Focus Mk3 1.6 -low compression (under warranty)

[surfamakikomi]

Hi all,

Background: i recently (7weeks ago) bought a 2015 mk3 1.6 ti vct powershift. In those weeks I have managed to cover about 2.5k miles ( not common for me).  On the way home one day it started to misfire and I had the engine management light flashing.  The car went to a local garage who pulled the code for a misfire in cylinder 3 and they diagnosed low compression in the same cylinder (others were fine). They advised to go to ford as it’s a head off job from here and the car should be under warranty ( it’s has been serviced on the dot).  

For have had the car from the 27th and so far have confirmed that it has low compression and they hope to have the head off this afternoon.  

So far I have a few questions :

has anyone else had something similar on a 1.6? Are there common faults with this engine?

Is this something that ford couldn’t refuse to fix under warranty?

Cheers for your help hopefully ford will sort everything out but I’m a little worried ford will try to wriggle out of it and give me a massive bill. 

[JONATHAN_11_80]

The sigma engine is usually a tough little engine the early sigmas used to suffer with burnt out exhaust valves however I doubt this is your problem considering how new the car is.  Will be interested to know what the problem is.

[surfamakikomi]

Since I’ve had it I noticed that it seemed to idle a bit low at times and wasn’t going to get it looked at on its next service. immediately prior to the warning light the mpg was going down about 0.1 mpg per 20 mins of driving from Stratford upon Avon to South Wales mostly on motorways at 80. 

The mechanic who drove me home said that normally if there’s an internal issue on an engine under warranty they will just swap out the engine just in case.

in the mean time I have a 66 plate diesel manual focus to potter around in.  I will update again when I hear from ford. 

[surfamakikomi]

Well I have just called ford and they have finally made progress. The service lady said that they have ordered new valves and a head gasket. The head will also need to be sent to a specialist ( this is what they are trying to sort out now). They are going to call me back with timescales. Reading between the lines this would suggest the issue was a burnt/damaged valve.


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[FatHead1979]

38 minutes ago, surfamakikomi said:

Well I have just called ford and they have finally made progress. The service lady said that they have ordered new valves and a head gasket. The head will also need to be sent to a specialist ( this is what they are trying to sort out now). They are going to call me back with timescales. Reading between the lines this would suggest the issue was a burnt/damaged valve.


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Just just plain unlucky, I haven't seen many people on here over recent years complaining of serious issues with the latest version of the 1.6 "Sigma" engine.  At least Ford are not trying to wriggle out of the warranty work like they often do.

[surfamakikomi]

Yeah I think it is just unlucky it happened but lucky it happened now and not 6 months later when the car would be out of warranty.

Ford haven’t asked for money yet or mentioned not covering this under warranty. The car has been serviced on the dot ( it was a europcar hire car) so they can’t really complain.

I’m just interest to know how long this will take them to sort.


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[FatHead1979]

In terms of the timescales for resolution I'd just say keep on top of them so that "sending the head to specialist" doesn't become an excuse for it taking weeks to resolve.

At least you've got a nice new car to pootle about in until it's fixed. 

[surfamakikomi]

Yeah , the courtesy car does allow me to compare petrol powershift focus vs diesel manual focus as it’s the same spec car as mine. So far i have found the diesel to be a little nippier with the torque it has but it’s a lot heavier at the front than the petrol so the petrol with the powershift box is a more fun car.


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[surfamakikomi]

Just had a call from ford saying that my car has been put back together and taken for test drive. The car still has a slight misfire so they want to change the plugs. How long until I get a call saying they want to replace the leads and then another for the coil pack.


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[surfamakikomi]

Well I got the car back yesterday. The complete works carried out was :
Head tested and New valves ( at least 1burnt valve) fitted.
New head gasket
New spark plugs (cost me £73)
Timing adjusted

It’s running lovely now and as an added advantage the gearbox has been reset so it’s now super smooth at low revs.

What I don’t know 100% is what caused the burnt valve. At the moment I’m think it must have been a faulty plug causing a carbon build up.

Here is the car finally back [emoji3]




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[Jethro_Tull]

Carbon build up won't burn a valve.  It'd look like a lump of coal and still wouldn't happen.  More likely a simple materials or machining fault with the valve itself.

[surfamakikomi]

Carbon build up won't burn a valve.  It'd look like a lump of coal and still wouldn't happen.  More likely a simple materials or machining fault with the valve itself.

Ahh ok , that makes me feel a little better now. Cheers [emoji3]


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[Jethro_Tull]

If its been rebuilt dilligently you should be sweet now ;)

[surfamakikomi]

Well it’s been assembled by ford with the head sent away to a sub contractor to be done so I’d like to hope that ford picked a decent place to sort the head out.

I guess time will tell, but so far it’s running really well.


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