Hi,

I took my car to my local independent garage and they noticed I have an oil leak.

Upon further investigation, it's an expensive one, and and is linked to the General Service Bulletin 23-7029 dated 04.05.23;

Timing chain issue / failure in the cam housing, the chain and cam housing is modified from a 7mm chain to an 8mm chain with modified cam housing.

The parts are about £950 ex vat, with labour on top, but the car is only three and a half years old.

Does anyone know if / how I can take this up with Ford, and if they will pay for any of it?

Thanks

Last time I had an issue like this (battery) I was involved with "Ford Customer Relationship Centre"

They were staffed with very pleasant people with no technical expertise whatsoever (that I could observe)!

The fact that this is a known problem with a service bulletin should IMHO at the very least, get you a contribution (as it could/should have been spotted whilst it was in warranty?)

Get your story straight i.e you want it fixed at no cost for the reasons above, do they stand by their product etc and see what comes from that.

You could also review CA advice (for used car):

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

Or contact their Consumer specialist direct for their view:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/get-more-help/if-you-need-more-help-about-a-consumer-issue/

Once you have that info, you may (but don't give anything away) have to accept a reasonable contribution towards it?

OR...nuke them!

This is just about replacing the cam chain if it fails.  I don't think there's anything an oil leak in there?  It's also not a 'recall' type fix, so Ford don't have to pay for it.  They might offer you some goodwill if you ask nicely.  Otherwise go down the legal/consumer regs route.