1 litre Ecoboost, is it reliable or are they likely to fail?

[Tizer]

6 hours ago, RayC333 said:

Having said all that I'm told the later chain driven version/auto gearbox version have different oil pumps, belts and tensioner?

There is no Tensioner on the 1.5 Dragon Engine oil Pump Belt, so maybe the later 1.0 Engine design is the same?

[MJNewton]

There'd only usually be a tensioner if it is driving a significant load such as a balance shaft, and there only really needs to be a balance shaft with automatic transmissions as they don't have a flywheel which can be used for balancing in a manual. That's not to say you won't find balance shafts in manual setups though so who knows what they've done where, when and why! 

[GM1977]

Hi everyone - looking at an June 2018 ST line with 67k miles, and rather cautious with the whole Ecoboom stories. I have read that the later 2018 engines run on a different belt & are therefore less prone to the issues?. Any experience of this? Many thanks

[DaveT70]

4 minutes ago, GM1977 said:

Hi everyone - looking at an June 2018 ST line with 67k miles, and rather cautious with the whole Ecoboom stories. I have read that the later 2018 engines run on a different belt & are therefore less prone to the issues?. Any experience of this? Many thanks

If it's a late MK3.5 then it's wet belt, if it's an early MK4 then it's the chain with the wet oil pump belt

[GM1977]

It’s a MK 8, June 2018 plate?

[DaveT70]

4 minutes ago, GM1977 said:

It’s a MK 8, June 2018 plate?

😁 Sorry Fiesta

That will be a wet belt

[DaveT70]

On 1/18/2024 at 11:20 PM, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Unfortunately if it's a 2019 it will very likely be wet belt. Revised engine didn't come in until 2020 but still worth checking as Unofix suggested. Wet belt version below:

If the engine looks like this, with large heat shield at front, then it's a wet belt

[GM1977]

Many thanks, so everything I’ve read about wet belts suggest I should steer clear. Looking at the service history, it has been serviced locally every 6 months which is encouraging?

Apols, I know very little about cars and don’t want to part with £9k only to be stung. 

[DaveT70]

4 minutes ago, GM1977 said:

Many thanks, so everything I’ve read about wet belts suggest I should steer clear. Looking at the service history, it has been serviced locally every 6 months which is encouraging?

Apols, I know very little about cars and don’t want to part with £9k only to be stung. 

If it's got good, dealer service history and a warranty, buy it with finance (and pay it off in 30 days) or with your credit card (then pay it off) so that you get buyer protection if anything should happen.

Change the oil and filter at least every 12 moths, with the correct oil and NEVER use flush and it should be OK

[GM1977]

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

If it's got good, dealer service history and a warranty, buy it with finance (and pay it off in 30 days) or with your credit card (then pay it off) so that you get buyer protection if anything should happen.

Change the oil and filter at least every 12 moths, with the correct oil and NEVER use flush and it should be OK

Very helpful, many thanks 👍

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Also, take into account in your financial planning that it will be due a change of wetbelt at 10 years maximum which is a very expensive job (up to £1800 at main dealers). 

[91terriers]

On 12/28/2022 at 6:43 PM, unofix said:

Current price at a Ford main dealers is now £1700

If you're going to buy one, my advice would be run it get it serviced and don't bother spending £1700 on belts. Just wait untill it goes boom and then replace the engine with a new from pumaspeed (£1900) plus fitting.

my belt just went, I'm looking atPumaspeed which is up near Leeds.  I'm down on Oxfordshire.  Is there someone trustworthy further south that does the engine replacement?

[unofix]

7 minutes ago, 91terriers said:

  I'm down on Oxfordshire.  Is there someone trustworthy further south that does the engine replacement?

If you contact Pumaspeed regarding purchase of a new engine they can possibly advise on someone near you that can fit it.

[91terriers]

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

If you contact Pumaspeed regarding purchase of a new engine they can possibly advise on someone near you that can fit it.

Thanks!  I just spoke to Josh at Puma Speed and he is advising me!  Cheers!

[Ecoboomer2024]

Owner of a 1.0l Ecoboom engine here 2017 full service history didn't do anything that would cause any damage to engine 60k miles on clock.

Just had my brakes fail. Pretty scary. Everyone in the industry seems to know about this except Ford. The breakdown company's, the garages most people if you mention it will either have been affected or know someone who has.

There are over 66 thousand of these ecobooms on the road.

If you ring Ford they will say we have typed it into their computer and it says no.

This should be recalled and on the DVSA Website. 

 

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Ecoboomer2024 said:

Just had my brakes fail.

You're just unlucky. Normally the engine blows up first and then you don't need the brakes 🤣

[Kieran67]

Hello all,

I have a 100ps ecoboost fiesta from 2017. It's such great car to drive (love the torque) however I'm having second thoughts about trading it in, due to the 10 year wet belt change.

I have kept up with the serving and correct oil etc.... Currently has 44,000 miles on the clock. Would going for the 2nd generation ecoboost engine be a good move (2019/2020+)? or should go with another brand? Would love to here your thoughts! Thanks

I've got my service at ford tomorrow. I may ask them about the engine and see what their opinion is, I do wonder what they will say haha.

[Kieran67]

5 hours ago, Ecoboomer2024 said:

Owner of a 1.0l Ecoboom engine here 2017 full service history didn't do anything that would cause any damage to engine 60k miles on clock.

Just had my brakes fail. Pretty scary. Everyone in the industry seems to know about this except Ford. The breakdown company's, the garages most people if you mention it will either have been affected or know someone who has.

There are over 66 thousand of these ecobooms on the road.

If you ring Ford they will say we have typed it into their computer and it says no.

This should be recalled and on the DVSA Website. 

 

Sounds really scary! What situation were you in when it failed? 

[Buxty]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:53 PM, Kieran67 said:

Hello all,

I have a 100ps ecoboost fiesta from 2017. It's such great car to drive (love the torque) however I'm having second thoughts about trading it in, due to the 10 year wet belt change.

I have kept up with the serving and correct oil etc.... Currently has 44,000 miles on the clock. Would going for the 2nd generation ecoboost engine be a good move (2019/2020+)? or should go with another brand? Would love to here your thoughts! Thanks

I've got my service at ford tomorrow. I may ask them about the engine and see what their opinion is, I do wonder what they will say haha.

It’ll cost you less to get the wet belt done and all the ancillary work done, than it will to change the car. 
 

If you want a new car anyway then that’s a different thing 😁

[MJNewton]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:53 PM, Kieran67 said:

 have kept up with the serving and correct oil etc.... Currently has 44,000 miles on the clock. Would going for the 2nd generation ecoboost engine be a good move (2019/2020+)? or should go with another brand? Would love to here your thoughts! Thanks

Difficult to advise without knowing more about what your plans and preferences are. If you tend to keep cars for 10 years or more then a grand on a wet belt isn't that much in the grand scheme of things (and likely would be a one-off event unless you would keep the car for 15 or 20 years). It sounds like you like the car and have looked after it so if I were you I'd get the belt done and keep on enjoying it. It's what we've done with my wife's 2013 Fiesta - she still loves it and I doubt we'll be replacing the car for a good few years yet. 

[cjay1]

My wet belt is due next year my options are replace the belt and keep it for another 5-10 years or replace with an electric car. Petrol is easier and faster to refuel than an electric car and has a range of 500 miles plus on a long run whereas an electric car has a range of around 200 miles. And takes a lot longer to recharge. At the moment I'm leaning towards keeping the fiesta as electric car charging takes 24 hours to charge from home and the public chargers are expensive sometimes don't work and sometimes have long queues. Also the fiesta has seen most of its depreciation already so likely to be cheaper long-term.

[unofix]

13 minutes ago, cjay1 said:

My wet belt is due next year my options are replace the belt and keep it for another 5-10 years

Note that 10 years of age for a wet belt change is a maximum, not a target that has to be reached. You should be looking to change the timing bet in the next few months to reduce the chances of a failed engine.

[DaveT70]

46 minutes ago, cjay1 said:

My wet belt is due next year my options are replace the belt and keep it for another 5-10 years or replace with an electric car. Petrol is easier and faster to refuel than an electric car and has a range of 500 miles plus on a long run whereas an electric car has a range of around 200 miles. And takes a lot longer to recharge. At the moment I'm leaning towards keeping the fiesta as electric car charging takes 24 hours to charge from home and the public chargers are expensive sometimes don't work and sometimes have long queues. Also the fiesta has seen most of its depreciation already so likely to be cheaper long-term.

I'd seriously rather have a 1.0 Ecoboost with a busted belt and catch the bus, than an electric car

[Kieran67]

On 4/9/2024 at 8:21 AM, Buxty said:

It’ll cost you less to get the wet belt done and all the ancillary work done, than it will to change the car. 
 

If you want a new car anyway then that’s a different thing 😁

I guess that's true to an extent, but we don't know what age related issues the car might run into. My Fiesta doesn't have an undertray (I think it's due to it being a very late Mk7). So I can imagine it's much less protected from the elements.

Might sound stupid but are the replacement belts known to fall apart? I was thinking that the chain driven fiesta's would be a good investment for the longterm. The St-line variants have grown on me lately, especially in that  'fiat 500' blue colour.

[Kieran67]

On 4/9/2024 at 11:29 AM, cjay1 said:

My wet belt is due next year my options are replace the belt and keep it for another 5-10 years or replace with an electric car. Petrol is easier and faster to refuel than an electric car and has a range of 500 miles plus on a long run whereas an electric car has a range of around 200 miles. And takes a lot longer to recharge. At the moment I'm leaning towards keeping the fiesta as electric car charging takes 24 hours to charge from home and the public chargers are expensive sometimes don't work and sometimes have long queues. Also the fiesta has seen most of its depreciation already so likely to be cheaper long-term.

That makes sense to be fair, thinking of it now alot of cars from 10 years ago don't look that old anymore, slightly dated? A 2000 Fiesta in 2013 would have looked super old lol. I wonder how the car market will differ in 5-10 years? Will petrol cars cling on? with the deadlines beening pushed back for electrification.