Ford Focus Fun

[bsolxiv]

Hi everyone, I would love a bit of advice on my Ford Focus (FF) problem.

28/7/09 - Bought 52 reg FF from used car dealer
19/8/09 - Took car to local garage as white smoke coming from exhaust and drinking lots of oil. They advised me that I would need a new engine. Car was still under warranty so I phoned the dealer who said to take it to their own garage for inspection.
22/8/09 - Took car to dealer's garage
26/8/09 - Spoke to garage - explained they were waiting for dealer to source a second-hand engine.
11/9/09 (or thereabouts) collected car from garage with replacement engine - given receipt from engine supplier (cost of engine £345 - guaranteed for 30 days - engine bought 28/8/09). Everything OK until...
26/1/10 - car breaks down outside house - towed to garage. Replacement cam belt + 8 valves + oil filter etc.. £1069
5/2/10 - noticed white smoke coming from exhaust and oil level min after only 40 miles driven.
6/2/10 - took car back to garage as still under guarantee, I phoned them today, they are still looking at the car but it may be the lower part of the engine that is worn.
Questions:

• If they say this needs a new engine, do I try to make them sort it out as the car wasn't doing this before I took it to them?
• Do I try to get the original dealer to sort it out as it was them who sourced the replacement engine?

It may all come to nothing, but I am a little bit sick of this car now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[bsolxiv]

Ok I realise I'm being a bit vague so here is an update:
I went to the garage and the boss there told me that with the work at the top of the engine, it is now "burning a bit of oil" while it settles down. He states that this is quite normal, as there could be some wear on the pistons(?I think).
Does this sound normal?

[JimmySpangle]

No it doesn't.

Timing belt jumped/snapped/slipped so on your engine the valves will hit the pistons.

Damage to valves is obvious, they usually snap clean off on the focus. but the valve stems and seals will have been damaged. Often requires a new cylinder head but not always. You cannot just pop a few new valves in and hope it all goes away.

Car burning oil now, when it wasn't before would suggest one of three real possibilities.

1. Fractured piston crown - very common with focus zetec 16 valve timing belt failure, indeed I have pictures somewhere.
2. Valve seals leaking/fractured
3. poorly fitted or damaged cylinder head.

In all cases, it is not normal and will not just settle down. There should be no oil in the cumbustion chamber at all. It can only get there if there is a fault or leak.

Back to your original problem. You have had the car for a considerable length of time, however it has had problems from the start. No garage worth it's salt will replace an engine without replacing the timing belt and tensioners as it is the most likley cause of future failure and is a very easy job when the engine is out. Asuming yours is a zetec 16v, it is about 1 hour in total and costs about £60 for parts. It pretty much guarantees the engine will not break as such.

As it seems your garage did not do this, I would suggest they are incompetant and have been neglegent in the engine replacement and thus would hold them liable for your loss. As such I would ask them to pay for the repairs. Rejecting the car at this stage is not really an option.

[bsolxiv]

Thanks for quick reply. I have the receipt for the engine that the original garage (lets call it garage A) put in. It has some disclaimer on the bottom saying that the timing belt is provided free of charge, does this make a difference? Also, garage A is a long way away and quite inconvenient to get to as it was the dealer's garage of choice. Do I have to use them for any repairs? They didn't give me any details of the repair done so I don't know if the belt was changed at that time.

I expect that if I contact garage A they will say they were only asked to replace the engine and nothing else so it would be my responsibility to change the timing belt (in fact it DOES recommend this on the receipt)

You say that there should be no oil in the combustion chamber, I think garage B was implying that there was increased pressure on the system after changing the valves and that any previous wear on the (?)pistons or chambers would eventually settle down.

What should my next move be?

[JimmySpangle]

Right. A new belt is provided? Are you saying that they supplied you with a new timing belt, ie you were handed a nice new timing belt when you picked up the car?

If you have paperwork which recommends you change the timing belt and that changing it is your responsibility, then you are pretty stuck. It is standard practice to change timing belt and tensioners when changing an engine. Coyuld easily have been done at the time and would be at your cost though as it is an enhancement rather than a requirement. It is a preventative measure.

New valves will not increase the pressure on the engine unless the original valves were leaking badly. You have no way to clarify that now as the engine was damaged and it is purely speculation at this stage.

It does sound like you bought the car from pinky and had it fixed by perky. Neither of whom seems to have the slightest idea of what they are doing.

[bsolxiv]

Originally Posted by bsolxiv

the timing belt is provided free of charge

This applies to the belt already in the engine.

The engine was bought by the dealership for the garage. Does this mean that the small print applies to them? I had driven less than 2000 miles when the belt snapped, is this reasonable?

Update from garage B: I just got back from there as I left some paperwork. I asked the manager what the problem was - he said something about "Carbonising" needed to happen in the engine(?). When I asked explicitly if me driving the car would cause any long term damage he said no, definitely not. Is this likely?

Also, if I decided to cut my losses and trade it in at a dealers, am I subject to SOGA?