Hi,

I recently purchased a second hand MK4 1.5 ecoboost from November 2019 with 137k km from Germany.

Since I heard horror stories about the Ecoboom, I asked to make a preemptive check on the oil pump belt.

And behold, the belt was frail and started to crumble. No damage luckily as I caught it early on. You can check on the pictures.

However Ford was recommending 10 years or 240k km. That cannot be trusted tbh.

According to the sheets, the last oil change was 4k km ago, and the car was being checked by Ford.

Since I have not seen much about this on the Dragon engine, does anyone know if this is a wellspread issue on the oil pump belt in particular?

 

Thanks

 

 

So about 6 years/85,000 miles compared to Fords recommended 10/150000.

We have seen the odd issue mentioned on this engine and the revised 1.0 ecoboost, but not widespread as yet. Also a reported failure of the pump drive gear on an early1.5 before the switch to belt.

Did the car have a full service history from new out of interest?

It had the service history from Ford until 2024, at 113740 km

From there there is not history from Ford. But according to a small ticket in the Engine, the oil was changed at 130k km.

The previous owner had the 7 year/ 100k km warranty, and took it to Ford for those services.

Besides that, I don't have the service history. I assume oil and filter changes were made outside of Ford, otherwise, the condition would be worse.

The big problem here, is that for the replacement, the timing chain has to be removed. Such a dumb design mistake. I will be replacing the belt because it is failing, and the chain also because, since it has to be removed.

Do any of the Ford invoices show engine flush being used?

No. They are all on FordPass app.

21 minutes ago, SnakeGS said:

No. They are all on FordPass app.

Ah, so no itemised list?  It's entirely possible that it's had engine flush at some point.  Ford dealers were flushing them in the early days.  Though I would have thought 2019 was a bit late for that.

 

13 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Ford dealers were flushing them in the early days.  Though I would have thought 2019 was a bit late for that.

As we know from the threads on here, the switch to the revised ecoboost has caused a lot of confusion. I'm sure a lot of people felt all the problems were over when the chain cam drive replaced the wet cam belt, before we appreciated the wet oil pump belt was still there. (Other than the gear drive on the very early 1.5, which has also seen problems.)

Maybe dealers (who try to sell other products/services such as flush) were caught out too? 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Ah, so no itemised list?  It's entirely possible that it's had engine flush at some point.  Ford dealers were flushing them in the early days.  Though I would have thought 2019 was a bit late for that.

It has it itemized, and the latest in 2024 says IOLM service. No item says engine flush.

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

 

As we know from the threads on here, the switch to the revised ecoboost has caused a lot of confusion. I'm sure a lot of people felt all the problems were over when the chain cam drive replaced the wet cam belt, before we appreciated the wet oil pump belt was still there. (Other than the gear drive on the very early 1.5, which has also seen problems.)

Maybe dealers (who try to sell other products/services such as flush) were caught out too? 

TBH, when I bought the car, I was already expecting the worst. That's why I requested to open up the engine to check this particular item.

16 minutes ago, SnakeGS said:

It has it itemized, and the latest in 2024 says IOLM service. No item says engine flush.

But no list saying oil, oil filter, sump plug etc?  That's where engine flush would be listed, not under the service type.

Just IOLM service and oil change + filter