First of all I apologise if I am posting in wrong section on forum, but am desperately in need of some advice if anyone can help.

I recently brought a focus 1.6 vcti (think it's called) on a 55 plate. When I go over 3500 revs the engine management light comes on. The car also sounds slightly diesel like. I have taken the car to a local garage who have told me it's a timing issue, and whoever fitted the cambelt 3 months ago didn't do it properly. Having spoke to ford, they have said it will cost £400 to put it right. Has anyone else had this issue or could shed a little more light on this subject? As you can probably tell I have no clue about cars, so any help or advice would be much appreciated. Regards, John

Hello and welcome,

First of all, how do they know it's a timing issue/not done correctly unless they have fitted the timing locking tools and actually checked it.

I would however consider that it may be a fault with the variable timing workings - that seems to be brought up often enough and is expensive to put right.

Thanks for the reply. The annoying thing is the car seems to run fine, maybe a little sluggish but not overly noticeable. Ford basically said they had the same thing a few weeks back, but having read up on possible causes the result seems to be the same- take it to a ford mechanic. The car is booked in for 8 tomorrow morning, just wanted to go there with a bit of understanding. Seems anything to do with this issue is expensive, just worried due to my lack of knowledge I will get ripped off. Thanks again for any help or advice