I HAVE A 2019 FOCUS ACTIVE AUTO ESTATE, 35,500 MILES, FULL SERVICE HISTORY AT FORD MAIN DEALER, ENGINE NOW U/S DUE TO SUSPECTED OIL PUMP DRIVE BELT FAILURE.

ANY ADVICE ON A SENSIBLE PLAN OF ACTION FOR REDRESS FROM FORD ?

It looks like the balancer shaft has stripped the oil pump belt.

The balancer shaft is only fitted to automatic engines.

This is a known issue on the old style Ecoboom autos (wet cam & oil pump belts) and was subject to the recall in the USA

It will be very hard to prove that here as the chain cam Ecoboom has never gone to the USA

Definitely start with a complaint to Ford CRC though, see what support they offer

Once rectified turn off Stop/Start😎

 

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE !, MUCH APPRECIATED.

MY FEELINGS ARE THAT GIVEN THE FACTS OF MILEAGE AND CARE THERE IS CLEARLY A FAULT SOMEWHERE.

CRC NOT SHOWING MUCH INTEREST RIGHT NOW.

The car is well out of warranty.  And not covered by the old-type engine goodwill scheme.  Honestly I think you'll be lucky to get much from Ford in this case.  Low mileage is not a good thing for wetbelts.

40 minutes ago, NEIL PURVES said:

THANKS FOR THE ADVICE !, MUCH APPRECIATED.

MY FEELINGS ARE THAT GIVEN THE FACTS OF MILEAGE AND CARE THERE IS CLEARLY A FAULT SOMEWHERE.

CRC NOT SHOWING MUCH INTEREST RIGHT NOW.

No need to shout! 😆

Clearly a design fault, but they won't admit it.

Is the car not under any warranty anymore?

Is the car still on finance?

You could try taking them to small claims (maybe), I don't know.

Just keep escalating your complaint upwards with Ford CRC until you get quite high up, don't accept the first person's response, that can work.

Send a letter/email to Ford Of Britain's Chairman and Europe's CEO etc etc

Remember to include VIN in all correspondence

Ask for copies of invoices from previous service dealers to find if service history is true, if not, sue them

That's all I can offer

Not necessarily a design fault.  Low mileage on a 6 year old wetbelt could easily have damaged that, especially if it's only had oil changes every 2 years.

In order to claim a 'fault', we would need photographic evidence of the oil pump belt tensioner being visibly broken, as it was in the previous automatics which were recalled.

On 9/2/2025 at 1:50 PM, TomsFocus said:

especially if it's only had oil changes every 2 years.

Perhaps we need a bit more detail.here.

In theory (wonderful thing!) the oil life monitoring system should have flagged up the need for oil changes between services. We don't know though, if the car has been owned from new or has had one or more previous owners who may not have acted on the message.

On the two year service interval, "full service history" could mean (depending on date of first registration) it has only been serviced twice (or three times at most) in 6 years or so.

26 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Perhaps we need a bit more detail.here.

In theory (wonderful thing!) the oil life monitoring system should have flagged up the need for oil changes between services. We don't know though, if the car has been owned from new or has had one or more previous owners who may not have acted on the message.

On the two year service interval, "full service history" could mean (depending on date of first registration) it has only been serviced twice (or three times at most) in 6 years of so.

But Ford have given that service recommendation and still say 10yrs 100,000 miles for the belt to be changed

I would be expecting longevity, not snapping at 35,000 miles

1 hour ago, DaveT70 said:

But Ford have given that service recommendation

They do, but the 2 year/18,000 mile interval shown in the Service Portfolio does have a marker that takes you to the footnote:

"Depending on vehicle use, the engine oil indicator could display in the instrument cluster between interim and main service intervals.

Note: You might need to have the engine oil changed before a service or annual inspection is due."

They also include a table of estimated engine oil life in various conditions of use.

 No doubt that's their loophole if needed!

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Perhaps we need a bit more detail.here.

In theory (wonderful thing!) the oil life monitoring system should have flagged up the need for oil changes between services. We don't know though, if the car has been owned from new or has had one or more previous owners who may not have acted on the message.

Since these engines do not have an oil quality sensor the oil life monitoring system is just using a computer algorithm to guess what the quality of the oil would probably be.

Among other data the system uses the following input:

- Engine RPM.
- Operating temperature (coolant & calculated oil temperature).
- Engine load (also calculated).
- Ambient conditions (outside temperature, cold start temperature).
- Driving style (short/long trips, average speed, etc.).


Personally, I would not trust on a system that relies on a lot of guessing instead of actual sensor data. I actually prefer to use a fixed period/mileage (whichever comes first) instead of this algorithm. Especially on low annual mileage vehicles or vehicles that do mainly drive short trips.

 

SO C.R.C NOT PREPARED TO ASSIST !!!!!!!

HAS ANYONE OUT THERE HAD A GOODWILL PAYMENT FROM FORD, FOR WET BELT ISSUES OUTSIDE OF THE WARRANTY PERIOD !!!

WITH THIS MODEL, ANY HELP MUCH APPRECIATED,

THANK YOU,

NEIL PURVES.

2 hours ago, NEIL PURVES said:

GOODWILL PAYMENT FORD

These are not words that are usually found together, unfortunately.

Afaik, we have yet still  to hear from anyone who has benefited from the scheme for the previous (wet cambelt) version of the Ecoboost (below).

If your getting nowhere with ford, you could try here . Don't know how sucessfull you would be but worth a try. 

https://www.themotorombudsman.org/

On 9/2/2025 at 8:43 AM, NEIL PURVES said:

I HAVE A 2019 FOCUS ACTIVE AUTO ESTATE, 35,500 MILES, FULL SERVICE HISTORY AT FORD MAIN DEALER, ENGINE NOW U/S DUE TO SUSPECTED OIL PUMP DRIVE BELT FAILURE.

ANY ADVICE ON A SENSIBLE PLAN OF ACTION FOR REDRESS FROM FORD ?

Kind of feels like Dom Jolly's car has broken down...

On 9/2/2025 at 10:34 AM, DaveT70 said:

Once rectified turn off Stop/Start😎

On a more serious note. Why turn off Stop/Start?

53 minutes ago, TimST3 said:

On a more serious note. Why turn off Stop/Start?

Theory is stopping and starting the engine frequently could put extra load on the belt.

12 hours ago, TimST3 said:

Kind of feels like Dom Jolly's car has broken down...

On a more serious note. Why turn off Stop/Start?

It takes a lot more effort and shock on the belt to get the top of the engine turning than it does to keep it turning.

Start it once and keep it running👍

3 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

It takes a lot more effort and shock on the belt to get the top of the engine turning than it does to keep it turning.

More the case with the cambelt, I would think. But let's be honest, many of us just don't like S/S!😀

42 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

More the case with the cambelt, I would think. But let's be honest, many of us just don't like S/S!😀

Yes, although we don't really know what level of resistance the balancer shaft gives

Hi All,
Haven’t posted in a while—but this one’s a big one.
I’ve got a 2019 Ford Focus 1.0 Auto with full service history at a Ford main dealer. At just 33,500 miles, the oil pump belt stripped its teeth. The car was recovered to the dealer, and after explaining everything, they called to confirm: the wet oil pump belt had failed. They said they’d contact Ford CRC, so naturally I expected a full-cost repair. Not even close—they offered just 45% toward an £11,000 recon engine. Needless to say, I’m not happy.
I contacted Ford CRC directly—emails first, then a phone call. I was told, and I quote: “I’ve spoken with our tech department. Your car doesn’t have wet belts.” I tried to explain that it absolutely does, and asked to speak with the tech team myself. She refused, said the case was closed, and reiterated the 45% offer. My only remaining option now is the Motor Ombudsman.
So that’s where I am. They’ve agreed to look into it once an agent becomes available. It’s been four weeks of waiting already, and I’m now two months without a car. But I’m sticking with it.
For what it’s worth, the Ford dealer told me they currently have 14 cars in with the same issue—likely all Gen 2 engines.

They really need to extend the goodwill to the Gen 2 engines and cut the script with the no wet belt, so 6 brand new Fords 5 from the same dealership I think this is my last Ford.

Also just a note, the E10 fuel that they say is safe, a cold start a small amount would blow past the rings and into the oil and start the rubber deteriorating, Thoughts??

2 hours ago, Wood Gnome said:

Thoughts??

Yes, forget about Ford, you are just wasting time and money and causing yourself stress.

Get a brand new genuine Ford Ecoboost 1.0 engine supplied and fitted by PumaSpeed for £3400

2 hours ago, unofix said:

Yes, forget about Ford, you are just wasting time and money and causing yourself stress.

Get a brand new genuine Ford Ecoboost 1.0 engine supplied and fitted by PumaSpeed for £3400

Afaik unfortunately they only seem to offer the old (wetbelt) engine at present.

I would love my car back, but why should I have to pay to have a new/recon engine when it's only done 33500 miles and a full service history, it's not fit for purpose, these engines are failing around 30000-40000, Ford are just washing their hands of it 

So it's looking like a potential major problem on the later Cam Chain engines with the balancer shaft then? (Autos)

@Wood Gnome have you escalated higher up the food chain? Raised a formal complaint? The fact that they have denied it is a wet belt engine won't help their case.

Email FOB Chairman, FOE CEO etc

Try contacting Martin Lewis also.

Believe me, Ford will know about the issue, they knew about Powershift (Especially Dry Clutch DCT250s) but they used to blame the driver for driving style knowing full well there was a design fault.

2 hours ago, Wood Gnome said:

I would love my car back, but why should I have to pay to have a new/recon engine when it's only done 33500 miles and a full service history, it's not fit for purpose, these engines are failing around 30000-40000, Ford are just washing their hands of it 

There's a reason manufacturer's warranty is based on time as well as mileage.  Low mileage is not good for cars!

I do agree that there still seems to be more of a problem with the automatic version of the revised engine as we are seeing more failures over time.  But we really need to see photographic evidence of the exact part that's failing.  If there is a metal part broken, such as the belt tensioner or even the balance shaft itself, then that proves a manufacturing defect or design flaw.  If it's just belts stripping teeth without any mechanical failures then I don't feel that 6 years is unreasonable for that, with low mileage and (most likely) degraded oil between the two-yearly servicing.