2008 Fiesta Engine warning light & cambelt questions

[Steve Reed]

I am thinking of buying a 2008 Fiesta 1.25 Zetec Climate. 27,000 miles and looks in great nick. Good MOT history. Advertised for £3195. Two questions. Went for a test drive and the engine warning light was on. Dealer ran a diagnostic and was able to kill the warning light and informed me it was an oxygen sensor that he would replace. Apart from this the test drive went well. My initial reaction was that an engine warning light on during a test drive tells me it's time to walk away. Am I being over cautious?

I asked about cambelt replacement. Dealer thinks it is chain driven so not an issue. I'm not sure. Can someone tell me definitively whether this car has a cambelt?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Luke4efc]

Time to walk away I think. Not sure if £3200 is a little low considering it has less than 30k on the clock.

The lack of a cambelt confused me a little, but yes I'm certain it does have one. Either way the etis website will give you a service schedule if you put in the reg of the car. http://www.etis.ford.com

From my reg it recommends cam belt every 100,000 or 8 years, so yours should be due, or have just been done.

You had every right to be as cautious, if you decide you want the car still, make sure you test drive it again for a decent amount of time, and check the engine codes yourself. You can pick up a cheap reader from amazon for about a tenner. It bluetooth connects to your phone, one of the best tools when buying a used car. Mine paid for itself after the first use, garages can charge £40 just for plugging the obd2 scanner in and finding a code.

[MJNewton]

The oxygen sensor could be bad, in which case a replacement should sort it, but it could also be good and indicating some else (quite possible the cat) is bad. Only time will tell. It could be worth having an emissions check so that you know that side of things is working.

As Luke though, it does indeed have a cambelt.

You are right to be cautious, but whether that means walking away I am not so sure. As my Dad always told me though - there's always another (better) one round the corner - and he was always right.

[Tuha]

If cat after 27.000 miles is ending it`s life it means that something is wrong IMO or driven only in city in low rpm which is also not good for engine. 9 years 27.000 miles means 3.000 per year-not much. 

If dealer don`t know what`s inside...I would be very suspicious about that car

Thanks.

[isetta]

what sort of dealer is this? a back street place or a proper professional place ? it seems likely they were trying to trick you on the cambelt. that is a very very common engine and for a salesman to not know it has a cambelt seems unlikely. And the warning light would put me off, it's the kind of thing that might be a recurring problem. They can reset the light with a £10 OBD code reader and hope it does not come on again until you have driven the car off their forecourt after paying for it

[Steve Reed]

Thanks guys. Confirms my gut feeling. They are traders that get good reviews on Autotrader etc but I don't think it is worth the risk. More to look at tomorrow.

Cheers

Steve

[Bobr]

How on earth would a dealer think it was chain driven?

[Luke4efc]

Come to think of it the only common Ford I can think of to have timing chain is the old mondeo. BMW have had it for decades on all cars, Jaguar and Land rover also like chains instead of belts. Other than the germans, there's not too many that use chains.

[iantt]

garage could have mixed it up the 1.3 duratec fitted to the 2002-2008 fiesta which has chain drive, also fitted to the older ka. other chain drive engines are the mk3 mondeo 1.8/2.0/ duratec petrol,( also fitted to focus), 2.0/2.2 duratorq. then mk4 mondeo 2.0/2.3 duratec. focus mk3 st2.0, rs 2.3. ecoboost etc