Hi All

Hoping that I can get some help on this:

I'm very close to buying this 2019 1.0L Fiesta Active X Turbo Automatic from an independent dealer, which has 31k miles on the clock, and has been serviced three times (and they'll service it again before I buy). After I reserved the car, I've started reading up on the Ecoboost engine, and issues with the 'wet belt' system, and they've confirmed that there is a Ford Guarantee on the wet belt that has another 4 years left on it. 

Queries as follows:

- I believe that a change was made in 2019 to use a timing belt, but with a wet belt still used for the oil pump. Would 19 plate Fiestas benefit from this, or would it have been introduced in the later 69 plate?

- The car will do around 10k per year if I buy it, so we should be up to around 70k miles by the time the wet belt 10-year guarantee runs out. I intend to change the oil every 6-12 months. With this in mind, is it advisable to buy this car, or am I just inviting a host of problems?

- Anything else that you learned people have to add!

Many thanks.

6 minutes ago, Vinman said:

they've confirmed that there is a Ford Guarantee on the wet belt that has another 4 years left on it. 

The revised engine (with a cam chain, not a belt) was introduced mid 2020 onwards. Still a wet belt for the oil pump, as you mention. 2019 would certainly be "wet" timing belt.

I'm not aware of any such "guarantee" on the wet belt. Unless someone has bought an extended warranty, it's 3 years from first registration. The dealer may be talking about the 10 year recommended change interval, or they may have heard about Ford's recently enhanced "goodwill" policy:

 

13 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

The revised engine (with a cam chain, not a belt) was introduced mid 2020 onwards. Still a wet belt for the oil pump, as you mention. 2019 would certainly be "wet" timing belt.

I'm not aware of any such "guarantee" on the wet belt. Unless someone has bought an extended warranty, it's 3 years from first registration. The dealer may be talking about the 10 year recommended change interval, or they may have heard about Ford's recently enhanced "goodwill" policy:

 

That's very helpful - thank you.

The 1.0 Ecoboost automatic is the worst incarnation of the wet belt issue too. Please bear that in mind.

These are the cars that have been recalled in the USA, but not Europe

Manual wet belt models have an unbalanced flywheel to counteract the unbalanced engine

6F15 automatic wet belt models have a balancer shaft fitted in the engine, connected to the oil pump drive belt.

It's the oil pump drive belts that have the issue on these engines, they loose teeth, stop the oil pump and seize the engine.

We have two in our family:

My daughter's 2018 (68) 1.0 Auto (6F15) 100PS ST-Line X 3-Door currently on 19,000 miles (bought new)

My son's 2019 (19) 1.0 Auto (6F15) 100PS Vignale currently on 25,000 miles (bought new)

They're both absolutely lovely cars (although the Vignale has rear drum brakes!! I hate TVM), which we know are now worthless, people will not touch them with a barge pole

Currently complaining to Ford about high depreciation on this spec of 1.0 Ecoboost and asking why owners are not being compensated with ,at least, extended warranty on the engine.

 

Amazingly despite the mention in the OP I didn't clock "automatic" earlier.

The Ford US recall and a related article are referenced below:

https://www.ford.com/support/how-tos/recall/recalls-and-faqs/23s64-ecosport-and-focus-2016-2022-engine-oil-pump-failure-recall/

https://www.thedrive.com/news/fords-self-clogging-1-0-liter-ecoboost-engine-is-finally-getting-recalled

Presumably the Fiesta was not included in the US recall** as the Mk 8 was never sold there.

**NB that the Ford enhanced goodwill scheme mentioned earlier specifically states:

 "The recall doesn't apply to European vehicles because they are not the same - key hardware differences between the regions have led to a unique issue in North America but not in Europe"

Never found anything to say what the differences (if the above is true) are, though.

 

15 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Presumably the Fiesta was not included in the US recall** as the Mk 8 was never sold there.

Yes

 

15 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

"The recall doesn't apply to European vehicles because they are not the same - key hardware differences between the regions have led to a unique issue in North America but not in Europe"

They keep saying this.

Other than it may be oil spec, I can't see any mechanical difference between a USA spec vs a EU/ROW spec 1.0 Ecoboost with 6F15 transmission, whether it be 125PS or 100PS

They all have the balance shaft!

2 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Other than it may be oil spec, I can't see any mechanical difference between a USA spec vs a EU/ROW spec 1.0 Ecoboost with 6F15 transmission, whether it be 125PS or 100PS

No, me neither. I've searched around a few times since the recall appeared, including US sites and am no wiser.

One thought, though:

- That tensioner keeps being mentioned, though it never seems clear if it's a failure of material or installation. "Caulk joint" keeps cropping up. Ford make engines (or did) at many plants - my 1.0 was made in Cologne, the present 1.5 in Chihuahua. So it could be that the US and Europe 1.0 engines were made in different plants and either there was a batch of substandard tensioners or the fitting technique was incorrect at the plant used for the US cars.

On 5/8/2025 at 2:40 PM, DaveT70 said:

The 1.0 Ecoboost automatic is the worst incarnation of the wet belt issue too. Please bear that in mind.

These are the cars that have been recalled in the USA, but not Europe

Manual wet belt models have an unbalanced flywheel to counteract the unbalanced engine

6F15 automatic wet belt models have a balancer shaft fitted in the engine, connected to the oil pump drive belt.

It's the oil pump drive belts that have the issue on these engines, they loose teeth, stop the oil pump and seize the engine.

We have two in our family:

My daughter's 2018 (68) 1.0 Auto (6F15) 100PS ST-Line X 3-Door currently on 19,000 miles (bought new)

My son's 2019 (19) 1.0 Auto (6F15) 100PS Vignale currently on 25,000 miles (bought new)

They're both absolutely lovely cars (although the Vignale has rear drum brakes!! I hate TVM), which we know are now worthless, people will not touch them with a barge pole

Currently complaining to Ford about high depreciation on this spec of 1.0 Ecoboost and asking why owners are not being compensated with ,at least, extended warranty on the engine.

 

Many thanks - I think I'll be giving the 1.0 Ecoboost auto a wide berth...!