Ford Focus 1.5 TDCI dipstick popping out

mp3ireland2

Hi,

I have a 2014 focus 1.5tdci and the dipstick pops out sometimes. I definetly pushed it fully home on Saturday, it did a 40 min drive and was ok then did about a 2 hour drive incudling some motorway and was still in place earlier today. I got home after another 3 hours motorway driving and it was out again.

Should I just book it in to get it looked at? The O-ring seems ok to me. The fact that it doesn't happen all the time means that even if i put in a new dipstick I won't know if it's worked. THe car doesn't get driven much as we have an EV for day to day stuff and the diesel only does about 5,000km a year. Next long drive could be Christmas! I won't know if what the garage does has fixed it either as it's not consistently popping up.

I don't notice any other symptoms. From what I've ready it could be the PCV valve and this woudln't be an expensive thing to get a garage to replace. Would they have a way to diagnose what would be causing the pressure increase? Or would it be very difficult when it's not a consitent problem?

Thanks in advance

greasepalm

It sounds pressure related while engine is running try removing oil filler cap and watch out as if much pressure there can make it hop out due to pressure build up.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122517304#Comment_122517304

Maybe you could expand on that for the OP?

colm reilly

replace dip stick with a new one

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122517430#Comment_122517430

yeah i was thinking that as a cheap and quick thing to try. only thing putting me off was when i put it in last time i was pulling on it with a little bit of force to try and see if the o-ring was seating correctly and it wasn't coming out. It is only about a tenner for one though so could be worth a shot!

Although now I remember a drawback with this is that I won't know if it's worked or not as it seems to take a big drive to sort it. I might try a baloon over the dipstick hole to see if pressure building up at high revs perhaps.

Buffman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122517456#Comment_122517456

Is any oil getting out when the dipstick comes out? If you did have it on tight and it still popped then it can be an indication of excessive crankcase pressure, possibly caused by the PCV as you've mentioned.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122519644#Comment_122519644

Yeah a bit of oil comes out all right, which probably woudln't happen if it was just loose and coming out due to vibration. I think i'll book it into the garage and get them to replace the PCV and clean out any pipework in that system - assuming their analysis doens't show an alternative issue. I'll plug on the OBD dongle this evening and see if Forscan shows up anything, there's no engine light on.

Perhaps the PCV is borderline and that's why I can drive for a couple of hours without the dipstick popping out, maybe as it becomes more blocked or stuck it would pop more frequently.

Buffman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122520129#Comment_122520129

Ye, if you weren't blowing oil you'd potentially live with it, but definitely get it looked at. There could be other potential causes, sometimes even only an engine flush can sort issues like that, just the PCV would be the main suspect.

Esel

Are you sure that the oil level is not too high?

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122522183#Comment_122522183

Good point I'll double check that this evening.

I used Forscan with the OBD dongle last night but nothing showed up.

mp3ireland2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122522183#Comment_122522183

Definitely not the issue, it's very low now actually even after a top up the other day!

This did prompt me to turn on the car with the dipstick out and I could see and hear oil spluttering. At least now I know thr mechanic will see symptoms of the problem so he'll know when he has fixed it.

mp3ireland2

Just a follow up here in case anybody comes across this with a similar issue. I brought it into the grage and explaiend the issue, they checked all the pressures and they was no issue, took it on test drives. I was reluctant to take it back without them replacing the PCV as a "just in case" however they didn't seem to want to change it. The oil and filter was changed. I've had no issue since and done a few long drives so I'm startin to trust it now. Strange.

Unless I didn't have the dipstick in correctly the first time, I lost oil and then the oil was very low when pushing the dipstick back in and that could be a reason for it popping again? I don't know enough about engines to know if that makes sense, i don't it does but I can't think of any other cause!