Pebbleheed

I jumped ship! Now happily driving a Nissan Pulsar and loving it. I was going to buy another focus, but they’re crazy prized at present. Wouldn’t get another eco boost though! I then looked at the C Max. But the 1.6 was underpowered and it felt like I was driving a trainer with its high feel. And there was little bonus over a focus. Tried lots of cars and a couple of SUVs. Couldn’t find anything that was quite right. And then I found my Nissan Pulsar and loved it. Newer car, cheaper than a focus. Ridiculously high spec and drives really nicely. On top of that, cam belts at my local official Nissan dealer are £309 all inclusive - a lot cheaper than £1,250 at a non official Ford dealer. Happy ending 😄

Thanks all. I may be looking at other brands. Spending time just looking at different shapes and sizes.

The cheaper to fix part sounds good though. Nobody would touch the timing belt on my old ecoboost. Don’t want that again. And the clutch replacement cost me £850 last year..!

Yeah, my tax would go from £30 to £250. But if it means I can turn the engine on without holding my breath and wondering if I’m gonna ecoboom today then that’s probably worthwhile. The 1.0 ecoboost has put me off good and proper. The Zetec engine seems to be a safer bet and I really want reliability.

Don’t the other ecoboost petrol engines have the same issues? I always assumed the 1.6 petrol engine was more reliable and cheaper to fix than the ecoboost / petrol turbo engines?

I’m looking at the 2011 model. Used. I’ve found a couple of 1.6 petrol models. And a few diesel. I’m always weary of diesel in terms of ULEZ issues (my city moves to that next year) and emissions issues / DPF issues. Are they ok on Fords?

It’s gone! Sold today and got quite a bit more for it than I thought I’d get to be honest. I’m looking for replacements. Potentially another Focus, but swinging more towards a C-Max. Anything to avoid? I don’t think I’d get another eco boost.

Interesting. I can clear the engine management light with my bluefin. I presumed they’d test drive the car. Didn’t realise they didn’t. I have a few chips and small dings on the bodywork here and there. I expected they’d drop the price based on those.

Not sure how I can sell it while it’s under powered and needs the belt sorting though? We buy any car offered £5,500 online for it (I know they’ll knock it down) in a running state. If I turn up with the engine light on and it being under powered I suspect I’ll get peanuts. It feels like I need to spend the £1,250 to maximise what I can get from it.

Is it really that likely to die soon?

Have you had it fixed?

Is there any way to check for this? The knocking I thought was coming from the engine appears to have been coming from a roof box I had on. The engine isn’t knocking. I’m hoping I caught the oil issue in time. But could it have already trashed the engine and if so, would it be easy to spot?

The filter was cut open. It was starting to clog with rubber from the belt as suggested. I have a new filter on now. The garage said they can’t do the belt as they don’t have the tools or experience. I’ve tried 3 others in the area, 2 said ‘no chance’ and 1 said they’d never done it before but would try. I walked away..! I’ve found a Ford specialist who seems to know what they’re talking about. They want £1,250 for the belt, oil flush, full clean out and new filter again. Said it’s a days work. The garage is 6 miles away. Do you think I’m OK driving that far at low speeds to get it there? I had it recovered this morning before the oil filter was changed for a new one but I can’t get it recovered again now as they’re classing it as the same fault. On the plus side, the engine seems fine at present as oil was getting through the filter still. Seems I stopped just in time and followed the advice of you lot - thanks very much 😄

First of all, thanks all for the advice. Ok - so the garage is shut today. I'm going back tomorrow. What's the best thing to do? Simply ask him to remove the sump and clean the oil pump or do I just ask them to check it all again? Last time I was there the oil light wasn't showing so I'm guessing they just checked the oil level as there were no error codes to do with oil. It's only when I've come away that it's flickering more and more now. I'm worried that they'll try to fix the errors relating to the O2 sensor stuff, drive the car and kill it. Is it worth having the sump off and pump cleaned regardless or is there any way they can check for this before they do that? The car's mileage is 88,000 miles. Is it also worth asking for them to sort the timing belt at the same time while they're there?

P0299 appears to be ‘under boost’. A bit of a Google re that suggests many things, one of which is low oil pressure. I’m hoping it’s low pressure and not a new turbo.