Hello people,

 

I'm going to explain this as quickly as I can because my experience has been overwhelmingly tiring.

In a nutshell, I have sold my fiesta to now upgrade to a focus 1.0l ecoboost zetec s 2014 (beautiful car imo)

I had bought the car after finding it at a dealership that had decent reviews.

I didn't recieve the car until the 21st. Reason being is as follows;

•service parts were taking so long to arrive

•parts for minor mechanical issues were taking a long time to arrive.

•when that was done, car would recieve a full valet and a full service

I found this all normal.

In the meantime I was doing the obvious, calling up every other day after unless told a specific date. I was told the 18th so I waited, still no reply and they rang me to tell me the 21st. So off I went to retrieve my car And on the way to recieving the car the sales lady explained to me that the works been done including brake pads and wheel bearings. Everything checked out great, really friendly service etc. Signed the paperwork which all checked out. She told me all my paperwork was in the folder. (This was AFTER again talking about the work that had been done) I have had the car for 2 weeks and due to my paranoia with previous issues on a car I am always checking cars fluids, sounds, noises, electrics etc. Something in my head told me to take a look into the work that had been done, but to my luck, didn't seem to be in the folder as promised so I phoned them up straight away and requested for a picture to be sent of all information of works.

On the invoice stated 

• Dual mass flywheel and clutch

• n/s repeater

• front disks and brakes 

Which I was more than happy with, as a new clutch and brakes is probably the best thing you can hear about on a car.

But then I noticed it said "carry out engine replacement", now don't get me wrong, I understand that if there's a lot of things that need fixing on an engine it is 9/10 more cost and time effective to just replace the engine.

But why wasn't I told? Why does it seem that all this information was purposely held back from me on purpose? More to the point, how do i know this engine hasn't been ragged around by a 17 year old cooked and added 20k miles more than the original 70k. Engine replacements happen everywhere and even without peoples knowlege and have lasted for decades and tbh I probably wouldn't have been as paranoid if I didn't know anything about it.

Does anybody know how I can find out if this is a legit engine? Can't seem to find any serial numbers, just part numbers that are dated to 2015.

Apologies if this has been such a long winded biography of the inclusive curiosity of my car but I just need a bit of a better understanding on the situation as I've never bought from a dealer before and I'm quote new to focus'

Thanks for listening, Ryan

Ps. No ecoboom jokes either 🤣

You say no EcoBoom jokes...but so many 1.0 EcoBoost engines have been replaced now, either due to coolant loss or oil pressure reduction, you couldn't really assume any to still be original.

Theres no way to tell where a used engine came from unless the dealer will tell you...  Are you sure it's not a brand new engine?  Is there a price quoted?

9 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

You say no EcoBoom jokes...but so many 1.0 EcoBoost engines have been replaced now, either due to coolant loss or oil pressure reduction, you couldn't really assume any to still be original.

Theres no way to tell where a used engine came from unless the dealer will tell you...  Are you sure it's not a brand new engine?  Is there a price quoted?

Cheers for the response dude,

Nothing has been quoted, just the labour involved. And yeah I totally understand the whole ecoboom thing but surely that's something that wouldn't have been done right before I recieve the vehicle? One thing I forgot to mention was that the date of the invoice was the 20th, bearing in mind I got the car on the 21st. Just seems a but off to me. Like could the engine potentially have more miles than the car? Engine doesn't look brand new either, definitely some wear to it. The only question I have asked them is "what was the reason for the engine replacement" and they responded (3 hours before closing time) "I will let you know first thing.

Have you asked the garage about it? As in was it replaced or is that an error, if it was replaced then why. Whe did it get replaced, was it a warranty repair? 

If you can find the 8 digit Engine Serial Number on the block, if its the original engine then the ESN will match the last 7 digits of the VIN. 

https://youtu.be/AjEZvGofrU8

5 minutes ago, Jonro2009 said:

Have you asked the garage about it? As in was it replaced or is that an error, if it was replaced then why. Whe did it get replaced, was it a warranty repair? 

If you can find the 8 digit Engine Serial Number on the block, if its the original engine then the ESN will match the last 7 digits of the VIN. 

https://youtu.be/AjEZvGofrU8

Hi mate,

1 thing I've forgotten to mention is that I have messaged the dealer about it and they said "yes complete engine" I then asked why and they said "will let you know first thing tomorrow"

Hopefully I get a solid answer

Also check what engine number is on the log book when you get it.

Personally i would walk away sharpish and think myself lucky.

17 minutes ago, KenM said:

Also check what engine number is on the log book when you get it.

Something I aim to do, but where exactly do I find the engine number ON the physical engine. I've had a quick look around and cannot find.

17 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

Personally i would walk away sharpish and think myself lucky.

This was my first thought, but there are alot of reasons not to I my eyes. If you don't mind would you be able to tell me why you would walk away, just so I can have piece of mind lol

Where would I find the engine serial number on the engine block of a mk3 focus. 1.0l ecoboost zetec s?

I know this is a Fiesta but its the same position for your 1.0 ecoboom engine.

 

The YouTube link I posted further up should give you an idea where to look

22 minutes ago, unofix said:

I know this is a Fiesta but its the same position for your 1.0 ecoboom engine.

 

For some reason when I wrote my comment about the link I posted, your video link didn't show. Instead it was a comment where you said about there being two posts, colour me confused lol

Not sure what is going on with this thread. It seems to be running as a duplicate but with two lots of different posts ????

Lets hope admin / mods can sort it out. 👍

13 hours ago, Ryanl0l said:

Hi mate,

1 thing I've forgotten to mention is that I have messaged the dealer about it and they said "yes complete engine" I then asked why and they said "will let you know first thing tomorrow"

Hopefully I get a solid answer

What's the verdict then?  

If you get a response, I'll guess it's something vague like 'Technician said it was broken'.  

Also to answer the earlier question - the dealership will have an engine supplier.  They won't be interested in mileage or service history.  They'll simply ask for a 1.0 EcoBoost and fit whatever they're sent.  However, that's not much different to buying a full used car, even service history doesn't tell you how it was driven in the past.

20 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

What's the verdict then?  

If you get a response, I'll guess it's something vague like 'Technician said it was broken'.  

Also to answer the earlier question - the dealership will have an engine supplier.  They won't be interested in mileage or service history.  They'll simply ask for a 1.0 EcoBoost and fit whatever they're sent.  However, that's not much different to buying a full used car, even service history doesn't tell you how it was driven in the past.

Pretty much in a nutshell generic sales tactics I presume. Thing is I don't really want to be coming across rude or pushy, is there any questions you could think of that I should ask?

I mean, should I ask if they have any information on it eg, mileage? 

I genuinely think I'm being over paranoid as the car does drive fine, smooth aswell. 

I would ask for age and mileage of the new engine.

At the very least you need to know when the wet belt will be due.

You may have lucked out and got a newer engine than was in it originally.

Whatever the reason for engine replacement it’s kind of irrelevant as it’s been replaced.   If it just said turbo replacement I would be thinking was the root cause sorted or is the new turbo going to fail also.  But if the whole engine was replaced I can’t see the reason / root cause knowledge being of any use to you 

Also the age / mileage , if they give you that you can take that with a pinch of salt as they can tell you anything and there’s no proof.   

Perhaps someone can get idea of age from engine number 

7 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I would ask for age and mileage of the new engine.

At the very least you need to know when the wet belt will be due.

You may have lucked out and got a newer engine than was in it originally.

Yeah good point actually! New engine is 2015. Hoping it was just an ecoboom replacement lol if I've not heard from them in the next ten I'll phone them.

2 minutes ago, isetta said:

Perhaps someone can get idea of age from engine number 

Well there are pipe labels that state the parts were made in 2015, so it could potentially be 2015 or newer

12 minutes ago, Ryanl0l said:

Pretty much in a nutshell generic sales tactics I presume. Thing is I don't really want to be coming across rude or pushy, is there any questions you could think of that I should ask?

I mean, should I ask if they have any information on it eg, mileage? 

I genuinely think I'm being over paranoid as the car does drive fine, smooth aswell. 

I don't think they'll have access to mileage information but there's no harm in asking.  Just state you'd like to know when the cambelt will need changing as Alex suggested.

Not all pipes are replaced with the engine...though having 2015 pipes on a pre-facelift does suggest that those weren't original!  Is that on the degas pipe perhaps?  As that should have been replaced under recall.

13 hours ago, Ryanl0l said:

This was my first thought, but there are alot of reasons not to I my eyes. If you don't mind would you be able to tell me why you would walk away, just so I can have piece of mind lol

I would walk due to the litany of repairs needed to get the car to a certain standard, many of them safety based. It would ALWAYS be in my mind of what was needed and done to make it roadworthy saleable. On to of that theres rhe Ecoboom even with a brand new engine. but thats just me. the choice as they say is yours.

41 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

I would walk due to the litany of repairs needed to get the car to a certain standard, many of them safety based. It would ALWAYS be in my mind of what was needed and done to make it roadworthy saleable. On to of that theres rhe Ecoboom even with a brand new engine. but thats just me. the choice as they say is yours.

Ahh I understand you totally, brakes and clutch is an added bonus to me, indicator itself was just bulb, which can go at any point so those repairs in my mind make the dealership look good in some ways that they've picked up on those points and fixed them as standard before pickup. I'd be worried if it were oil leaks or aux cat issues. It's just the shadiness of the engine swap for me. But then again, if I were to buy private or off a mechanic, (people with more knowledge than a sales person) would I be that concerned. I mean a mechanic probably wouldn't mention it either I would imagine, nor would private.. its just the trust issues for me lmao