Hi I'm new here and was told to try you guys for help as ur ford enthusiasts. I brought my first car recently it's a 1998 fiesta ghia zetec... It's a great drive, just service it myself was told by a garage to use 5/30 semi synth. The problem is recentley there's a ticking sound and the car sounds like a diesel. Friends r saying diff things like it's the tappets it's the timing belt ... As u guys prob no alot bout the engine.. Thought I'd pop here can record the sound if needed cheers
Steve

Sounds like the serpentine belt slapping to me. Fiesta's seem to go through them every 15,000 miles or so. My MK4 1.25 Fiesta Ghia's is slapping now as well. Check to see if it's cracked. If it looks pretty new, the tensioner could be on it's way out. A temporary fix would be to tighten the tensioner, though it might loosen again after 40-50 miles driving. Tensioner is an easy and quite cheap fix.

P.S post some pics! I'd love to see a fellow MK4 Ghia

double post sorry

[quote name='jmurray01' date='20 July 2010 - 04:42 PM' timestamp='1279643556' post='89200']
Sounds like the serpentine belt slapping to me. Fiesta's seem to go through them every 15,000 miles or so. My MK4 1.25 Fiesta Ghia's is slapping now as well. Check to see if it's cracked. If it looks pretty new, the tensioner could be on it's way out. A temporary fix would be to tighten the tensioner, though it might loosen again after 40-50 miles driving. Tensioner is an easy and quite cheap fix.

P.S post some pics! I'd love to see a fellow MK4 Ghia
[/quote]

need the middles for the wheels, they are ford alloys tho gone from 13 inch to 15inch, when i brought the car the dealer must of sold the ghia alloys!

added a vid of engine so u can hear it but the phones made it a bit more accoustic sounding. so would be great if u could tell me form the sound of the vid, the vid will play on a mobile or on quicktime. cars got scuff marks n needs some scratches and the bumpers doing but for first car am loving it, loves 3rd gear dont it lol

also sorry to sound daft whats the serpentine belt.... never heard that before, heard cam belt, fan belt etc

The car looks good! Damn about the Ghia alloys . My Fiesta doesn't have them either. Just has normal wheels with plastic hub caps. The serpentine belt (also called Multi-Vee belt) is what drives the power steering and alternator. If it goes, you'll end up with a flat battery! Thats what's slapping just now probably. If it hasn't already, it will start to "slip" soon. Causing a SQUEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLL!! noise when you start it up or rev high. Yup, they love 3rd gear! Such fun on a country road blasting round the corners!

My computer won't let me listen to that file, could you upload a video to youtube ?

[quote name='jmurray01' date='21 July 2010 - 01:44 PM' timestamp='1279715659' post='89288']
The car looks good! Damn about the Ghia alloys . My Fiesta doesn't have them either. Just has normal wheels with plastic hub caps. The serpentine belt (also called Multi-Vee belt) is what drives the power steering and alternator. If it goes, you'll end up with a flat battery! Thats what's slapping just now probably. If it hasn't already, it will start to "slip" soon. Causing a SQUEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLL!! noise when you start it up or rev high. Yup, they love 3rd gear! Such fun on a country road blasting round the corners!

My computer won't let me listen to that file, could you upload a video to youtube ?
[/quote]

does it only do it when the cars cold or all the time? if only when cold i wouldnt worry if all the time it needs looked at sounds like either tappets or piston slap