New Zetec 1.25l engine for Fiesta

Sorry I should have added: June 1998 built Fiesta Ghia 5dr hatch (registered Sept 1998 hence S reg). Petrol, Manual Transmission.

Tony

As the car is worth a fraction more than that, I would just get a new car. Okay, it's a Ghia, but really, that wooden dash is...ah hideous ;)

I don't know if I'd be too keen on a supposedly 'new' engine. It can't be brand new surely?

My only experience of Heathrow Engines was the time a gave a work colleague a lift to pick up his car from there after a reconditioned engine had been fitted. The vehicle was sitting outside their premises ticking over; there was a "clonk", then something rolled along the ground past our feet, quickly followed by a rapidly growing pool of engine oil.

The oil filter had only been partially screwed on, and had fallen off!

It didn't inspire confidence, and later anecdotal comments have lead me to believe they are not a Company I would ever use.

YMMV!

Chris

No, but they sound like the kind of 'recon engine' cowboys you find on most run-down industrial estates in most towns.

Sounds too cheap for a properly reconditioned engine and too expensive for a used one that has just been sprayed with gunk and hosed off.

Given that the car is only worth about 800 quid anyway, I'd flog the car on ebay and buy another.

Lots of people unfortunately

Aren't Heathrow Engines the ones that've appeared on Watchdog and Rogue Traders on more than one occassion?

No. Far too cheap. I had a Sierra about 5 years ago a bill for a genuine Ford supplied DOHC engine. That was £1200 ex VAT and was supply only. Now I realise yours is smaller but several years have passed and labour rates in the SE aren't cheap.

However those engines are a lot cheaper than the DOHC.

Really 800 quid? I'd say more like 1500 looking at recent ebay sales.

Tony

But the Zetec-SE is a DOHC engine. Confused now.

Tony

The old sierra DOHCs where quite expensive, you should be able to get a Zetec for less. However HEC or whatever they're calling themselves nowadays will ring you up once they've taken the old one out, "found some of it isn't exchangeable due to damage" & leave you with ther choice of paying even more than Conors engine or getting your car back with most of the engine in the boot & only after you've paid them for the privilige of putting it there.

Take your pick of cars under a grand on Autotrader:

None with Aircon except the one that's done 97k with "some history". That's no better than where I am now!

Tony

Apart from them having fully functioning engines.

My engine is fully functional too - it just uses rather a lot of oil. I drive it 350 miles with three adult passengers on Saturday with no problems - it just needed a litre of Oil when I filled it with Petrol :-)

Tony

Any idea why it's using so much oil? Is it leaking at all or just burning it? Could it be fixed?

As I said in a previous thread my old fiesta 1.4 zetec at 90k used to use a bit of oil but not so as much as yours seems to use.

There is no sign of a leak. The car is parked in a clean garage every day - the garage floor remains clean.

I am pretty convinced the oil consumption is not a result of dodgy emissions control systems and it doesn't smoke after standing for a while so I don't think it's the valve stems. That really only leaves the oil control rings doesn't it?

How much was "a bit" ?

Tony

Tony Brett wrote in news:er1c2c$11m$ snipped-for-privacy@frank-exchange-of-views.oucs.ox.ac.uk:

If it's economical and doesn't smoke, and you really want to keep it, perhaps the best solution is to keep topping up? I know oil is expensive, but it's only like adding a couple of quid to the cost of refuelling. You'll go a hell of a long distance before your oil bill approaches the cost of a new engine!

I was going to suggest switching to the cheapy oil, then remembered it's a Zetec. It'll be best to buy the correct grade oil in it's cheapest form.

Stu

Yes - you're probably right.

Ford have said that it's OK to run it on 10W40 at this mileage and it does actually seem to consume a bit less of that so perhaps, as you suggest, I'll live with it.

Heathrow Engines keep emailing me "last minute special offers" for engine replacement :-)Don't worry - I shan't be going there.

Tony

Well, I'm trying to remember now ( I got rid of it a year ago). You seem to suggest that it needed a litre after 350 miles I'm presuming it was full before the trip. I certainly didn't top up every fill up (around 250miles) so I'm guessing that I'd probably put less than a litre in every month ( at the time I was driving around 300 miles a week) but I can't be sure as my oil checking, although reasonably regular (approx once a month) depended on me finding a place to park the car that wasn't on an incline!!