An expesive day

Well Bev went out in her 2016 Fiesta 1.0 ecoboost today. Got a few miles & the dreaded rattle & oil light followed by total seizure of the engine. This was aproaching a roundabout. All within around 100 feet in distance. The car has done 45,000 & i regularly service inc oil & filter. the oil level was correct as was the water.

Having looked around online it is stated by Ford 10 years or 150,000 miles for the internal wet belt to be changed. The car is neither of these. What it seems happens on some of these is the fine fibres that the belt is made from come off. These get sucked into a fine gauze which leeds to the oil pump. The pump gets starved of oil & the rest is history. Aparently no come back at Ford.

So a low mileage 39,000 unwaranted used engine from Synteq was £1600 delivered. Plus whatever my Son in laws garage charges for fitting. We have owned the car since it was 11 months old & has been great until now. At my age it was out of the question for me to strip & repair the engine. So the savings got a good delving into. Hope tomorrow is better. It seems these engines suffer from a few gremlins, this being one of them.

Steve.  Sorry about the title mis spell.

Edited By Steviegtr on 09/06/2023 18:50:31

Edited By Steviegtr on 09/06/2023 18:51:16

Well it is a Fix Or Repair Daily!!!!

Sorry not sure what you mean. ???.

Steve.

FIAT -fix it again tomorrow

FORD -

Those were said to cost ford £350 a lump discussion on the MIG forum now.

My T150V Trident wrecked 2 rods and needed the crank regrinding when an oil filter disintegrated and blocked the gauze filter from the oil tank. I think I could still rebuild a Trident engine in a darkened room.

Mike

Wasn't there an oil pressure or check engine type warning before the seizure?

Yes the oil light came on & then a couple of secs later the car stopped on the spot.

Steve

Oil pressure lights are also known as the it’s too late light.

Mike

They are invariably set far too low to be of any real use when driving. If it comes on at any more than idle speed, then you're normally looking at engine damage.

And the 1.0l Ecoboom is terribly weak in a number of areas - oil pressure, coolant leaks, timing belt issues(it books 9 hours and about £600 in parts), drivability, smoothness etc. They're best avoided.

I'd be inclined to change the belt and have the sump off on the "new" engine, just to be sure it's ok

Jim

"The car has done 45,000 & i regularly service inc oil & filter. the oil level was correct as was the water".

Hi Steve, my wife has one of these on a 2014 plate so thanks for the heads up. After the warranty period I took on the servicing but I did the oil and filter approx every six months because I clocked the internal fibre cam belt.

From watching Youtube what do you think of getting the oil pressure checked to see if it falls off at high RPM?

Seems the simplest option to see how blocked the filter gauze is. Last oil change, I was in agony for a week, so taking sump off is a no no.

When I drive it I usually hit 5000 RPM at least once!

Cheers Mike.

You have to take the sump off to change the belt. Many mechanics drop the engine when doing them on Fiestas.

There are 2 types of oil pump that Ford use, vane type (Worst) and the gear type.(better). Worth checking.

No such thing as 'Exchange' units anymore? Short or full engine?

Regards Ian.

This issue certainly sounds like some of the engines are not fit for purpose. This should mean the retailler / Ford should have some responsibility for the repair. Unfortunatly if it was not serviced on time every time by a Ford garage (or you can prove it was done by a competent commercial garage using Ford approved parts) Ford have a reason to avoid liability. As soon as Steve di a service Ford had get out. There was a brief piece on the BBC recently and the cases highlighted had incomplete service history. They also quoted Ford as saying somthing like it had only happened on 0.01% of ecoboost engines worldwide". That sounds like lying with statistics to me. Ecoboost range covers a wide range of models including 4 and 6 cylinder varients. It seems like it just affects certain versions of the 1l 3 cyl engine. In the USA the 1l ecobost (which may be different to the UK one anyway) accounts for less than 10% of Focus and Fiesta sales. The Wet Belt was designed out around 2018/19.
If this had affected any significant number of cars in the USA there would be a class action suit going on.

Robert.

I’ve never been very impressed with the concept of using turbo chargers on small engines for road cars. Normally aspirated engines have proven to more than adequate for the majority of drivers. I suppose making cars more complicated with more to go wrong helps bolster main dealer workshops? I’ve been very impressed with my wife’s Mazda 2. The whole range is available with just one 1500 engine but with a choice of three different levels of power output. We went with the middle one and it’s been very reliable.

No you don't seem to see them so much anymore. Seem to have been taken over here in Australia by cheap low-mileage secondhand motors imported from Japan, where they drive very few miles a year and cars are discarded after just a few years due to steeply increasing taxes on cars more than a couple of years old.

How many drivers understand the vehicle they drive ? The days of several gauges to tell those who understand what is going on in the engine have long gone. Many drivers would not now understand what they were telling them. An oil pressure gauge would have probably saved this engine if the driver understood the readings, and acted quickly, you only have seconds. Many oil pressure switches are to low to save disaster ! There are many engines which would have been good if built as designed - but the accounts spoilt them ! 3 that come to mind are the Ford V4 oil pump drive and the fuel pump cam, the V6 plastic valve train drive and the Pinto cam followers. These problems would only show up after the warrentee had expired ! The motoring world is full of vehicles that could have been good if the accounts had let the engineers build them and increase the price just a little ! Ah well. Noel

The trouble with oil pressure gauges is they will show wide variations and still be operating normally, it will require the driver to understand what is normal behaviour and not panic when the needle drops with hot oil and idling speed. Manufacturers don’t normally fit them as they would get worried people on the phone all the time. A performance engine with an informed driver can make good use of an oil pressure gauge but probably best not to let Joe Public see what is going on.

Mike