Oil service

Q

I’ve offered to service a neighbour’s car – a Fiesta MKVI (I think), petrol 1.0-litre. I believe it takes a 5W-20 oil. Can you confirm this? Also, any special oil qualities or specifications? I’ve heard that some Fords have an oil change quirk whereby the sump has to be filled very quickly after draining. Is this the case with this engine? Plus, what the sump capacity?

Do you know if it is fitted with Iridium plugs from the factory and what is the change period?

Gary Mills

A

As you supplied the registration number, I can confirm this is a 1.0 petrol engine. The oil is as you have mentioned 5W-20 synthetic (Ford specification WSS-M2C948-B) and the capacity is 4.6 litres. The torque setting

for the sump plug is 25Nm and the torque setting for the oil filter is 15Nm.

I have heard of no problems with performing an oil change on the Ford, and a routine oil change does not often present any issues. The draining and refilling of the sump I suspect may not be the concern, but the changing of the oil filter.

It can be the case that leaving an oil filter off, for an extended time, can allow the oil in the gallery to drain back down emptying the oil pump. This can then cause the oil pressure to take longer to build up, and this is an issue I have come across in the past. For this reason, I always recommend that the new filter is put on as soon as the old one has been removed, to prevent the possibility of this occurring.

From the data I have supplied to me by Autodata, the spark plugs should be replaced every 75,000 or six years, which would suggest that they are Iridium plugs.