Am new here so first off, hey all!

And now to the problem. sorry if i miss any info out. My boyfriend has an X reg 1.25 fiesta zetec but isn't much of a car person, whereas i've changed a few headgaskets, IMG's, CV joints, brake pads and discs etc. but only ever on rovers. so i really dont know much about ford engines.

Recently we have noticed that there has been a loss of power and coolant. Coolant went from max to empty in just under 2 months-ish and since has repeatedly gone from max to min in 1-2 weeks. originally i thought it may be HGF, but i've been told its fairly rare on zetec engines. There is no visable coolant leak anywhere. Also, there are no other symptoms ('mayo' in coolant or oil etc). The oil level seems consistant and is not low.

Then last night i got the dreaded txt saying 'i think my cars died!' followed by the explaination. As he drove home (about 6 miles) there was a fairly sudden clunk and a fair amount of jolting/'kangarooing'. He continued to drive as he didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere, but experieced violent shuddering below 3000rpm, very slow acceleration and when he got home, what he described as the smell of burning metal. The engine still starts but sounds a little rough + violently shakes under 3000rpm.

i looked at this post http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3978 but some of the symptoms/situations are different so a little sceptical.

i have an idea, but am really not sure about it so would like to hear yours.

Thank you and sorry about long post, just dont want to miss anything out.

Bethany x

did you lose coolant when this occured,if the engine was run without coolant who knows what damage could have been done. without inspection it impossible to give a diagnotice.

did you lose coolant when this occured,if the engine was run without coolant who knows what damage could have been done. without inspection it impossible to give a diagnotice.

I'm not sure as i wasn't actually there at the time. But since posting this i've diagnosed the car with HGF. Although its uncommon on this engine, i'm quite sure thats the problem. Almost 100% certain.

I'm thinking of fixing this myself, and its due a cambelt change which i'll do at the same time, but just wondering how easy you'd rate this as a DIY job??

Thanks