Hey Everyone, 

New here! Been lurking for the past couple days (or weeks) but finally decided to break out of my shell.

Got a 2012 ford fiesta SE. Automatic. 98K miles. I got it about 5 or 6 years ago at about 60K from a family friend for about $3500 (a steal! and to think I almost didn't want it). I drove it like if it was a dang racecar and the head gaskets blew out on me after 5-6k miles of driving it (the car had been sitting for a couple years prior to that). Was terrible experience dealing with it as you could see this frothy brown like substance oozing out everywhere particularly from the coolant reservoir. Luckily enough I live close to Mexico so I put some head gasket sealant and drove it across the border and got the head gaskets rebult for around $600 with 1 year warranty.

Since then I've had no real issues with the car (until this past week -- which I posted about on another thread). I used to take it to the dealership to do all the oil changes but I felt they were giving me short end of the stick so I just started doing some stuff on my own and taking it to a mechanic buddy for the more troublesome stuff like replacing belts and flushing fluids (all preventive maintenance). I thought I'd never like this car and thats why I was hesitant to buy it but its been great and considering I never drive (maybe once or twice a week), i'd say its been a steal. I am starting to get a bit more wary that it may break down soon now that im about to cross the 100K mark, but my mechanic says it should easily last me 30-40k miles plus at this rate and that good enough for me.

Only other main issue i've had besides my latest one is the dodgy transmission which was fords fault for not updating the TCM module until years later so I'm sure it took a beating for the 60k-ish miles it drove on the dodgy transmission system before the update, but overall I dont feel it hs a hard time shifting that often.

That being said look forward to hanging out with you all a little and potentially modding my car sooner or later and/or doing more DIY repairs!!

-Ed

On 12/4/2025 at 5:43 PM, PeppermintBronner said:

Hey Everyone, 

New here! Been lurking for the past couple days (or weeks) but finally decided to break out of my shell.

Got a 2012 ford fiesta SE. Automatic. 98K miles. I got it about 5 or 6 years ago at about 60K from a family friend for about $3500 (a steal! and to think I almost didn't want it). I drove it like if it was a dang racecar and the head gaskets blew out on me after 5-6k miles of driving it (the car had been sitting for a couple years prior to that). Was terrible experience dealing with it as you could see this frothy brown like substance oozing out everywhere particularly from the coolant reservoir. Luckily enough I live close to Mexico so I put some head gasket sealant and drove it across the border and got the head gaskets rebult for around $600 with 1 year warranty.

Since then I've had no real issues with the car (until this past week -- which I posted about on another thread). I used to take it to the dealership to do all the oil changes but I felt they were giving me short end of the stick so I just started doing some stuff on my own and taking it to a mechanic buddy for the more troublesome stuff like replacing belts and flushing fluids (all preventive maintenance). I thought I'd never like this car and thats why I was hesitant to buy it but its been great and considering I never drive (maybe once or twice a week), i'd say its been a steal. I am starting to get a bit more wary that it may break down soon now that im about to cross the 100K mark, but my mechanic says it should easily last me 30-40k miles plus at this rate and that good enough for me.

Only other main issue i've had besides my latest one is the dodgy transmission which was fords fault for not updating the TCM module until years later so I'm sure it took a beating for the 60k-ish miles it drove on the dodgy transmission system before Drift Boss the update, but overall I dont feel it hs a hard time shifting that often.

That being said look forward to hanging out with you all a little and potentially modding my car sooner or later and/or doing more DIY repairs!!

-Ed

Hey Ed, welcome!

Sounds like you’ve already had quite an adventure with that Fiesta.

On 12/4/2025 at 10:43 AM, PeppermintBronner said:

Hey Everyone, 

New here! Been lurking for the past couple days (or weeks) but finally decided to break out of my shell.

Got a 2012 ford fiesta SE. Automatic. 98K miles. I got it about 5 or 6 years ago at about 60K from a family friend for about $3500 (a steal! and to think I almost didn't want it). I drove it like if it was a dang racecar and the head gaskets blew out on me after 5-6k miles of driving it (the car had been sitting for a couple years prior to that). Was terrible experience dealing with it as you could see this frothy brown like substance oozing out everywhere particularly from the coolant reservoir. Luckily enough I live close to Mexico so I put some head gasket sealant and drove it across the border and got the head gaskets rebult for around $600 with 1 year warranty.

Since then I've had no real issues with the car (until this past week -- which I posted about on another thread). I used to take it to the dealership to do all the oil changes but I felt they were giving me short end of the stick so I just started doing some stuff on my own and taking it to a mechanic buddy for the more troublesome stuff like replacing belts and flushing fluids (all preventive maintenance). I thought I'd never like this car and thats why I was hesitant to buy it but its been great and considering I never drive (maybe once or twice a week), i'd say its been a steal. I am starting to get a bit more wary that it may break down soon now that im about to cross the 100K mark, but my mechanic says it should easily last me 30-40k miles plus at this rate and that good enough for me.

Only other main issue i've had besides my latest one is the dodgy transmission which was fords fault for not updating the TCM module until years later so I'm sure it took a beating for the 60k-ish miles it drove on the dodgy transmission system before the update, but overall I dont feel it hs a hard time shifting that often.

That being said look forward to hanging out with you all a little and potentially modding my car sooner or later and/or doing more DIY repairs!!

-Ed

Self repair is a good thing to learn 😎👍