Morning All,

After taking delivery of my new Focus I was thoroughly enjoying a nice drive back down to the midlands from up north when I hear a slapping noise from the engine...

It seems that a chunk out the middle of my alternator belt had come loose and starting whipping the engine bay and whatever came in contact seemed to not have much fun..

Got Mr AA to come out and he cut off the offending piece of the belt and said get it booked in which was clear...

I then look for damage and it seems that the whipping has taken quite a few wires down to the copper including the wires for the front right fan and the coolant pipe just above it... couldn't see much else as it's quite tight but I am sure there will be more...

Booked into my local dealer on Thursday to see what will happen.

Not exactly how I expected a new car to be but hey someone must get the dodgy one haha

Anyone else seen this happen?

Cheers

Hi welcome :)

Well that's unlucky! I've seen quite a few fail but never on such a new car lol, the belt probably had a manufacturing defect I reckon.

I Hope it has not caused too much damage

I wouldn't be happy about that at all and would demand a free courtesy car at the very least.

Yep and insist all the wiring is fixed to prevent future issues

Yep and insist all the wiring is fixed to prevent future issues

Yeah I'll be taking it in and going through all the damage... Just hope it's not something wrong with the belt holder thing so it won't happen again...

I wouldn't be happy about that at all and would demand a free courtesy car at the very least.

Yeah see what happens on Thursday...

Well dropped the focus off at the dealer this morning, didn't offer any courtesy car or apologise etc just said "I know what's wrong with it we can put a new belt on and see what happens..." to which I said you know about the damage the belt did to wires and pipes etc... He then said "Yeah no worries"

Something tells me I won't be happy with my first encounter with a Ford dealership haha

I would have insisted on one and that the car is returned in correct condition that it left the factory, but with a good belt and not a defective one. If it isn't don't accept the repair until it is.

Sent via the 'Clacks'

GNU STP

Well the Focus is back and seems like they have done a good job...

All is well and the mechanic who worked on it made it sound like that something was dropped on the belt in production hence the issue...

He has logged it all in case it is a dodgy batch of belts but who knows...

Considering the amount of cars I have driven in the past year or so this is by far the most comfy best sounding (Eco style engine) and most tech inside of all of them...

Cars Driven...

64 Plate Nissan CashCow 1.2 T (Nissan's Titanium X model)

15 Plate Mini Cooper D 1.5T (Chilli Pack and Media XL Pack)

15 Plate Hyundai i30 1.4 (Pretty Basic Model, No Sat Nav)

14 Plate MK3 Focus Zetec S 1.0T Ecoboost

64 Plate BMW 1 Series M Sport 1.9T D (no Sat Nav)

61 Plate Audi A3 S-Line 1.9D (No Sat Nav)

57 Plate SEAT Leon 2.0 T FR (200 Ponies, great engine but not much stuff inside)

The bottom 2 have been my Cars the rest are Hire cars whilst waiting for my Focus to be built so all in the same bracket as my Focus for price supposedly...

Cheers

And now just for good measure lol just got a slow puncture... I don't think I was supposed to have this car...

And now just for good measure lol just got a slow puncture... I don't think I was supposed to have this car...

Ouch ! not a good start Jim

Ouch ! not a good start Jim

You're not wrong... I have also noticed that ford give you hardly any info about your car and what's going on...

No car picture saying what wheel has got what pressure.... Would of helped me quite abit today! Just seems a little behind in the engine and tyre section... The info button on my screen gives me traffic announcements on my route which us yet to show anything and where I am with some emergency services stuff.... Not really the sort of stuff that warrants it's own section next to the home button...

I downloaded the Owners manual, and have been reading up haha