My 2019 1.0 Focus EcoBoost at 45000 miles oil belt shredded (service life of 144k or 10 years), destorying turbo and so far I am £3.5k in.

Dealership have been useless, Ford offered my £800 as a gesture of goodwill.  Sent an action before letter before I file at small claims court.

Received the below response - be interested on thoughts (I dont think I am going to get anywhere but dont want to let it go yet)

In the meantime, I note that we have not carried out the maintenance of this vehicle so I would be grateful if you would supply me with evidence of the correctly adhered to maintenance schedule, together with any evidence you have as to the cause of the failure.  As you are no doubt aware, given the time that has passed since purchase, the burden of prove in this matter lies with you.  It is likely that we will need to appoint a single joint expert to assist on the question of liability.

I am not sure of the value of an expert I’m unsure what additional value.. The failed part has already been removed and replaced, so there is no physical evidence left to examine. An expert also wouldn’t be able to retrospectively assess how the vehicle was driven or maintained beyond the documented service history. As far as I can see, the only point in question is whether the oil pump drive belt failed prematurely, despite the vehicle being properly maintained and used within normal parameters.

 

The Sage Continues ?

I think you might mean "The Saga Continues". 🤔

Nah definiely my favourite herb haha

 

doh

These things do take thyme unfortunately.

An independent inspector can confirm whether the belt failed due to degradation, or whether something else caused it, such as a faulty belt tensioner.  If the belt degraded then they could test the oil to check whether it's the correct type, and what the current level of quality is.

Realistically it's all too late now.  Ford don't guarantee wetbelts for 10 years or 144k.  That's simply a recommend interval.  There are all sorts of things that can cause a belt to fail before that.  You need to prove that it's caused by a manufacturing defect.  Which they know you can't do, as clearly stated in their response.

18 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

These things do take thyme unfortunately.

An independent inspector can confirm whether the belt failed due to degradation, or whether something else caused it, such as a faulty belt tensioner.  If the belt degraded then they could test the oil to check whether it's the correct type, and what the current level of quality is.

Realistically it's all too late now.  Ford don't guarantee wetbelts for 10 years or 144k.  That's simply a recommend interval.  There are all sorts of things that can cause a belt to fail before that.  You need to prove that it's caused by a manufacturing defect.  Which they know you can't do, as clearly stated in their response.

I wanted to make a clever herb pun, but nothing cumin to mind.

I know that I am in the position that I now cant prove what happened, an expert at this point does not help.  I do stand by the fact that this was a premature failure for a non-serviceable part.  The best I have is that the dealer admitted that it should not haved failed when it did, but cannot ascertain why.

There is a known issue with the wetbelt system, whyc they have partly resolved with the timing chain, and then tensioner in automatics.  But I might as well say that it was caused by a magical fairy.

TBH I dont hold much or any hope, but im not ready yet to stop being annoying

 

"Enlarge"the Ford Letter in posted up by Eric in this thread

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ford+foglamp+bezel+1528748&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313

Unless you have proof of correct servicing by a genuine garage using genuine Ford parts AND the correct spec oil you will have no chance.

I am not recommending this company but they may well be worth considering

https://pumaspeed.co.uk/new-engines.jsp

 

It's not automatic, by any chance, is it?

Did you purchase the car from new?

 

9 hours ago, TrevorB said:

"Enlarge"the Ford Letter in posted up by Eric in this thread

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=ford+foglamp+bezel+1528748&_sacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p4432023.m570.l1313

Unless you have proof of correct servicing by a genuine garage using genuine Ford parts AND the correct spec oil you will have no chance.

I am not recommending this company but they may well be worth considering

https://pumaspeed.co.uk/new-engines.jsp

 

That goodwill programme is only for the old wet timing belt engines.  It doesn't cover the revised chain engines.

Pumaspeed don't sell the revised chain engines either.  I'm hoping they will at some point, as they would be my recommendation for the older engine.

Oh, Apologies to kiehugh and Tom - being a 2019 model I thought it was the old type engine

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

It's not automatic, by any chance, is it?

Did you purchase the car from new?

 

It is the Auto. The OP posted that in a different Topic.

1 hour ago, TrevorB said:

Oh, Apologies to kiehugh and Tom - being a 2019 model I thought it was the old type engine

No problem.  For future reference, all Mk4 Focus's use the revised engine.  They were released in 2018.

All Pumas got the revised engine.  They were released in 2020.

Mk8 Fiesta does not have such a clean changeover.  Most of those got the old engine until around 2020.  The 100bhp version kept the old engine until the end of production.

1 hour ago, RaduF86 said:

It is the Auto. The OP posted that in a different Topic.

Isn't that interesting, perhaps the balancer shaft is still causing issues then.

18 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

The 100bhp version kept the old engine until the end of production.

I thought we'd proved it didn't🤔

4 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

I thought we'd proved it didn't🤔

I don't remember if we did?   There was a 2022 Courier on here recently which was definitely belt.

There is also a 95bhp engine which is chain and might be causing confusion.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

There is also a 95bhp engine which is chain and might be causing confusion.

👍

4 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

I thought we'd proved it didn't🤔

Conversely, I thought we had (as much as you can prove anything with Ford)😀

As Tom mentions, the 95ps version which briefly appeared in the Fiesta**, caused some confusion. Initially it was thought to be just a slightly down-rated 100ps, possibly for emission reasons, or just to line up with other manufacturers where 95ps is/was a common rating.

But no, several members came up with photo evidence to show it was the revised chain cam engine in non-MHEV form.

Then the price lists went back to 100ps which turned out to be the return of the 100ps wet belt, which seems to have never gone away from other models (eg.Ecoboost, Courier).

(** Don't think we've yet had a report of the 95ps in anything but a Fiesta, but the Focus 4 briefly had 85ps and 100ps engines at launch which as far as we know were revised non-MHEV Ecoboosts.)