Wet belt

[Garrick crouch]

I have a Ford Focus eco boost 2014 I have read so many reports about wet belts my car has 39000 miles and been regularly serviced most times before due and using the proper oil there are so many confusing reports the car is going so well and showing none of the symptoms that a wet belt can cause just don’t know what to do I don’t feel inclined to spend £1600 to get wet belt changed.

[DaveT70]

At 2014 you are due a belt change anyway

[TomsFocus]

By the time it shows symptoms, it's generally too late.  That's why so many end up failing altogether.

As it's 10 years old and very low mileage, I'd either get the belts done asap, or sell it and buy something without a wetbelt.  The cost of wetbelt changes make these cars unviable for low mileage drivers.

[unofix]

6 hours ago, Garrick crouch said:

I don’t feel inclined to spend £1600 to get wet belt changed.

Quite understandable.

Far better not to get it changed now and just wait until it fails and then spend £6000 on a new engine in a few months time. 🤔

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, unofix said:

wait until it fails and then spend £6000 on a new engine in a few months time. 🤔

....or sell the non-runner on a "spares or repair basis". Not really recommended in either case though as belt failure usually results in total engine loss and brake failure.

[Steve633]

Hi, can anybody help? I've just been told my Ford Focus Estate 19 plate needs a new engine. They stated the wet belt has degraded, blocked the oil pump, causing damage to the engine. I understand this is an engine design fault by Ford but they are refusing to recognise my service record. My car has been serviced every year and I have the stamps in the book to prove this however I don't have invoices. The local dealer and Ford claim they do not accept this. Therefore I am struggling to take this further. Any advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[TomsFocus]

19 plate Focus will be the newer chain engine.  Only the oil pump is run by a small wetbelt on those.  We do occasionally see that belt lose teeth, but haven't seen any block the oil pump so far.  The belt is so much smaller so there's physically less rubber available to clog up.  Have they stripped the engine to confirm the fault?

Edit - Also, was the car serviced at a main dealer?  If not, it's almost certain that the Indy put the wrong oil in it or used engine flush which is what ruins these belts.  If that's the case, it's the Indy garage you should be chasing for the repair costs.

[RL123]

30 minutes ago, Steve633 said:

Hi, can anybody help? I've just been told my Ford Focus Estate 19 plate needs a new engine. They stated the wet belt has degraded, blocked the oil pump, causing damage to the engine. I understand this is an engine design fault by Ford but they are refusing to recognise my service record. My car has been serviced every year and I have the stamps in the book to prove this however I don't have invoices. The local dealer and Ford claim they do not accept this. Therefore I am struggling to take this further. Any advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

Just out of interest is it a 3 cylinder auto. I hear there is a recall in the US due to the oil pump/balancer shaft drive belt and tensioner?

[TomsFocus]

14 hours ago, RL123 said:

Just out of interest is it a 3 cylinder auto. I hear there is a recall in the US due to the oil pump/balancer shaft drive belt and tensioner?

Even if it is auto, I believe it's a different setup on the chain engine.  The balance shaft was for the 6 speed 6F15 auto in Mk3.  Mk4 1.0 uses the 8 speed 8F35.  @DaveT70 might be able to confirm?

[Tizer]

And if the revised 1.0 Engine is the same as the 1.5 Dragon Engine then it does not have that Belt Tensioner even though all variants have a Balance Shaft in the case of the 1.5.

[Tribal]

After doing alot of my own digging into Focus wetbelt/chain driven engines, I'm actually of the understanding many of the early Mk4's still used the wetbelts for 2018/2019 and didn't infact move over to a chain till very late 2019, early 2020. So it could transpire that Steve633 does indeed have a wetbelt in-situ, which would explain why the oil pump is so clogged?

[Billy2123]

Hello Tribal can you tell by a visual inspection if the focus has a wet belt or chain

[alexp999]

5 minutes ago, Billy2123 said:

Hello Tribal can you tell by a visual inspection if the focus has a wet belt or chain

Turbo at the front means wet belt.

Turbo at the back means chain.

All the info we have seen and read says that the MK4 has always had chain engines. I don't know where Luke has seen otherwise.

[Tizer]

1 hour ago, Billy2123 said:

Hello Tribal can you tell by a visual inspection if the focus has a wet belt or chain

It is also worth noting that Tribal is not In the UK, the Engines fitted in other countries are not necessarily the same as the UK/EU cars.

[alexp999]

44 minutes ago, Tizer said:

It is also worth noting that Tribal is not In the UK, the Engines fitted in other countries are not necessarily the same as the UK/EU cars.

They’re all built in the same factory 

[Tizer]

45 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

They’re all built in the same factory 

Except for the ones built in China. 

[alexp999]

7 minutes ago, Tizer said:

Except for the ones built in China. 

Ah good point. After it no longer being a world car I was thinking they built them all in Germany now. But obviously China always requires them to be built domestically and there are often China exclusive models so I’d forgotten about the Focus there. I don’t think the Chinese built ones are exported outside Asia though. 

[Tizer]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

I don’t think the Chinese built ones are exported outside Asia though. 

If they are sold in Australasia then I would imagine that they would export them from China rather than Europe.

I think that the reason that they were not sold in the USA was because of Chinese export controls, they were going to export them from there.

[Tribal]

Hey guys,

Sorry to have caused any unnecessary confusion. I am based in the South-east of England, I just haven't got round to completing my profile.

I chimed in about the wet belt on the earlier Mk4's after reading a fairly recent thread over on the Puma Forums, although the Focus is discussed throughout. A few members expressed that they believed they had a early gen of the Mk4, and it had the wet timing belt. Obviously I can't verify if they infact did, but the assumption they had made was that the timing chain engine didn't come in till late 2019, early 2020.

Of course, this is only what I've read, but I've no reason to believe they were lying about what engine they had in their car. I'll leave a link below of the thread if anyone's interested in having a look.

 https://www.pumaforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=2081

[Tizer]

There were 3 versions of the 1.0 Engine fitted to the Mk4 Focus in 2018, 85, 100 and 125 PS. 

It may be that the 85PS engine was different to the more popular other two in the early days but I have not seen anything on this Forum to say so or that they had two Wet Belts.

I do know that when an Engine is revised it is not necessarily fitted to all models at the same time.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

4 hours ago, Tribal said:

Of course, this is only what I've read, but I've no reason to believe they were lying about what engine they had in their car. I'll leave a link below of the thread if anyone's interested in having a look.

I doubt anyone's lying as such, but from what I've seen of that forum I'd be inclined to treat some of the comments with caution. 

[Focustivct]

On 4/22/2024 at 6:54 AM, Garrick crouch said:

I have a Ford Focus eco boost 2014 I have read so many reports about wet belts my car has 39000 miles and been regularly serviced most times before due and using the proper oil there are so many confusing reports the car is going so well and showing none of the symptoms that a wet belt can cause just don’t know what to do I don’t feel inclined to spend £1600 to get wet belt changed.

Loads of places do them for £8-900. Find an independent that has the tools will be much less than Ford charge. 

[unofix]

3 hours ago, Focustivct said:

Loads of places do

Your preaching to the walls. @Garrick crouch hasn't visited the forum since 25th April.

[TomsFocus]

15 hours ago, Tizer said:

There were 3 versions of the 1.0 Engine fitted to the Mk4 Focus in 2018, 85, 100 and 125 PS. 

I wasn't aware of an 85ps version.  Sounds awful in a heavy Focus...  Just found a few on Autotrader.  This one 'pulls like a train' apparently.  

2019 White Ford Focus 1.0T EcoBoost Style Euro 6 (s/s) 5dr for sale for £7,495 in Enfield, Middlesex (autotrader.co.uk)

[Eric Bloodaxe]

26 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I wasn't aware of an 85ps version. 

It seemed to vanish from the price list pretty quickly. Never seen anything about it, wondered if it was similar to the 95ps chain cam version which was in the Fiesta for a short while?

In respect of the claimed wet belt versions of the Focus 4 discussed on the Puma forum and mentioned earlier in the thread, has anyone here come across such a thing, with photographic evidence?