Hi everyone new member here - please could I have some advice?  We are supposed to pick up a used car from private autotrader seller (uk) tomorrow! I have just run a background check and it was on Copart as a cat u - just normal wear and tear.  One of the pictures showed it running (@1000rpm) but oil light on.  This was in November just 20 miles ago.

Says he’s has done timing and oil belts, tensioner, pump and sump cleaned and new oil, new water pump, and rocker cover gasket.  He has shown car running now with no warning lights.

Is this too risky? It’s lovely and clean Titanium for under £4K (90k miles) but I’m worried damage already done which is why it was on Copart.

Many thanks for any advice

My own opinion,  FWIW I would smell a massive Rat here.

Who did the cam belt? Proper repair centre or wannabe car mechanic?

Walk away and buy one from a proper dealer where you will have some kind of guarantee 

 

If it's been running with the oil light on then the engine has been damaged.   This engine is notorious for damage due to low oil pressure.

Thank you - yes he has confirmed a diy eBay kit fitted by himself to address the belts.  I think we will avoid!

Hi, not much time to get feedback now, unfortunately.

Don't know if you've had time for a good look around this site, but if you have, you'll be aware of the range of issues with these engines. 

Can the seller produce receipts for all this work? Even if so, once the belt has degraded particles can get into all parts of the engine and if the oil light has been on further damage has probably occurred.

I've previously owned an ecoboost from new and had 5 years trouble free motoring before moving on. I wouldn't buy one at 10 years old, particularly with the history you mention, I'm afraid.

Edit: just spotted the bit about EBay diy kit. This is a very big job involving special tools, normally beyond the scope of even the most competent diy-er. 

 

 

 

If the oil light has been on, the work required if often more than simply replacing the wet belt(s). In my case significantly more 😕

I think you've got your answer! 

My questions would be (assuming I've found the right car)...

a) why has it only done 500 miles in the last 6 months?

b) why was a new V5C issued on 19th Dec 23?

Out of interest (for future reference) how do you know it was on Copart? Can you see past sales?

6 hours ago, alanfp said:

I think you've got your answer! 

My questions would be (assuming I've found the right car)...

a) why has it only done 500 miles in the last 6 months?

b) why was a new V5C issued on 19th Dec 23?

Out of interest (for future reference) how do you know it was on Copart? Can you see past sales?

My guess is he used a site like car vertical for hoi check, sites like that one show you copart pictures if it was a cat anything and at a copart auction.

10 hours ago, SteveStrat said:

My own opinion,  FWIW I would smell a massive Rat here.

Who did the cam belt? Proper repair centre or wannabe car mechanic?

Walk away and buy one from a proper dealer where you will have some kind of guarantee 

 

Seconded

Sounding like an unofficial trader posing as a private seller, who has got the car from Copart with the intention of flipping it after getting rid of the immediate oil light issue.

8 hours ago, Neb_engineer said:

My guess is he used a site like car vertical for hoi check, sites like that one show you copart pictures if it was a cat anything and at a copart auction.

Thanks Alanfp and Neb - yes right car! And yes I use vcheck (not sure if that’s a good place for checking but seems to do the job for £9).  Shows links to copart/salvage pictures.  I actually checked a different almost identical vehicle and this was also copart (but without oil light). I have given both a miss!

Thanks for all the replies.  We were going to avoid the ecoboosts altogether however we have now secured a fairly local car with full service history in a zetec trim (so a little downgrade to have fsh and no adverse search history).

It’s from a garage with a warranty and fresh MOT. Although they couldn’t do the wet belts/water pump etc for free we have negotiated the cost down to a reasonable level so they are doing that before we collect.

Thanks again!

25 minutes ago, GingerJ73 said:

It’s from a garage with a warranty and fresh MOT. 

Sounds good. At least you have your consumer rights + warranty that way, but let's hope you don't need either!

I've seen quite a few tales about "Copart cars" on various forums lately. One was a nearly brand new Fiesta ST with only a couple of hundred miles on the clock and a very shadowy story.

It seems Cat U cars are a happy hunting ground for shady repairers/traders.

3 hours ago, GingerJ73 said:

Thanks for all the replies.  We were going to avoid the ecoboosts altogether however we have now secured a fairly local car with full service history in a zetec trim (so a little downgrade to have fsh and no adverse search history).

It’s from a garage with a warranty and fresh MOT. Although they couldn’t do the wet belts/water pump etc for free we have negotiated the cost down to a reasonable level so they are doing that before we collect.

Thanks again!

What power ecoboosts as a lot of the 125hp ones are starting to have sudden loss of compression on one cylinder (going off what the garage told my older bro and all the ecoboosts in the car park) they had 4 come in all the same week and all the same problem 

12 minutes ago, Neb_engineer said:

What power ecoboosts as a lot of the 125hp ones are starting to have sudden loss of compression on one cylinder (going off what the garage told my older bro and all the ecoboosts in the car park) they had 4 come in all the same week and all the same problem 

What was that cause? 

59 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

What was that cause? 

Something to do with either valve or valve seat, but realistically the 1.0 ecoboost can only really handle 100hp reliably, more and you just stress the little engine too much

2 hours ago, Neb_engineer said:

What power ecoboosts as a lot of the 125hp ones are starting to have sudden loss of compression on one cylinder

Seems odd we haven't seen anything like that (afaik) in all these years 125 (and above) Ecoboosts have been around. Plenty of other stuff of course!😀

In the motorcycle world 100bhp/litre is chickenfeed, so not necessarily a small engine issue per se.

19 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Seems odd we haven't seen anything like that (afaik) in all these years 125 (and above) Ecoboosts have been around.

Yeah that's why I was wondering what the cause was. And to have four in one week? I think something's got lost in translation somewhere.

 

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Plenty of other stuff of course!😀

In the motorcycle world 100bhp/litre is chickenfeed, so not necessarily a small engine issue per se.

But of course one litre motorcycles don't have a wetbelt, coolant pipes that fail, or a cylinder head that warps or cracks 😉

6 hours ago, RayC333 said:

But of course one litre motorcycles don't have a wetbelt, coolant pipes that fail, or a cylinder head that warps or cracks 😉

None of those issues seemingly affect the 125 any more than they do the 100 though. 

8 hours ago, MJNewton said:

Yeah that's why I was wondering what the cause was. And to have four in one week? I think something's got lost in translation somewhere.

 

Yes, it would certainly be very interesting to have more info on this, particularly as Ford have pushed the (albeit revised version) of the 1.0 to 170 in the Puma ST DCT.

With the two cylinder heads I worked on, both needed the inlet and exhaust valves re-seating to restore the contact faces to my satisfaction.

However, only basic lapping was required and there was no significant difference between cylinder positions 1 to 3 in either head.

As an aside, most noticeable was the amount of oily carbon build-up on the inlet valves and ports (typical of direct fuel injection).

 

6 minutes ago, RayC333 said:

With the two cylinder heads I worked on, both needed the inlet and exhaust valves re-seating to restore the contact faces to my satisfaction.

However, only basic lapping was required and there was no significant difference between cylinder positions 1 to 3 in either head.

As an aside, most noticeable was the amount of oily carbon build-up on the inlet valves and ports (typical of direct fuel injection).

 

In a way we're a bit spoilt these days and are used to engines running for many years with little more than regular oil changes. The work you mention there was part of the frequent "decoke" ritual when valves would be thoroughly cleaned/polished, lapped in on re-assembly and new valve stem oil seals and valve springs fitted.

All a bit of a chore, but nonetheless so simple to do on older engines that even a numpty like me could manage it!😀

18 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

All a bit of a chore, but nonetheless so simple to do on older engines that even a numpty like me could manage it!

I'm sure you could still manage it once on a bench. The design hasn't changed a great deal apart from using bucket shims instead of an adjustable tappet system. Same old valve seals,  same springs, same lapping.

The biggest faff is getting the head off in the first place - so many ducts,  cables, pipes, clips, connecters etc plus the whole cambelt system.

Interestingly there was no need to decoke anything in combustion area or exhaust valves - clean as a whistle.