Piston Rings

Probably be easier and cheaper to either get a recon'd engine, or one from a scrapped car - there must be hundreds of these engines around from crashed cars. If you are replacing the rings DIY,then the parts bill will be quite high anyway, as you'll need a complete gasket set as well as the new rings, and when you have the head off, you may well find damage to the bores as well, which will add another £150+ to the bill. Alan.

In general, if the rings are worn, so are the bores and pistons. A proper cure would involve a re-bore and new pistons - and while the engine is stripped a crank re-grind and new bearings. In other words, a re-conditioned engine. Check the Ford price for an exchange unit, and be

*very* wary about cheaper 're-con' engines from some 'specialists'. But the engine might well exceed the value of the car.

Best plan would probably be a secondhand engine from a low mileage car.

To be honest best bet is fit another engine --

Maybe £200 fitted for a straight swap with an engine from the scrap yard. There are plenty of £200 cars avalable of the same age. Decide if there's any other work that'll need doing in the next few months. If you have the space, look for another Fiesta with the same engine (not burning oil) so you can "mix and match" the best parts.

Check the Ford price for an exchange unit, and be

Definitely avoid the cheap engine places ( eg. the sort advertised in Exchange and Mart ) - they are selling degrease/painted worn out rubbish. I used TW Motor factors once - absolute rubbbish, if I'd paid 50% more I could have got a proper factory recon from the manufacturer.

Steve

Guess it's all down to the condition of the car and what you can do yourself.

My eldest step daughter has just gone and bought a 90k 1995 Festa even though i told her they were a little problem prone.

What worries me is that it's had a head gasket done which seems pretty ususual on one of these, i wonder what else that was hiding and when it will go again.

Still you know what kids are like once they've passed there test, "I want a car NOW!"

JH

There are worse thing to buy but I hope you've thought out your response if it goes wrong and the garage want an arm and a leg.

My response is "Well dear, you want to be indepedant and ignore those around you, you go and find the money and get it fixed." She'll find some chump of a bloke and flutter her eyelashes etc...

JH