Hi all, we have owned a 2010 Fiesta Zetec since new and I was recently looking through the service book and noticed that the cambelt should be replaced after 8 years and, as the car is now over 13 years old, I immediately booked it in with a local garage we normally use!

Yes, I know I should have gone to a Ford dealership but, cash is a bit short at the moment!

We collected the car a couple of days ago and the mechanic informed me that a compatible cambelt had been fitted and that it comes with a one year warranty!

We paid around £350 for the job which included the cambelt and water pump but, as Ford give 8 years before changing the cambelt, surely compatible parts such as cambelts should be given an equivalent amount of time before a change is needed?

I  am now concerned that this compatible cambelt could let us down after one or two years and we would then need the pay the same (or more) for a replacement?

Ford do not guarantee the cambelt for 8 years, they merely advise it is changed before then. If it snaps after, say, 5 years and destroys the engine they might offer a goodwill contribution if the car has a perfect service history, but equally they might not. 

A one year warranty on a replacement part is standard and is probably exactly what Ford offer. I’d say you have nothing to worry about. 🙂

Hi David,

You may be confusing the warranty period on the part with the recommended change interval.

Ford parts warranty is as below:

 

       

 

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Service Parts Warranty

Ford genuine branded (incl. Motorcraft) parts are provided with parts warranty as detailed in the table below. The parts warranty start date is the date on which the part was purchased from the Ford parts retailer.

When a customer makes a part warranty claim the original invoice must be provided as proof of purchase. The authorised dealer must retain a copy of the original part purchase invoice. The authorised dealer must also ascertain an estimation of the distance covered whilst the part was in service.

Where a part is purchased and subsequently fails (due to a clear manufacturing or material defect), only the cost of renewing the part is covered. No payment will be made towards the cost of labour, except where a customer returns the vehicle to a Ford authorised dealer for repair, in these cases parts and labour costs will be covered.

Ford is not responsible for covering the failure of authorised dealer supplied parts where such failure, in Ford's opinion has been caused by installation which does not follow Ford's repair instructions.

No costs will be met for any consequential damage which is not directly related to the failure of a part.

The following table identifies the warranty terms for parts purchased from an authorised dealer:

Part	Duration
All parts, other than those noted below.	12 months/unlimited distance.
Scheduled maintenance items (Incl. Timing belt).	12 months or next due scheduled replacement, whichever occurs first.
Alarms, clutch assemblies, economy exhausts and shock absorbers.	24 months/unlimited distance.
Original equipment exhausts [including catalytic converters and coated DPF (coated lifetime converter)], Batteries, Ignition lead sets.	36 months/unlimited distance.
Sheet metal/body panels.	6 years/unlimited distance.

 

No reason why you should have gone to a Ford dealer unless you just wanted to spend extra money.