Hi I recently drove to a nearby town when I arrived there was smoke coming from the grill. Discovered that the blanket/pad/black heat protector cover next to turbo? Was smouldering.

Luckily we just soaked it in water and that did the trick. Called my local garage and took it in the removed the singed wadding and now it is just a bare pipe. The cost of the part from ford main dealer is like £260!!! Thats 20% of the cars value. So he said he would try and find a pattern part.

The question is can this be driven without this protection? It doesnt have it now. But I have only done a short journey home. I wouldnt want to melt anything or have bonnet paint bubble up or something?

It is a Mk5 2005 Ford Fiesta 1.4 Diesel.

Photo attached.

Thanks

Wasn't there a metal heatshield fitted over the top of that material?

I think it's mainly there to stop anyone accidentally touching the hotside of the turbo and causing serious injury.  They're not generally fitted to turbos that are mounted behind the engine.  Though I probably wouldn't risk it for the reasons you suggest, bonnet paint damage would look awful and be expensive to repair.

Yeah thats at the front near the bonnet catch.

Thought I would add a photo with the blanket removed. See my Original post for details. Is it ok to drive like this? I am not a boy racer its just normal supermarket travel. 50mph max.

 

This is what it should look like

 

Ford must have fitted it for a reason and a good reason or TVM would've costed it out.

You could wrap the pipe in aftermarket exhaust wrap

22 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I think it's mainly there to stop anyone accidentally touching the hotside of the turbo and causing serious injury.

I would entirely agree, this is the turbo heat shield off my old Celica GT4, and the 'injury' aspect was that prevalent a warning was embossed on the shield! That thing got mighty hot!

17 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I would entirely agree, this is the turbo heat shield off my old Celica GT4, and the 'injury' aspect was that prevalent a warning was embossed on the shield! That thing got mighty hot!

Yeah, there's a 'no touch' warning on the metal shield that should be on the OP's car as well.  

But assuming I am aware of the no touch danger can it be driven? The wind from the grill would blow on it of course.

2 hours ago, surfwidow said:

But assuming I am aware of the no touch danger can it be driven?

Whats the worst that can happen ???

Some poor unsuspecting person could suffer 3^rd degree burns (mechanic, AA or RAC guy or your neighbor getting a jump start).🤔

OR

The paint on the bonnet could bubble up and catch fire.🙄

But that's what you have insurance for, so no need need to worry 🤣

2 minutes ago, unofix said:

The paint on the bonnet could bubble up and catch fire.🙄

Just as an aside, the under bonnet insulation of of my GT4 was removed despite an initial concern that that exact thing would happen, paint blistering on the bonnet. Never happened, even after 5+ years of driving, and like I said, that turbo was much bigger & hotter than anything a Fiesta could throw!

Yeah there seems plenty of space around the manifold pipe air gaps etc. Again I am just a Sunday driver. Shopping etc. 

I'd be more concerned about sitting in traffic where there's no airflow than motorway cruising.

The car obviously can be driven.  But my advice is still the same as before.  I wouldn't risk the bonnet paint personally.

Well I can buy a silver bonnet for £50 The blanket for this is £260+!!! Plus fitting... And it could catch fire again..

I was hoping that like most cars back in the day had their pipes on show. Older vehicles 1980s had their manifolds exposed just sitting there. So is this just a customer burning themselves and suing Ford issue?

Its like a fireplace in your home its hot once you know you do not stick you hand in it!

You can buy a roll of exhaust heat wrap for about £10 on eBay.  It is fiddly to wrap around, but cheap and will do the same job as the blanket.  Something like this - 20M Titanium Gold Heat Wrap Tape Exhaust Insulating Downpipe Manifold + 10 Ties | eBay

Yours is the first I've seen without the metal cover as well.  So if that's an early model design, I suspect there were heat related issues which forced Ford to add the metal cover to later cars.

Where would it be wrapped? The pipes are not like smooth easy to access pipes you can wrap it around. And what parts do you wrap?

I'd wrap the swanneck of the cat and ideally get at least one strip over the hotside of the turbo as well.  (Taking care not to foul the wastegate actuator below).  The manifold isn't really an issue as it's lower down & further back.  I know it won't be easy, it is fiddly to do.  But if it's saving £250, it's probably worth the hassle.

Edit - You can even buy premade universal blankets for the turbo hotside.  Though I'm not sure if they'll fit the tiny TD02 on the 1.4 TDCi. T3 GT28 GT30 GT35 Titanium Turbo Blanket Heat Shield Turbocharger Cover Wrap UK | eBay

Thanks thats a great help! I will send the mechanic this info Monday and discuss the situation. Again any guidance on this is welcome. Making progress... Its because its a sidestep from the usual pattern part so its automatically sent to Ford who want the earth. Being so old the vehicle is just not easy to find parts for like this. Most vehicles that a re dismantled keep this intact with the engine. So its a real problem to solve without spending a fortune. Again car only worth £1200 🙂 So spending a lot to fix it makes no sense!

Just for my ignorance when you say

I'd wrap the swanneck of the cat and ideally get at least one strip over the hotside of the turbo as well.  (Taking care not to foul the wastegate actuator below).

What are these?

The swan neck is the part that looks like a swans neck.  At the top of the cat (catalytic converter).

The wastegate actuator is the thing under the turbo.  It's a small metal can with a rod coming from the centre.

42 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

The swan neck is the part that looks like a swans neck.

Will it have white feathers on it ? 🤣

Looks like this.

 

On a more serious note.  The red box is where I'd put a pre-made turbo blanket.  The yellow stripes are where I'd wrap the tape.  Should cost less than £20 in parts.

Brilliant diagram thanks!

Do you think one roll of the (20m?) tape should be enough? The clips/jubilee clips that come with it are they large enough or do you recommend a pack that are large enough from another link? Size? Also the https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145663517804 is that secured how? And that goes where the red part is?

Brilliant advice really!

Also do I wrap the join between the red and the yellow?