Just been down devon from south yorkshire, no problems over the 286 miles

come to last night before coming home oil warning light came on, then went off then came back on several seconds later,whilst going up n down hills in torquay

parked up for 30 mins, light disppeared then drove back to paington no problem,

set off home spent 30 mins in traffic doing nowt but idle revs as going down hill,

come to very slight incline and oil light came on again,

oil just under max line when visually checked when hot and when been stood over night, but on removal of oil filler cap, large amounts of oil vapour smoke and really bad burning oil smell,

engine seems to have had very little power up hills and would struggle in 1st/2nd

basically is it worth looking in to repairing or is it beyond all hope

engine is a 1.4 mpi with 141720 miles on clock

If the engine is noisy (rattle/clatter from front left of engine as you face it) at that mileage the timing chain probably needs replacing, and could explain lack of power.

It is possible the oil light is the oil pressure switch, assuming oil has been changed within last 10,000 miles/few years.

oil change and timing chain both done at garage in early Feb this year

Did the engine temperature, as shown in the dashboard binnacle guage, rise ? If not you might have got away with it. Though,smelling burnt oil isn't too good.

Knowing A380/M5 from Torquay to Bristol, its basically uphill most of the way, so not the best place to test the low level effciency of the lubricating system.

If the engine got really hot and oil got burnt, then, in addition to starting a wear pattern you may well have put a glaze on the pistons/cylinders. But, countering this, @ 141,000 miles your engine should be well loose, in wear terms already.

My understanding is that the oil light comes on after the oil goes below a certain level in the sump. It is an oil level switch not an oil pressure switch. So when this comes on you should immediately pull-over and stop and turn-off the engine, otherwise damage can be done - see Skoda owners manual.

This possibly explains why the light was going on and off whilst you were going up and down hills - if the oil is that low the light will also come-on when you negotiate tight corners quickly (Slight centrifugal force may displace the oil away from the sensor).

I got an oil light once @ 30,000 miles. At the time I was within a mile of reaching home, but managed to coast the remaining distance. Basically found that I only had a litre left. Now @ 50,000 miles, an engine which previously didn't use any oil up to 30,000 is hovering near the manufacturers limit of oil consumption i.e. it gets through a litre every 600 miles. I would have thought that the catalytic converter would have packed-up with that amount of oil going through it, but no, its still makes it thru the MOT.

Nick

Edited 26 September, 201114 yr by Clunkclick

Just been down devon from south yorkshire, no problems over the 286 miles

come to last night before coming home oil warning light came on, then went off then came back on several seconds later,whilst going up n down hills in torquay

parked up for 30 mins, light disppeared then drove back to paington no problem,

set off home spent 30 mins in traffic doing nowt but idle revs as going down hill,

come to very slight incline and oil light came on again,

oil just under max line when visually checked when hot and when been stood over night, but on removal of oil filler cap, large amounts of oil vapour smoke and really bad burning oil smell,

engine seems to have had very little power up hills and would struggle in 1st/2nd

basically is it worth looking in to repairing or is it beyond all hope

engine is a 1.4 mpi with 141720 miles on clock

I would say that with that mileage the engine is likely to be getting very tired and is obviously breathing heavily.

Best option would be a guaranteed low mileage replacement engine if you feel the car is worth it.

Just been down devon from south yorkshire, no problems over the 286 miles

come to last night before coming home oil warning light came on, then went off then came back on several seconds later,whilst going up n down hills in torquay

parked up for 30 mins, light disppeared then drove back to paington no problem,

set off home spent 30 mins in traffic doing nowt but idle revs as going down hill,

come to very slight incline and oil light came on again,

oil just under max line when visually checked when hot and when been stood over night, but on removal of oil filler cap, large amounts of oil vapour smoke and really bad burning oil smell,

engine seems to have had very little power up hills and would struggle in 1st/2nd

basically is it worth looking in to repairing or is it beyond all hope

engine is a 1.4 mpi with 141720 miles on clock

I would say that with that mileage the engine is likely to be getting very tired and is obviously breathing heavily.

Best option would be a guaranteed low mileage replacement engine if you feel the car is worth it.

In terms of power up hill is it worse than before timing chain change? It could be the chain was installed incorrectly. See this post for details of similar symptoms and the cure http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/131845-idle-power-problem-14-mpi/

At 140k miles the engine is nowhere near the end of its useful life if it has had regular oil changes.

Oil light could be oil pressure switch. OTOH it could be an issue with the oil pump - this is disturbed when the timing chain is replaced as it is driven by that part of the engine.

sorted oil pressure sensor knackered