9 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

 Autocar and finally(!)

Trevor M^cDoughnut 😉

In a few years time it will be, "Don't buy an EV unless it's just had a new battery pack fitted" 🤣

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Just been reading the latest issue of Autocar and finally(!) the wet belt change gets a mention: "Don't buy one unless the all-important work has been carried out"

Ford must have missed a payment for their ads. 🤭

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Ford must have missed a payment for their ads. 🤭

Off the original topic (as usual!) but Volvo must have done likewise. Autocar's recent review of the new EX30 concluded: "I cannot in all honesty recommend you buy this car. It is frustrating to use well beyond the point of annoyance".😀

Better to buy a Japanese branded car like a Toyota, perhaps a rebranded Daihatsu  🤣

Daihatsu suspends production in Japan after safety test scandal

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/27/daihatsu-suspends-production-in-japan-after-safety-test-scandal

14 minutes ago, unofix said:

Better to buy a Japanese branded car like a Toyota, perhaps a rebranded Daihatsu  🤣

Daihatsu suspends production in Japan after safety test scandal

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/27/daihatsu-suspends-production-in-japan-after-safety-test-scandal

Must have hired some ex-VW people! Isn't someone supposed to commit hara-kiri in these circumstances?

Toyota subsidiary has admitted falsifying data on some models for more than 30 years

 

Yo get back to the OP topic, I have had good luck with the ones I found for my mum, brother and sister, your mileage may vary but the important thing on them is to ensure the correct oil has been used for the entirety of the engines life (service history receipts are a very useful tool for this) and that it has had oil changes at or before the interval.

Yep, I'd have to agree, using the correct oil and servicing the vehicle at the correct intervals goes a long way to keeping a reliable car on the road generally, not just for Fords.

My view is that if you  look after the car, it will look after you, and after owning a 1.0L Ecoboost for 3 years now (5 if you count the 2 years my late partner had it) I can honestly say this car has never let me down.

So I bought mine back in January with 47k on the clock and the dealer (small Ford single site franchise) that I bought it from had done the wet belt before I bought the car. I did an oil and filter change at 6 months due to mileage, oil was clear of debris.
 

I’ve just booked it in for a service and MOT with them (they’ve looked after it for the last 6 years or so, so thought I’d keep up the tradition) - it’s done 18k miles this year as my workhorse and (touch wood) it’s been excellent. 
 

I don’t think 10 years is a hard limit on these things and I think / hope that it’ll continue going for a bit longer with continued good maintenance. 

1 hour ago, dontpannic said:

So I bought mine back in January with 47k on the clock and the dealer (small Ford single site franchise) that I bought it from had done the wet belt before I bought the car. I did an oil and filter change at 6 months due to mileage, oil was clear of debris.
 

I’ve just booked it in for a service and MOT with them (they’ve looked after it for the last 6 years or so, so thought I’d keep up the tradition) - it’s done 18k miles this year as my workhorse and (touch wood) it’s been excellent. 
 

I don’t think 10 years is a hard limit on these things and I think / hope that it’ll continue going for a bit longer with continued good maintenance. 

The 10 years refers to timing belt service interval (10 years or 150k miles) not the lifespan of the engine even if for some those are not mutually exclusive 

On 12/31/2023 at 12:22 AM, Neb_engineer said:

The 10 years refers to timing belt service interval (10 years or 150k miles) not the lifespan of the engine even if for some those are not mutually exclusive 

Oh I know that, that comment refers to people selling or scrapping the cars at 10 years because of the cost of the belt service. 

1 hour ago, dontpannic said:

Oh I know that, that comment refers to people selling or scrapping the cars at 10 years because of the cost of the belt service. 

Not just scrapping or selling but also neglecting to do the belt change and then the belt breaking up during the 10th year

https://chng.it/xFy9kd4mRjhttps://chng.it/xFy9kd4mRj

7 hours ago, Dannythedob said:

https://chng.it/xFy9kd4mRjhttps://chng.it/xFy9kd4mRj

More articles like this should be written.

 

Furthermore 1.0 owners should send complaint email to ford.

Ford should take care of this not only in Britain or USA l, but everywhere.

5 hours ago, Bol said:

More articles like this should be written.

With respect, there is no "fix" for this issue, so what needs to be recalled?

Offering an extended warranty for wet belt issues would be good, which I believe Ford already did as long as the car had a full dealer service history on time. They're not going to outrightly replace failed engines indefinitely without on-time dealer stamps as who knows what sort of fluids the owners have been putting in their engines?

It's a tough situation to gauge, there is no 'one size fits all' solution i.e. a recall as the belts that are being installed are the same, just newer, so it'll still need changing in maximum 10 years time anyway.

Bought my 1.0 2013 ford focus about 6 years ago at 35000 miles. It's now on 72000 miles, still runs nicely. Not planning to sell it any time soon.

2 minutes ago, mburdett555 said:

1.0 2013 ford focus

Did you replace the wet timing belt last year ?

On 4/21/2024 at 7:21 PM, unofix said:

Did you replace the wet timing belt last year ?

Yes I did, money well spent 🤣

I’m a bit of the opinion that just build a wet belt change into your budget, get it changed when you buy the car and chances are you will be absolutely fine. Loads of places doing them at £8-900 near us, you’d expect to pay £500 for a conventional belt, couple of hundred more and you can forget about it. 

I have just had a new belt fitted on mine only got 25k miles on the clock but it is 10 years old cost £1250 that included a new water pump and oil pump etc. I noticed oil on the drive turns out the drive shaft oil seal is now leaking the garage say it's nothing to do with anything they have done and wanted £150 to fix it. I argued that the car was fine before they agreed to do it no charge 3 weeks later it's still leaking. Could they have done the damage? Regards Dave. 

19 minutes ago, Davebry said:

I have just had a new belt fitted on mine only got 25k miles on the clock but it is 10 years old cost £1250 that included a new water pump and oil pump etc. I noticed oil on the drive turns out the drive shaft oil seal is now leaking the garage say it's nothing to do with anything they have done and wanted £150 to fix it. I argued that the car was fine before they agreed to do it no charge 3 weeks later it's still leaking. Could they have done the damage? Regards Dave. 

No, that job goes nowhere near driveshafts, inboard or outboard

We do read about some garages removing the engine to change the belt.  So it's not impossible that they could've disturbed the driveshafts.  But we have no way of knowing really.

They may not have preplaced the leaking seal 'with no charge' though...just wiped up the mess and added some stop-leak type stuff.  Should be able to see if it's a brand new seal or not...  If it is a brand new seal then that's a bit concerning, you would have to work out whether it's leaking from the outside or the inside of the seal first.