising

There are also hoses that does oil feed and return to turbo below these huge black hoses, a rupture on them too could cause such an issue but then it should be easily diagnosed by service centre.

If at all they ask for a turbo replacement, give a YES, as car is under warranty.
Also if service personels are kind enough ask them to check oil fill and return hoses to turbos, these hoses can get damaged due to some reason,

Keep us updated on proceedings.

 

[Commuter]

Still a leaky turbo at just 19k kms is surprising
.

Most surprising is the fact that I am a typical mileage marathoner who has rarely used more that a tenth of the accelerator pedal play throughout these ten months. I kept track of Fuel efficiency using fuel buddy app for around 15000 kms after purchase ans can show the records of my FE rarely dipping 21kmpl.

I refused the loaner car and have started using my bicycle which I feel as having a tremendous advantage over this car in not giving me qualms. Thoughts are overclocking especially since I wanted a decade or longer fuss free regular maintenance and replacement ownership but am facing issues in the first year itself. I started out to buy the duke 390 but wanted to shun the heart burn of oil leak issue in my tvs apache 160 (2008)repeating itself and causing huge maintenance expenses. I used to admire the clean engine block of my Dad's eight year old petrol indica and thought cars will be trouble free. Im getting rattled because facing frequent, sudden and huge maintenance bills werent there in my ownership calculations and If it repeats then I will sell the car in the warranty period itself for a stop loss.

But I hope they will opt for parts replaceent rather than some quick fix.

The service personnel are saying that it might be a turbo issue when I left it there the day before yesterday. They told that they need to remove the black corrugated tube and keep the engine running to find the source of leak. They suspect the turbo charger or the pipe from the engine as the source of leak.Havent heard from them yesterday and I too couldnt check in too, since they close down by 5.

 

[1989rs500]

Most surprising is the fact that I am a typical mileage marathoner who has rarely used more that a tenth of the accelerator pedal play throughout these ten months. I kept track of Fuel efficiency using fuel buddy app for around 15000 kms after purchase ans can show the records of my FE rarely dipping 21kmpl.

I refused the loaner car and have started using my bicycle which I feel as having a tremendous advantage over this car in not giving me qualms. Thoughts are overclocking especially since I wanted a decade or longer fuss free regular maintenance and replacement ownership but am facing issues in the first year itself. I started out to buy the duke 390 but wanted to shun the heart burn of oil leak issue in my tvs apache 160 (2008)repeating itself and causing huge maintenance expenses. I used to admire the clean engine block of my Dad's eight year old petrol indica and thought cars will be trouble free. Im getting rattled because facing frequent, sudden and huge maintenance bills werent there in my ownership calculations and If it repeats then I will sell the car in the warranty period itself for a stop loss.

But I hope they will opt for parts replaceent rather than some quick fix.

The service personnel are saying that it might be a turbo issue when I left it there the day before yesterday. They told that they need to remove the black corrugated tube and keep the engine running to find the source of leak. They suspect the turbo charger or the pipe from the engine as the source of leak.Havent heard from them yesterday and I too couldnt check in too, since they close down by 5.

Since the car is under warranty there wont be issues with cost rather than some initial cost for dispatching the amount.
A turbo if replaced should last another 100k kms without issue in general, probably its a manufacturing defect from the factory itself,
Anyway this is the 1st Figo TDCi I ve seen to have hit issues from various forums as well.
The diagnosis dosent need more than a few hours actually,
The turbo replacement will take around 3 hours to complete, then priming and other thoings will take another 5 or 6 hours

 

[Commuter]

The diagnosis dosent need more than a few hours actually,
The turbo replacement will take around 3 hours to complete, then priming and other things will take another 5 or 6 hours

The info like these and the other one where you mentioned the price of turbo makes us more comfortable in interacting with auto industry in general.

I received the first call from the dealership Customer Manager sri Shivaram saying that the problem has been traced to the " breather pipe" connecting the "Valve inlet". I understood it to be the pipe connecting the engine block and the point of leak. He informed that they have raised it to the FORD hq and place an indent on the parts. He also added that FORD hq people have ordered a full replacement of the valve assembly.

I asked him about the issue affecting the turbo and was reassured that turbo is fine.

His call was shortly followed up by Ford Customer care contact sri Kumaresh informing the same and verifying that what has transipred between them and the service center has been conveyed to me.

Positive experience till now. I will be fully relieved when i find the problem fails to reappear.

 

[1989rs500]

The info like these and the other one where you mentioned the price of turbo makes us more comfortable in interacting with auto industry in general.

I received the first call from the dealership Customer Manager sri Shivaram saying that the problem has been traced to the " breather pipe" connecting the "Valve inlet". I understood it to be the pipe connecting the engine block and the point of leak. He informed that they have raised it to the FORD hq and place an indent on the parts. He also added that FORD hq people have ordered a full replacement of the valve assembly.

I asked him about the issue affecting the turbo and was reassured that turbo is fine.

His call was shortly followed up by Ford Customer care contact sri Kumaresh informing the same and verifying that what has transipred between them and the service center has been conveyed to me.

Positive experience till now. I will be fully relieved when i find the problem fails to reappear.

Breather valves and its connection points usually will have some leaks, but after long running like over 50,000 kms and even so they wont leak in such amounts as to drip below the engine bay.
Anyway as of now there is no choice rather than trusting the Ford service personels.

Keep checking for leaks even if the car has beem fitted with new valve assembly,
Air filters that dont work properly can make breathet valves rupture due to unrefined air flow and unwanted pressure build up,
Make sure to service the car at 8000-10000 kms every year,
I dont think breather valve assembly is expensive, as turbo, it should be under 7000 Rs I guess for full assembly and labour, not sure how much it is for the new 1.5 TDCi.

 

[Commuter]

Anyway as of now there is no choice rather than trusting the Ford service personels.

Keep checking for leaks even if the car has beem fitted with new valve assembly,
.

This sums up my strategy for combating the issue for now. In addition, I will also try running the car more often to make sure
the problem stays eliminated.

 

[stingray91]

Folks can we cool down a bit and talk few facts?

There is something called soot , which engine creates while combustion, stand also a thin layer of oil is burned in this process, there is a system in all modern engines to condense those vapours and send it back to intake so its fully burned and condensed oil can be returned to the oil chamber back again.

Form the pictues I clearly see the oil vapour system AKA (EVAP) pipe is just near the boot and boot is not sealed well, so due to turbo spoolat those positive reverse pressure cycle the vapours escape out and make oil marks as its cooler than inside so it condenses over there, just replace the boot or tighten the fastner, its not valve or seals or turbo issue , there are many other ways to determine those problems which some of you have stated.
And breather valve are precent in old cars, for turbo crdi engines they have a different layout. Different pressure cycles. So just a ball value is not enough.
And I know the design of tdci , its just a leak from boot,
I have taken drops of oil from intercooler even on a 1000km run ddis,mjd,tdci , its common and its only due to low rpm running, the vapours condense and settle on the passages, keep engine revv happy than low throttling for high economy , which can lead to premature wear .

Just follow one rule change gear at 3k rpm at 2nd or 3d depending on the road Clearness, which will washout those vapours and keep tubes and cooler clean.

Hope my post helped out

 

[1989rs500]

Folks can we cool down a bit and talk few facts?

There is something called soot , which engine creates while combustion, stand also a thin layer of oil is burned in this process, there is a system in all modern engines to condense those vapours and send it back to intake so its fully burned and condensed oil can be returned to the oil chamber back again.

Form the pictues I clearly see the oil vapour system AKA (EVAP) pipe is just near the boot and boot is not sealed well, so due to turbo spoolat those positive reverse pressure cycle the vapours escape out and make oil marks as its cooler than inside so it condenses over there, just replace the boot or tighten the fastner, its not valve or seals or turbo issue , there are many other ways to determine those problems which some of you have stated.
And breather valve are precent in old cars, for turbo crdi engines they have a different layout. Different pressure cycles. So just a ball value is not enough.
And I know the design of tdci , its just a leak from boot,
I have taken drops of oil from intercooler even on a 1000km run ddis,mjd,tdci , its common and its only due to low rpm running, the vapours condense and settle on the passages, keep engine revv happy than low throttling for high economy , which can lead to premature wear .

Just follow one rule change gear at 3k rpm at 2nd or 3d depending on the road Clearness, which will washout those vapours and keep tubes and cooler clean.

Hope my post helped out

Thats a good explanation but there seems to be significant oil leak in the form of drop lets in the case above, also notice the leak points, its not the actuator or the inter cooler, its from the valves to the turbo, and re circulation valves too could be causing issue,
I too would be pleased if its normal but Ford TDCi has had similar issues with 1.4 TDCis where the leaks eventually led to sudden power loss at times and finally rooting the issue to a turbo seal leak which eventually while re circulation forced more air and oil into turbo than required and finally killing the turbo
So we cant asses the situation just because its a dry EVAP kind of leak
Since TDCi can be run through an electronic diagnosis test to check working of major parts I guess this could be done to make sure turbos are working fine
Breather valves are tied together into a single one in the new 1.5 TDCi I guess as opposed to individual ones in old 1.4 TDCi, and they too have a connection to the turbo though not direct, so it could in turn cause an issue,
So lets see what Ford is doing