Ford focus Tddi Ci cambelt replacement

Well I finally took the plunge, acting on several people's advice [Re: Advice sought on the purchase of a good second-hand vehicle] and from the majority of good reports I read, I finally parted with three grand and opted for a high mileage (120,000 ex-fleet vehicle full service history) Ford focus (51 plate) Tddi Ci estate.

Although it appeared to be a good runner, as I don't pick it up until the end of the week I haven't had time to really evaluate it.

One thing that worries me however is that the salesman told me that the intervals for timing belt replacement was every 80,000 miles, and the last one had been replaced at a 100,000 miles, however according to 'Honest John' all focus diesel timing belts must be replaced every 36,000 miles (which seems pretty pathetic for a modern vehicle, considering that even my ancient Astra is double that) does anyone know if this information is correct?.. Tia Ivan.

Reply to
Ivan
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Sorry, don't know the answer but you might be better off asking in alt.autos.ford.focus

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I could believe that the original Ford lump required changes at 36k (I'm sure the Mk1 & 2 Mondeos were the same)

Pete.

Reply to
Pete Smith

Many thanks Chris, have re-posted my query to Ford.focus ng.

Reply to
Ivan

I have just asked my mechanic that very question- he says they are good for

100,000 miles and are not notorious for failing early. I take no responsibility if the worst happens though ;-)

AIUI the belt has quite an easy life as it has quite a short and simple path between the camshaft and the chain-driver diesel pump, rather than the crank pulley via several other pulleys. It looks quite straightforward to change so it shouldn't be a phenomenally expensive job if you want peace of mind. My mechanic said about £120, but I don't know if that's a typical quote or not.

Morse

Reply to
Morse

I've just taken a look at the service schedule Ford eTIS, and cam belt replacement on all the Focus TDdi and TDCi engines is 100,000 miles or

10 years. I've never heard of a prematurely-broken belt either.
Reply to
Andy Tucker

The Haynes book does say that Ford revised the tensioner pully on some Focus engines. I'd be interested to know how much it costs if you do get it done! I PS

I would not say that 120k is necessarily 'high miles' for a diesel.

Simon

Reply to
mr p

You dont listen much then?!

They still fail at about a 10th of the regularity of the old Endura DE engine, but nevertheless, still do break. Engine is luncheon meat when they do. (same old story)

Tim..

Reply to
Tim..

I assume you test-drove it, right?

Well I'm fairly certain that the 1.8TDCi is quite largely based on the older 1.8TDDi engine ('Lynx' engine), except with stuff like commonrail injection added. And that's basically a slightly more powerful than the engine I had in my Mk5 Fiesta van (00/W), and according to the book that had a 100k cambelt interval, though I was skeptical about this, and some people told me 80k, some 60k. It's safer to leave them longer as the cambelt doesn't drive the water pump, which is a potential cause of cambelt failure (just make sure you know when the aux drivebelt's been done though, as if that snaps it's not just a case of turn the lights/interior fan/radio off and keep going, the thing'll overheat).

So if the TDCI doesn't have a cambelt-driven waterpump, then it's probably safe to leave it at least 60k miles. The earlier 1.8Ds (Endura-DE) were a bit of a liability as far as cambelts went, but AFAIK the TDDIs or TDCIs aren't.

But this is all fact-based guesswork, so ask someone who knows.....

Reply to
AstraVanMan

but is a decent enough engine if run well...

Reply to
Paul Cummins

I actually wrote to Honest John and asked him who was correct, him with his estimate of 35,000 miles, or Ford's 100,000, his reply was thus. "100k recommended by Ford. 35k recommended by me on basis of failures."

HJ

Reply to
Ivan

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