Hi, TBH I am not a car enthusiast, and rarely 'pop the hood', but I have just done so to investigate changing the dipped bulb in a 2011 Fiesta Zetec. After messing around with the headlight assembly, I stepped back and noticed a frayed belt ... then I looked at the engine block 'in a new light' ... you will see that the engine is fairly filthy with dust and dirt, but the back is clean, and the belts are completely exposed.

I was initially intending to post a question here, asking if I should be concerned about the frayed belt (Question 1), but I am now wondering if the garage forgot to put covers back on the main block and the belts (Question 2)????

ie I would expect everything to be covered in the same dust/dirt ... but surely the belts at least should be covered, as 'filth' could result in damage.

 

Nb the car went in for a quick/emergency visit to the garage at the beginning of the month, as it displayed "Engine malfunction Service now" (power died when changing gear, but picked up within a couple of seconds). We were charged for diagnostics, but they had to change the battery to get the diagnostics to work ... the only conclusion being that the alert/behaviour was due to the battery (very annoyed that I had to pay for diagnostics on top of the battery cost, due to the 'very severe' message displayed)

 

I would be very grateful if someone could answer the two questions.

Yes, that belt is well past it and should be replaced.

There is no cover for it.  That is only the auxiliary belt.

The timing belt is underneath the plastic cover with two circles/domes at the top.  This is recommended replaced every 8 years.  Generally the aux belt is replaced at the same time.  So it would be worth checking service history to see if the timing belt has been replaced, before getting the aux belt replaced.

Not sure what to say about the top cover though.  Generally these engines don't have one, but you are right in that it looks very clean compared to the rest of the engine.  I think it's probably just a coincidence and made of different material or been wiped over at the garage.

My 2013 focus has a removable engine cover. Maybe the garage removed yours and forgot to put it back on. This happened with my under engine shield 

On 12/29/2024 at 5:38 PM, mburdett555 said:

My 2013 focus has a removable engine cover. Maybe the garage removed yours and forgot to put it back on. This happened with my under engine shield 

The non-ST petrol MK7 Fiestas definitely didn't come with an engine cover, in fact they didn't even come with a factory fitted undertray. Oddly, only the diesels got an engine undertray 🤯

1 hour ago, FatHead1979 said:

The non-ST petrol MK7 Fiestas definitely didn't come with an engine cover, in fact they didn't even come with a factory fitted undertray. Oddly, only the diesels got an engine undertray 🤯

For the sake of clarity, Matt's car is a 1.0 EcoBoost Focus.  So a different model and a different engine to the OP's.