Hi all,

I am new on the forum, after doing quite a bit of research I have decided to go for a mk6? Fiesta 1.4 TDCi which I will be getting probably in a few weeks time, I have looked at a large range of different diesel engines from different makes and have found that the 1.4 TDCi is probably the least worst one to go for, example is below:

BMW 320D - failing swirl flaps fall into engine

VAG 1.9 TDi 130/150 - badly wearing camshafts due to poor lifter design

PSA 1.5 DCi (currently my daily drive engine) - issues with injectors, high pressure pumps and electrics

PSA 1.6 HDI (TDCi) - issues with oil blockages causing turbo failures

1.3 CDTi - camchain snaps

PSA 1.4 TDCi (HDi) - injector seals leak, possible issue with aux belt coming off

Ideally I would go with the 1.6 TDCI (HDi) as it is indeed a better engine overall for refinement, but has quite a few issues so I am going to go with the 1.4 TDCi as I know there are lots of guides on that and I am happy to replace the injector seals if needed.

Is there anything else engine wise I should be aware of on the 1.4 TDCi engines at all? Am I correct to say that the post facelift parts (such as headlights) fit directly onto the pre facelift cars?

I do a lot of motorway miles so I am looking for something that has good fuel economy but is also slightly more solid than my current Renault Clio 1.5 DCi (80), I think that the Fiesta fits the bill.

Does anyone have any comments or advice in ensuring that I buy a good car to start with eg are there any known issues for certain years? I will probably look to go for a post facelift car as I am hoping that any issues would have been ironed out by then!

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have any comments or advice in ensuring that I buy a good car to start with eg are there any known issues for certain years? I will probably look to go for a post facelift car as I am hoping that any issues would have been ironed out by then!

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

Blank the EGR Valve with a stailnless steel blanking plate,

and upgrade to Green Cotton induction filter.

These guys can supply the blanking plate aswell as other items such as straight swap hybrid turbo.

link: http://www.nbstyling.co.uk/store/?pID=25

Discussion regarding benefits of blanking EGR valve here:

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/42915-guide-fitting-egr-blanking-plate-16tdci-engine/

Also see Guide here for link to supplier of Green Cotton Induction Filters aswell as details regarding 10% discount code

link: http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/36783-green-cotton-performance-induction-filter-fitting-guide/

Hi,

Blank the EGR Valve with a stailnless steel blanking plate,

and upgrade to Green Cotton induction filter.

These guys can supply the blanking plate aswell as other items such as straight swap hybrid turbo.

link: http://www.nbstyling.co.uk/store/?pID=25

Discussion regarding benefits of blanking EGR valve here:

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/42915-guide-fitting-egr-blanking-plate-16tdci-engine/

Also see Guide here for link to supplier of Green Cotton Induction Filters aswell as details regarding 10% discount code

link: http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/36783-green-cotton-performance-induction-filter-fitting-guide/

Thanks for that, I will definitely look at those links and products, plan was to blank the EGR anyway, was also looking at the 1.6TDCI but will stay clear due to the issues, will be going with the 1.4TDCi - really looking forward to it now!

Thanks for that, I will definitely look at those links and products, plan was to blank the EGR anyway, was also looking at the 1.6TDCI but will stay clear due to the issues, will be going with the 1.4TDCi - really looking forward to it now!

I'm approaching 200,000km in my 1.6TDCi

Still original turbo and pushing an extra 30bhp out of it.

only worry I have is risk of leaking injectors as I've eliminated all other common issues in the first 50,000

Lenny makes a valid & most important point - he has eliminated all other common issues in the first 50k

There is no guarantee that in another car with the DV6TED4 engine that the previous owner is as awesome as Lenny ! :)

( Or has / had such deep & full pockets ) :)

I don't doubt that the 1.6 TDCi engine is the better engine and if its maintained well from the start then it would be the better engine overall. Because I don't know exactly how the car I will be buying was serviced or indeed the sort of driving it has done I will go on the side of caution and go with the 1.4 TDCi as I know that the parts that usually have issues have fairly simple fixes. If I were buying a much newer car I would probably go with the 1.6TDCi, however for my budget I am going for the 1.4 TDCi, there are still lots of tuning parts available.

One of the reasons why I am not going to be going for all out power is that I am currently building up another project - a Mercedes E300 turbodiesel with the legendary OM606 engine in it which I will be using for drag racing. The car will be a sleeper, will be looking at around 1000ft/lbs torque at around 3 bar of boost when its finished, the Fiesta will just be my daily drive:

Just went to go and see one and I went for it, picking this up next weekend, its the 1.4TDCi, its just had the injector seals replaced, has a really good spec such as parking sensors and is the post facelift model so perfect. Mileage is just over 100k so plenty of live left in it. I will check when the cambelt was done but it seems that this car has been really well looked after, its in really good condition.

I did rather chuckle when I look at the turbo, its so small but at least its easy to get to.

I will post up a project thread for the car when I start to do some work on it, will be going for a few subtle mods etc but its good that it has the nicer lights and clear indicators etc.

Thanks for everyones help on narrowing everything down on the engine.

I will post up a project thread for the car when I start to do some work on it, will be going for a few subtle mods etc but its good that it has the nicer lights and clear indicators etc.

Thanks for everyones help on narrowing everything down on the engine.

looking very tidy indeed mate,

I look forward to seeing some more pictures and watching the project thread👍

Pretty much a direct replacement for the Fiesta one lol I think its the same size I have on the 1.5 DCi Clio, its not a bad little turbo, cheap to replace though which is good. Will get the EGR blanked off and fit a better air filter, I will also look to remove any inlet restrictions to the airbox - there is usually a restrictive snorkel somewhere!

Pretty much a direct replacement for the Fiesta one lol I think its the same size I have on the 1.5 DCi Clio, its not a bad little turbo, cheap to replace though which is good. Will get the EGR blanked off and fit a better air filter, I will also look to remove any inlet restrictions to the airbox - there is usually a restrictive snorkel somewhere!

😂

fitting an oil catch tank then cleaning out intercooler (if fitted) will also help keep turbo inlet clear.

custom built specific size here:

http://www.nbstyling.co.uk/store/?pID=23

Bought one myself 👍

just not capable of fitting yet as I'm recovering from hip fracture 😣 70% mended though.

Thanks for that, as far as I know the 1.4tdci has no intercooler, the 1.6 does, I do however have a few spare intercoolers from other projects. I won't be looking to push the turbo above the stock boost at the moment though, perhaps something for next year.

I have just sorted in the insurance out for picking the car up next weekend and have declared a modified non standard air filter and a non standard exhaust. Those 2 mods cost me a grand total of £4 more for the rest of the year lol

Plan is for this year is to tweak it to make it as fuel efficient as I can, which in turn would actually make more power and torque - I have found that throttle response is key for fuel economy and how fun a car is to drive. The less you need to press the throttle to get where you need to go the better so crisp throttle response is important.

The plan for the car in terms of mods would be initially:

Air filter

Exhaust

EGR blanking

Minor colour coding on some trim pieces and maybe the alloys

Upgrade the stereo and door speakers

The car is only coming with 1 key so I will be getting a replacement one asap but that shouldn't be too bad - guessing I can get them cut quite easily, I have also noticed that there is a process in the manual to reprogram up to 4 keys for the car.

I have just picked up the car - quite impressed with it so far, think first thing on the list is the cambelt and waterpump change - car is on 106k miles but not sure if its been done yet. Anyway, here are a few first impressions, I am also basing some of my findings on what my Clio has as well which is worth half as much and is 5 years older.

Pros:

Cabin noise is pretty good, its quite quiet

Power delivery is good, around town its nippy, on the motorway its not too bad either

Good gearshift

Heating system is good, seals retain the heat well

Good customisation in the advanced menu within the dash - eg hazards flashing under heavy braking, doors to unlock when using the fob, number of minimum flashes when indicating etc.

Cons:

No auto headlights

No auto wipers

Missing foot rest to the left of the clutch (keep bumping my foot against the side as I am expecting somewhere to put my foot when not needing the clutch)

Wing mirrors fairly small but still usable

One thing I did find is that the car can out corner the seat - eg the seats side bolsters aren't large enough to cope with the grip the chassis can give.

Another thing to note is to do with the power delivery, it does accelerate quite well but as everything fairly quiet and there isn't any turbo boost build it doesn't feel like its accelerating (but it is).

I will post up the photos of the car tomorrow once I give it a good wash over (will be updating the project thread as well).

I have now driven the car during the weekend, it has a few issues here and there, need to get the cambelt and aux belt done etc, and I need to see why not all of the heated front screen is working anyway, here are a few other points I have noticed:

Con:

Car is incorrectly geared for 30mph - in 4th the car labours slightly to maintain 30, in 3rd its revving too high

Indicator stalks are very small - you can you feel behind the steering wheel to use rather than them being wider than the wheel

Indicator stalks not illuminated - tried to find the rear wipe function last night, gave up!

Small fuel tank? - 45 litres (vs 50 litres for the Clio)

Just thought I would update this thread now that I have had the car a bit longer, overall the car is 'ok' I wouldn't say outstanding though, here are a few other cons:

Speedometer readout - only has alternate numbers larger eg 10, 30, 50, 70 etc are in bold, for 20, 40, 60 etc they are much smaller - really not ideal when you are wanting to keep at say 60 through the variable speed camera on the M25 - might look to change them.

Headlights - main beam is actually pretty good, the dipped beam, eg the headlight setting you use 99% of the time is SHOCKINGLY bad, almost unfit for purpose, the light isn't thrown that far in front of the car, the cut off is quite clean though. I found that the light is projected in front of the car around 50 yards (45 metres) - by using the blue signs just before a motorway junction, the light projects half way between a set of them which are spaced 100 yards apart. I will need to look into replacing the headlight units with either the OEM HID setup or some aftermarket ones - as I said the main beam is fine and is actually very good, just the dipped beam isn't safe as I can basically see further using the street lights on a road than I can with the headlights - quite scary on a dark country road!

Fuel economy - not great and lower than expected, as mentioned my previous 80bhp 1.5 DCi Clio was averaging mid 70 mpg without trying (brim to brim tank calculation) - the smaller engined Fiesta is doing mid 50mpg might be able to push it nearer 60mpg if trying. Although this doesn't sound much, for me who does a lot of motorway miles I don't really need the power, just need the economy which this car seems to lack even with a smaller engine. Currently in the process of testing different airbox combos to see what happens, aftermarket cone filters do seem to give a bump in MPG due to the better throttle response but still not close to the Clio's economy considering the Fiesta is 5 years newer.

Heated front screen - much like a lot of other Fords, my heated front screen doesn't 100% work with missing lines across the screen, mainly on the driver side, this is due to a Ford design flaw as the windscreen wiper motor arms knock the thin ribbon contacts that power the screen. The motor is placed on the driver side (for UK cars) so that's why the driver side is usually the first to fail - really silly design flaw and I will look to fix it soon.

Rear brake lights - one of mine is a bit intermittent in terms of when the brake is pressed the light goes out completely - due to bad contacts at either the plug or the cheap bulb holder.

Dipstick - Seems a bit odd my the dipstick on my 1.4 TDCi has slightly bend/warped due to being plastic, this means that oil is wiped onto the dipstick when trying to withdraw it to check the oil meaning a clear reading is impossible - will have to replace with a metal one if available I think.