A couple of months ago. I booked my 15 plate ecoboost focus for a high end service. When I asked about including the cambelt change. They told me it was a wet belt and refused to do it, saying it would cost somewhere in the region of £2000 just to do the cambelt. When I questioned the price he said it was a huge job and it would be more economical to let the cambelt break and just put a new engine in when it happens. Surely this cant be right, can it???? the car has only done just over 60,000 miles

I take it this is a 1.0 EcoBoost?  There are independent garages offering wetbelt replacements nearer the £1000 mark now.  But yes it is a very labour intensive job and super expensive at Ford dealers.

I wouldn't quite agree that it's more economical to wait until the belt breaks as the engine replacements are still more than the average wetbelt replacement costs we've seen.

Low mileage is worse for these belts, most we see break are around 60-80k miles towards 10 years old.  So given the age and mileage on your car, I wouldn't risk it.  Would either change it or change car personally.

I can't replace it as I am on a pension and struggling just to live. May just replace this lovely car and get a fiesta or such like. Thanks for your reply Tom

9 minutes ago, kmoore04uk said:

May just replace this lovely car and get a fiesta or such like.

It could easily cost you a lot more than a £1000 or so to change vehicles to end up with an unknown quantity. And unless you look at a 1.25 (or diesel) all petrol Fiestas 2013-20 are wet ecoboosts so same issue at some point.

 

21 minutes ago, kmoore04uk said:

I can't replace it as I am on a pension and struggling just to live. May just replace this lovely car and get a fiesta or such like. Thanks for your reply Tom

That is a difficult situation.

As Roger says, 1.0 EcoBoost in Fiesta is exactly the same.

The 1.25 petrol or the diesels still use a dry belt.

You could also change to a 1.5/1.6 EcoBoost Mk3 Focus.  They still have a conventional dry cambelt.  As do the diesel engines in the Focus.

It is the 1.0 EcoBoost engine you need to avoid, not the Focus model in general.

Some additional advice given that I have had my cambelt changed recently with an 11.5yr old 1.0 Ecoboost (125). I have been told that the type and quality of engine oil is crucial to know whether or not the belt has deteriorated. That along with frequent oil & filter changes and sensible care, i.e., letting engine warm up to optimal temperature before driving hard.

I changed my belt (at Ford) at 60500mi and agreed with the mechanic that it could have safely done another 20000mi+. My car has been serviced yearly since its registration doing ~4000mi/yr. I bought the car at 10yrs old and have since changed the oil & filter every 5000mi. Again, you need to know how well it has been cared for.

Be prepared for any additional problems they find as well - my car required a turbo replacement whilst at the garage which did improve the performance significantly but I was not prepared for the additional cost. I paid about £1700 for the belt & water pump replacement, an additional £300 for the turbo - currently paying the bill via bumper monthly payments at 0% interest.

Hope it helps,

Faithgold