Good morning,

I have a 2017 focus Titanium 1.0 Ecoboost, low mileage at 28000.

It's running well and I'm very happy with it.

But I'm concerned about the wet belt issues so I rang main dealer for a price for a wet belt change. This came back the thick end of 2 grand. So that's not going to happen. Do I just continue with regular oil changes and wait for it to go boom ? Is there anything I can do to prevent or predict a problem ? I'm low mileage user, about 4k a year.

The car does what I need it to and no real plans to change

Just looking for some advice please, I didn't know of this problem when I bought it and wishing now I'd bought a Toyota 😡

TIA

As long as it goes bang before it's 10 year anniversary Ford should replace it under the latest warranty update.

Low mileage is worse for wetbelts than high so I would be expecting this one to fail before it reaches 10 years old.

There are independents offering wetbelt changes for around a grand now if you do want to have it changed.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

As long as it goes bang before it's 10 year anniversary Ford should replace it under the latest warranty update.

I guess technically it's "goodwill" rather than warranty - details below - and I don't think we have heard yet from anyone who has benefited so far.

You've a couple of years to go anyway and if the car has been properly serviced that's a good point.

As Tom says, plenty of indies now at around the £1k mark - a friend of mine got his done recently at just over 9 years. 

If the car is in good condition generally, you're happy with it and intend to keep it longer term, it's probably worthwhile. You could play "ecoboost Russian roulette" but if you lose - ie it goes outside the 10 years - it's a new engine (£3.5k upwards fitted) https://pumaspeed.co.uk/product-Brand-New-Ford-Service-10-EcoBoost-Engine_18898.jsp

 

surely that 10 years will at best be like Vauxhall's idea years back - if serviced inline with their stds at their main dealership you get 10 years... ?

I dropped a post about much of the damage coming from the ethanol in our petrol - apparently particularly problematic with direct injection - it becomes easier for fuel to end up in the wrong place and once in the sump it rots the belts

You're going to have to change them the year after next, but if you want to "help" it:

Run on E5 super

Change the oil very often, even 6 months (correct oil!!)

Turn off Stop/Start

If you want to put your mind at rest, have the sump removed and see if there is any debris in the oil pick up.

If not, carry on as above

If there is, change the belts quick

11 hours ago, Botus said:

surely that 10 years will at best be like Vauxhall's idea years back - if serviced inline with their stds at their main dealership you get 10 years... ?

The paper covers it pretty well.  They do require full service history, but it doesn't need to be from a main dealer, it doesn't need to prove oil spec, services can be 3 months overdue, and it even allows for a missed service in 2020 due to covid.  They have massively relaxed the requirements compared to the previous ones.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

The paper covers it pretty well.  They do require full service history, but it doesn't need to be from a main dealer, it doesn't need to prove oil spec, services can be 3 months overdue, and it even allows for a missed service in 2020 due to covid.  They have massively relaxed the requirements compared to the previous ones.

are ford naive - so I do ALL the work - dead inline with their recco keeping all documentation - then at 6 years - suck out the oil and re-fill with E10 and leave parked for 3 weeks - drain and refill with the oil I sucked out - drive 1000 miles and get a free engine ?

2 minutes ago, Botus said:

are ford naive - so I do ALL the work - dead inline with their recco keep all documentation - then at 6 years - suck out the oil fill with heavy mix of E10 and ford oil - drive till it dies - refill with the oil I sucked out - get a free engine ?

Don't even have to go to all that effort.  In theory you could just get a fake Ford stamp from aliexpress and fill the service book like that...  However, I don't think many customers would do that.

Sorry- why does E5 super help the timing belt? 

8 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

 

Run on E5 super

 

 

9 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

You're going to have to change them the year after next, but if you want to "help" it:

Run on E5 super

Change the oil very often, even 6 months (correct oil!!)

Turn off Stop/Start

If you want to put your mind at rest, have the sump removed and see if there is any debris in the oil pick up.

If not, carry on as above

If there is, change the belts quick

Totally agree with this, especially CORRECT OIL, apparently one of the contributing factors is people use incorrect oil grade so, like this man said service regularly 

5 hours ago, mburdett555 said:

Sorry- why does E5 super help the timing belt? 

the ethanol leaching its way in to the sump is the biggest cause of belt failure - E5 doesn't have to have any of that filth in there... whereas E10 can be 10% death fuel

The question isi did a ford's (1.0) wetbelt worn out ruining the engine  despite the car being properly maintained all the time?

1 hour ago, Botus said:

the ethanol leaching its way in to the sump is the biggest cause of belt failure - E5 doesn't have to have any of that filth in there... whereas E10 can be 10% death fuel

E5 is called E5 because it can have up to 5% ethanol.

E5 only has 5% Ethanol

Higher RON means more efficient burn, less waste, less bore wash, less oil contamination👍

10 hours ago, YOG said:

E5 is called E5 because it can have up to 5% ethanol.

exactly "can" have up to 5% - by law it doesn't have to contain ANY - just have the silly 5% sticker

sadly after years of making real fuel with no ethanol in the Esso 99 product for most of the UK (wales and a few other places always got *****) recent change means we can have from 0% ethanol to whatever amount they can be bothered to put in there on the day (up to 5%)

 

https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels

10 hours ago, Bol said:

The question isi did a ford's (1.0) wetbelt worn out ruining the engine  despite the car being properly maintained all the time?

the point is - "Standard 95 Octane Fuel" changed AFTER this design of cam drive was in the wild - from Max 5% death fuel to Max 10% death fuel - note back then Asda only ever used 1% ethanol, and still tends to be 3% but of course can have up to 10%

It very possible that fuel affects so much the wetbelt.

But also many garages although they claim that they properly maintain and service the car, either they don't fill the proler engine oil or they don't check the engine as they should do.

My mechanic also added oil that doesn't meet requirements. Fortunately less than one litre.

don't forget the other environmental factors - since these came out the prevalence of fake traffic jams from the highways agency closing motorways for fun - and every set of traffic lights having been re-programmed to create congestion (courtesy of google maps informing them just how bad they can make it) - means more hours of stop start and or bad operating conditions - which pollute the sump with the now higher concentrations of death fuel... 

 

its all part of their plan

3 hours ago, Botus said:

exactly "can" have up to 5% - by law it doesn't have to contain ANY - just have the silly 5% sticker

sadly after years of making real fuel with no ethanol in the Esso 99 product for most of the UK (wales and a few other places always got *****) recent change means we can have from 0% ethanol to whatever amount they can be bothered to put in there on the day (up to 5%)

 

https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels

The point is that ALL major fuels in the UK now have ethanol in their E5, and it's irrelevant whether they have to or not when considering putting it in a wet belt car.