Focus cambelt

No idea, but why don't you ring their service department and ask? That way you'll get a definite answer. They wanted nearly £200 to do my TDDI, which I'm told the TDCI was derived from, but that may not mean anything.

Dave

Sounds like the sensible thing to do, if they're anything like previous experiences with Vauxhall, then their prices will be spot-on to the penny whichever dealership one goes to.

BTW I've got a feeling that mine is a TDDCI, can you remember what the interval was between your belt changes?

Dead easy way to tell a TDDI from a TDCi.

If you press the right hand pedal in a TDCi, something happens other than the decibel level going up.

In message , Ivan writes

Conventional wisdom and Haynes manual......... now that's an oxymoron :)

By all means get it done early but 35k miles is overcautious. I would suggest leaving it until 60k-80k miles.

"Pete M" wrote in message news:VnTNg.18370$ snipped-for-privacy@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

Well, the TDDI is not exactly sporty but I wouldn't be quite that harsh ;-)

I can get mine to go quite rapidly, it's much more fun to drive than the

1600 petrol Focus I'm about to replace it with. It actually accelerates in top gear on the motorway when I press the pedal while the petrol 1600 needs a downshift.

Dave

Ford say 100,000 miles, Honest John says 36,000 miles IIRC. I suppose one has to balance the cost of the job and how flush you are right now v the risk of paying out hundreds or pounds if it snaps. I wouldn't leave it as long as Ford recommend, I think Pauls's compromise is sensible advice.

Morse

You're making me nostalgic for my Carlton now - it used to have the same amount of go when flooring it at 80 in 5th as my Astra had at 50 in 3rd.

Except for using twice the petrol

Indeed- this is the main fault of the 1.6- stupidly high gearing in top so that it appears more frugal than the 1.8 on paper, at least.

Tim..

In message , Tim.. writes

But its actually more frugal in practice, not just on paper.

Hi Tim, I took your advice and eventually went for a metallic ex-company 1.8 Ford Focus diesel estate, high-mileage admittedly (120,000 miles) first registered 02, but in absolute mint showroom condition, the company I bought it from fitted four new tyres, taxed it (good news, only £110 pa!) and gave me a full tank of diesel fuel all in for £3,000.

The bad news is that I was only able to drive it for two days before suffering a heart attack, which required a week of hospitalisation (having an angioplasty and coronary artery stenting) which means that it's going to be a another three weeks before I can get back behind the wheel again, although in the two days I did drive it I was well impressed, and going by the 99 per cent positive things I've read and heard first-hand about the focus, I'm hoping that I'm not going to be disappointed.

cheers Ivan

Only **just** !!!

Tim..

That is a real bargain- I've just sold a '99 TDDI Ghia hatch for £2750! I'd recommend you change the oil regularly, more often than Ford recommend. AIUI TDDIs have been known to have premature bearing failure (small end for example) on high mileage engines so it pays to be careful. These engines can go on for very high mileages but some are very noisy and clattery.

Sorry to hear that, I hope you get well soon.

They really are a wonderful drive- even the estate. The steering is spot on (if a little heavy on the diesel due to the extra weight, but that's being picky) the handling is great and they still look modern. I much prefer the look of the MK1 to the new model. The only points I can criticise the Focus on are rustproofing on some models (the tailgates are known to rust near the chrome insert, there's some reports of door skins rusting as well) and the road noise, which can be quite bad. Still, what are car stereos for- mines never off so road noise doesn't bother me that much!

Dave

Then when it snaps you can wistfully wish you had had it replaced earlier.

Thanks Dave, I'm feeling heaps better already, I was treated at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and everyone was absolutely brilliant, from the ambulance paramedics right through to the doctors and the ward staff, I certainly won't hear a bad word said against the NHS from now on!

The engine is very quiet, in fact a bit too quiet!.. on the first occasion I drove it someone stopped to let me turn right at a junction, not being quite used to the vehicle and trying not to keep the other driver waiting I managed to stall the engine, after several attempts to start it (I thought without success) I realised that it was already running, I just couldn't hear it, certainly very different to my trusty old Astra!

In message , gazzafield writes

Where do you draw the line though? You could plan to do it really early at 35k and find it snaps at 30k. The engine has been in service for a few years so its not hard to work out a reasonable safe interval based on the experience of others. I haven't heard of one snapping at 35k.

In message , Tim.. writes

Most 1.8 owners report around 36-37mpg and the 1.6 returns around

40-41mpg. That's a 10% difference which is quite a bit IMHO.

36k for them all. If it snaps at 35 it would indeed be a pisser, but it is not unknown.

Now I'm beginning to feel a bit better and taking the trouble to check back through the service history supplied with the vehicle in a bit more detail, the Ford sevice checklists shows the timing belt as being an item which should be replaced at 100,000 miles intervals.

It seems strange that Ford themselves appear not to realise that this is incorrect, however having said that, I can only find one instance of the belt ever being replaced, which was at 99,000 miles! (cost £178) so the original obviously did last the course.

Agreed. The NHS is much maligned, but their treatment of my daughter's condition has been exceptional. My own experiences haven't always been rosy in the past, but on the whole I've been impressed recently.

LOL! I must admit I've done that before on my Nissan Primera!

Dave