Can't thank you enough for making this video. My 2018 Ford Focus suffered a wet belt failure at 33000 miles. Been chasing my tail trying to find my cars service history as Ford customer care said they would not touch the car unless it had a full service history. They never mentioned the 2020 gap (this was the only one I was missing). Sent my case back and it has been approved for repair. 6 weeks without my car so far, what a nightmare.
Fantastic to hear, I have pinned this post to show how content like this can spread the word and help so many people affected by this issue. Glad you got it all sorted 👍
@@carukchannel absolutely, without the additional information it's likely that I would have covered it myself. My repairs aren't scheduled until mid-July unfortunately. I'll be interested to see what version of the engine is put back into the car when they get around to it
@@NigelSmith-rh7blMy local independent garage are changing them for £600 with the correct tools that only ford reckon they have to make you think you can only go to them for it.
I Read an artical yesterday it mentioned that they new before production that the belt degrades due to fuel mixing in with the oil which is causing the belts to degrade.
Yep if it happens in one country others should have the same rights. VW are the same I've had failures on my Passat that would have been covered in the USA, VW here want to plug in their gear tell you it's what you knew and that it's not covered in the UK and you now need to pay for their time diaging the car (In my case the clock spring in the steering wheel which failed because of dirt (hair) ingress. With Mini also doing the same thing but for their diesel egr issues, not covered for failure in the UK however there is a recall for the cooler. In our case the egr failed 2 months before they recalled it for the cooler. The egr fails because of the cooler in our case it failed before 27k miles. Mini garage said we can get it refunded if we talk to mini, mini came back and said no refund because the garage said it wasn't covered. Warenteed at this point are just extra loo roll.
Problem is not with the manufacturers. Problem is that Governments outside the U.S are pathetic and can't enforce anything on behalf of themselves or consumers. The U.S Govt. tare manufacturers a new arse hole, that's the way it should be done!
We in the UK need to start doing what the Americans do and start suing these companies like Ford (and Jaguar - Land Rove) together as a big lawsuit Buying a brand new car/s, is one of the biggest purchases one could make, and for them to fail within a few years is completely unacceptable
It would cost millions as in the US it only affects 140,000 cars. In Europe your talking millions of cars that's why. The are clever as they will be hoping that cars reach 10 years old and hope some people don't have full service history
Won't happen as US was only 140,000 cars and there's millions in Europe so they will be hoping cars reach 10 yrs old or people don't have full service history as the cars they are talking about for Ford good will gesture only go up to 2018 as they made changes in 2019. I recommend you get the sump removed to check for belt wear particals both in the sump and to see if any particals are stuck in the oil pump filter not your main oil filter alrhough you would change that anyway- also should be able to see belt for teeth wear.
Well done Lee for putting a bee in their bonnet,they can't ignore the problem anymore,and I hope they will help owners financially to change these belt systems.
I still can't believe they were stupid enough put these in their vans after they finally sorted out the rust problems. Though all new vans are junk now tbh
I’ve got a 2022 puma and I’ve had 4 ecoboost vehicles from 2013 onwards and all done over 100k one of the focus I had I sold it with 180k on the clock and including that focus I haven’t had a single issue with the engines!………..just saying🤷♂️
There was no need for Ford to implement wet belts in the first place. It bring no advantage to you. It's a gamble. Keeping to specified intervals reduces the risk of failure but does not eliminate it. You've got away with it that's cool for you. But you should not even have the problem. Ford are being cheapskate dicks all over their vehicles. 2.7l F150 V6 has a wet belt oil pump drive. You can't even see it to check it. It runs inside the replace if removed plastic sump pan. 4 cars in 11 years with 100K and 180K on a couple of them? What the hell do you do?
And when the car is 10 years old, you are on your own, scrap value, anything longer is a bonus. Cars should easily last for 15 to 20 years these days, but not Ford Eco-Boom.
Honda 1,0 in their civic from 2017 to 2023 ( mark 10) Also has a wet belt And honda has finally done a recall ,costing them millions 3 cylinder engines ,bad idea Wet belt ,bad idea Same as dpf ,egr valve ,bad idea
That is the product life cycle mate. The 1.0 engine when it first launched I had friends in dealer who got told don’t worry you’ll never change a belt on one of these the engine is designed to be throw away at 10 years or 125 so we’d advise replace engine at that
Only a couple of weeks ago ford refused to accept responsibility for my 2016 focus with an ecoboost engine (also an automatic) 70,000 miles, which has now cost me £2304.00 to rebuild. They're a bloody disgrace and I will never buy another ford.
@@HypocrisyLaidBare Loving my 8-year old Focus ST - not a single issue with it, and it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it. I must be insane 😄
Avoid Ford's, Peugeot's & Vauxhall's when buying new & used & someone should set up a social media group about boycotting these car brands & perhaps these brands will listen
Class action lawsuits are possible in the UK too. The US has very stringent laws around vehicles being fit for purpose hence the chances of success is far higher.
Just had that news for my Citroen C4! Cambelt at manufacture was 10 years 112,000 miles, took it to my mechanic for service 2 weeks ago, he’s told me they’ve changed it to 6 years 62,000!!!
Hi I had engine overheat back in 2022 Ford replaced engine but I lost £1200 down to having to hire a vehicle so that I could get to work, I was not impressed by first attitude and fobbing me off
This isn't really anything for people to cheer about....how many 1.0 Fords in the UK have full service history? even if you bought a 1.0 and serviced it for the years you had it if the previous owner missed just 1 service Ford won't care and i can tell you now people who buy Fords Fiestas and Focuses won't be servicing them at all or maybe one every few years at most so this still doesn't help unless your one of the minority who's got a 1.0 that's actually been serviced, Fiestas especially are just school abused cars ran into the ground and finding ones with full service history is rare and even still why would anyone buy one? nobody will ever buy a Ford 1.0 ever again as your basically buying one hoping one day you'll get a new engine if it does go wrong. Basically if you've got a ecoboom and its got full service history then you have a safety net if it does go wrong but 99% of 1.0 Fords ain't even got full service history so the % of 1.0 cars actually being repaired by this new scheme is very low so imo its not even worth celebrating, we should all only celebrate when the 1.0 engine is scrapped and Ford recall them all regardless to age or service history.
I've had 3 Toyotas and two fiestas and had more trouble with Toyota than the fiestas in fact my 15plate and the wife's 14 plate 1ltr ecoboosts which we've had for 5yr each have been great also we've not payed a penny in road tax but having said that I wouldn't buy a focus either
Simple. Maintain the wet belts should be a ford's warranty period on wet belt engines period (any part that's a rubber belt in oil). If you own a eco boost wet belt sell it fast. Never buy a ford ecoboost wet belt system car, vehicle.
@@davidpearson243 Yep, I had a couple of truly awful Fiestas, my mate and his nephew both suffered horribly with mk3 Escorts...engine dying @ 53k, my mates @78k plus 2 more engines lasting 2k and 7 k lol! There was me driving a few bulletproof 1.8 and 2.0L engined Cavalier's over a 15 year period. Never a problem. My mate bought an 89 2.0L Cavalier and took it from 128,000 miles to 268,000 miles in 4 years without a hint of a problem! My mate even did about 75,000 miles in an 84 Polo estate (pre Fox) in 3 years with regular services.
@@davidpearson243Get a Toyota and you will never touch a VW product again. Once upon a time I would have also said Honda but they have slipped up badly in recent years. I drive a 2007 Honda Accord myself but won't be buying a new Honda unless they improve greatly. Just about all manufacturers are making crap these days with the exception of Toyota and even they are not as good as they used to be.
I recommended Honda to every customer looking to replace their Citroën when I knew they were replacing their car. Never saw them again. Really! Citroën cars are simply for customers wanting a quirky, cheaply-made hobby-car. The Citroen C1 being the exception (clue: it's a TOYOTA in disguise).
Had they been serviced? There’s vans on the road now used daily by a friend of mines company who service it every 2 years or 24k miles by Ford and the vans are 8 years old done 90k and still run perfect in daily use. But then hear or vans doing 50k that are 3/4 years old failing with no history and people wonder why
@@TRD1949uk fully serviced, a mate of mine has just bought a transit jumbo with 80k on it and changed the belt right away,the one he took off was perfect. I guess it's just the luck of the draw.
@@JJVernig Ford will NOT accept owner maintenance as proof of correct servicing. Before minimum wages, a car cleaner could be on £2/hour and half 'his' (really male only in the mid-nineties) day was working at a Citroën dealership servicing your £20k Xantia... The service record's actually irrelevant when dealing with such a flawed engine? They should pay out £3-7k for every dead Eco Boost 1.0 regardless.
@@Seolfor007 We have. A 1.6 C max- missus just uses it to run to work a few days a week and it does the occasional family trip (my toys are all 2 seaters) and she bought it about a year old with 6000 miles. It's now 10 years old and just did its 50000th mile this weekend.100% reliable, beyond brake pads, tyres and services the only extra spend has been an Aircon regas (it was still working fine but did it anyway) and a tyre pressure sensor. Probably the most reliable vehicle I've ever had.
I agree that ford are not as good as they were many years ago . The problem is not just with ford though most modern day cars look crap and are not very reliable ( especially diesel's) . Fords from the 70s and 80s were and still are great cars with the reliable pinto and the Essex engines fitted.
@@davidgavin7280They are garbage. The data collected over hundreds of thousands of breakdowns say so along with them having the highest recall numbers of any car brand. The fact that a pool of 1 person happens to have a good car for reliability doesn't help the rest of us but it's great you have haven't had the normal problems.
@@Seolfor007 not in the UK they don't... This is a UK channel talking about UK cars. I'm not a Ford fan boy- I've owned 1- an ST220 that ran faultlessly in the 2 years I had it (I would never consider 2 years long enough to judge a car's reliability so didn't mention it). Somebody specifically mentioned a 1.6 C Max and, as 'er indoors has owned 1 for almost 10 years with only a tyre pressure sensor as the only 'unreliability', I thought I'd put it out there as a solid car. My mother owns an EcoBOOM Fiesta and I've been telling her to get rid of it for quite some time.
100,000 and booked for a wet belt replacement in September. I’ll look into this further but it seems promising. Apart from that my Fords with wet belts have been absolutely reliable.
At least they’ve shifted a bit maybe they’ll be pushed further in time. I’m surprised no one has come up with an after market chain for both cambelt and fuel pump maybe a chain I dunno?
I have a 2014 Fiesta Ecoboost with 60.000 miles on clock and just had my wet belt replaced at my local Ford dealership a couple of weeks ago at a whopping eye watering cost of £1900, had service & MOT done @ the same time, not much change out of £2300, I also asked them to take photo's, just as well i got it done, oil pick up pump was starting to clog.
Mine went and had to fork out £7250 for the engine change. I lost my car docs i a house move, Called the dealer who told me to verify with Ford CRC who told me the service interval was 15k miles/ 12 months. The car was serviced on a service plan and the dealer didn't query my services. CRC came back that my service history is poor and no assistance will be given
Anyone who bought a car with a timing belt inside the engine obviously does not do any research The second i heard about these engines long before they became a issue I was advising people not to buy a wet belt car It was from the start i very bad idea engineering wise Everyone manufacturer who developed a wet belt engine Ford Citoren Peugeot Honda All have had issues Why you ask The wet belt Reduces friction by about 20 percent Giving about 1 mpg more It drives me insane that they are constantly changing things thata not broke And in the meantime , Producing cars with issues that cars 30 years ago didnt have What happened making things better not worse Wet belt engines Dpf Erg Gearboxes made of chocolate
2 of my work colleagues have suffered with the wet belt failure (within a month of each other) one of them a focus the other a fiesta, focus driver has a totled engine and my boss with the fiesta managed to save his (just about) as he said he started hearing a strange noise so he stopped driving. He paid £1.3k for engine repair (new belt and engine flush etc) his mechanic who did the work said it was a VERY VERY close call
I bought a Transit Custom new in March 2017. Last year when it was six years old I was aware of the problems so i decided to change the belts, cam and oil pump, even though the van has only done 25000 genuine miles. I'm glad I did due to the time line change by ford. The belts I removed were in pristine condition but at 25000 miles I should think so! I trained as a mechanic so I did the job myself on the drive under a big plastic sheet. It took me two days but I wasn't rushing. The whole job cost me less than £250 for the genuine parts. It's a very tricky job but theres a good you tube video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ABEjwapQwzg.html&ab_channel=SanuMotorswithCharlie Don't bother with any other videos as they don't go into the detail that Charlie does.
Hello good news to some extent. My wife has a 1 litre ecoboost and at 49000 miles going well. To me Ford should fix this before failure and not wait until the engine goes bang. Well suppose the goodwill scheme is better than no support at all. Thanks for this video of the latest information of affected cars
Thank you for your videos on this issue, especially this one. They've have really helped us out (massively). Our 2017 Eco Boost Focus failed two weeks ago at 49K miles. It is currently sitting forlornly on the drive after being recovered by Green Flag. I'd never heard of this problem before. After viewing your videos I went to the local main Ford dealer armed with my independent garage service history, which they appeared to accept. Its booked in for "Analysis" next week. This is costing about £140 which I hope to reclaim later. I'll tell you how it goes. Thanks again.
After the failure we've now had the car "analysed" by the dealer (£130) and they've said in essence there no oil pressure and the engine is b*ggered (not the term they used) . To be fair they've been quite helpful. They are now pursuing the issue with Ford on our behalf. So far so good. Update in the near future.
I had a 2003 petrol ford focus 1.6 it was a robust engine, actually when i had to get rid of it because of rust it was still running perfectly fine. So ford tried to make the engine die sooner - and they succeeded. Fortunately i heard these eco boost engines are trash and i did not buy ford again!
the engine itself is not bad... actually making such a smooth 3-cylinder engine is quite a feat. The wet belt is the issue. Wet belts are just not reliable enough yet.
Ford had taken to long to try sort this problem out with the junk engines as people have lost alot of money and many have been scrapped because of the problem so still don't look good and people still won't want ford to little to late to be fair but really good of you to tell everyone 👍
12 days ago I've purchased used ecosport. Today engine icon started flashing. I was lucky couse it happened just before my home. Less then 23000 miles.
Just had belts replaced on 2014 Focus 1.0 ecoboost manual estate, at ford main dealer Aberdare, cost: £1,240.00. We only do about 5k a year (68k in total) so that, I think, reduced the possibility of engine failure. Plus never missed a main dealer service. I would never buy another wet belt car, so who in their right mind would buy ours?? We either run the car into the ground (we actually love the car) as we do such little milage or take a huge hit on trade in? N.B. the car to date has cost in repairs with the above belt £3k including *leaking slave brake cylinder at 50k, as brake cylinder in bell housing also changed clutch. *Front brake discs *Engine mounting bolt snapped and engine collapsed (luckily happened on driveway) Did I say we love this car??!! Thank you Car UK
@@xKazor666x As our car is ten years old it required a belt change as per Ford recommendation. I was told by Ford dealer that the recommended belt change mileage has been reduced from 150k to 120k. As the engine had no issues there would be no financial compensation.
@@ouethojlkjn The bolt on the engine mounting under the battery snapped and engine dropped. This mounting allows the engine to be lowered to work on the gearbox. It was suggested by AA and mechanic that the bolt was over torqued when replaced after work carried out on gearbox?
Why can't service history be logged online and print off. Bit like MOTs. Paper work gets lost all the time. It should be on a site where owners can get access
What were Ford thinking with this idea? I would have thought with all their years of engineering expertise, they would have known that rubber in oil is never a good idea.
DaddyYoung; I presume "engineering expertise" is a reference to their design skills with the Powershiift transmissions. :=) Be that as it may, I suspect many of the problems Ford and other manufacturers have experience over the last 20 years have been due to the American Government agencies demanding ever-lower fuel consumption. Those agencies don't care about the impact on maintainability, and long-term costs of fixing, cars. Someone in a comment above cited a reduction in fuel consumption of about 0.1% due to the use of cambelts in oil. Then the bean counters shout at the engineers to use the belt not a chain, to save money. It's the customers and the long-suffering Ford shareholders that end up footing the bill.
@@oldcynic6964 Car fuel consumption has declined because the cars have been getting steadily bigger and heavier. The engines have simply been getting smaller to compensate and because they are cheaper. A tiny three pot with its neck being wrung by a high pressure turbo is the industry's questionable solution to the social imperative for lower running cost. it is nothing to do with environmental concerns, more to do with the price of oil, or more specifically - energy. And let's all not forget Diesels and Dieselgate was an auto industry industrial scale fraud, claiming diesels could be cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly - as long as we fudge the figures. and introduce catalytic converters and particulate filters and oxygen sensors and God knows what else that can all be squarely laid at the industry itself. The auto industry has no interest in climate change or customer care (unless maybe there is a buck in it).
Full service history theres the catch of course they would do that because they wont do it free if the engine was cooked cos of lack of maintainance/wrong oil used. My mum has one it's been off the road for about 1.5 years now so the service history isn't gonna be upto date cos of that she got a new car instead of the ridiculous cost to fix it but the car is still on finance paying for a broken car
@@visiblekoment They havnt recalled it yet in the uk the document it just says that they are gonna do it as a goodwill gesture but only if u have full service history documents but don't have that so it won't be applicable and the cost to get it towed there only to be denied it's not worth it
@@sbrader97make your own service history. Backdate your own receipts. Backdate your own work done and service stamps. Service history has zero legal standing.
I'm not a smart man by any means, but even I know that oil and rubber don't mix, have no idea why a multi-billion dollar company went with the wet belt system.
@@carukchannel Exactly. Great vid as always mate, thanks for the info. Got 2 Ecoboost in for belts currently but at most cost unfortunately as just due on age , 10 years. As least I can keep hold of future ones with FSH and retail confidently.
Thanks for that, well put together. Still pissed at dealer quoting £2200 for wet belt replacement and service. 31k on the clock on 2017 eco boost. Daylight robery/ rubbery
plenty of specialists now doing belt replacement for 800 mark have a look on eBay for wet belt replacement service. there are some good guys on there doing them for traders who also take on public work
A friend of mine got a quote from a Dutch Ford dealer for a 2013 Focus with about 110.000 miles from € 2.800,-. I bought a Fiesta ST line X 125 EcoBoost Hybrid but that should have a distribution chain as I understand. Mine is from 2021 and had done 45.000 miles( 32.000 when I bought it). Does it help when I change oil after 7 or 8 months in stead of 2 years? Sorry for my English
Lucky enough after seeing your video I've booked my 2015 1Ltr ecoboost with 47000 on the clock in for a wet belt change at my local garage. I've been quoted about £950-£1000. After that's been done I'm getting rid of it. At least I can get a bit more trading it in if the belts have been done as I've had a few traders say they don't take ecoboosts.
Thanks for the update, really interesting but always disappointing to hear how big manufacturers operate now. I bought a used 1.0L EcoBoost Focus earlier in the year, died on the motorway ten days later (unrelated to wet belt, was leaking coolant) and went back to dealer. By chance, ended up watching your videos on EcoBoosts and as a result ended up opting for a 1.6L Duratec Focus, it does the job and it's not a race car but I'll take that over an engine clogged with rubber and brake failures any day! So, thanks for info and keep up the good work.
It was funny how confident they were about their 1.0 ecoboost engines , that upto last year we in the trade could buy a full engine , in a crate direct from Ford , with oil filter , some sensors ,water pump , wet belt etc , rocker cover for £1150 trade plus vat , giving us over £250 discount , on an exchange basis
I thought the very same when a friends car, a Galaxy, or S-Max I think, dropped its guts on the motorway nearly three years ago, and my tiny 23 year old VW Polo valiantly towed him home. We looked inside the cam cover, no rotation of the camshaft, he had no warning, no oil light, or anything. He did some research, found the 'wet belt issue', told me and me response was literally ' You F'ing what? What moronic car manufacturer would run a rubber belt in oil, unless they had a death wish, or had ensured the early death of the engines?". We argued massively over it, repeatedly in fact, I couldn't, wouldn't, still can't believe it. Apparently even a lot of mechanics and dealerships knew nothing about it, but the dude was right, and I still owe him over doubting him on that issue.
Interesting vlog Lee, I serviced the Mrs 68 plate Ecosport today, had a Ford service history upto 15k miles, now has 21k miles and I used blue print oil filter, Wix air filter and Westway 5w 20 fully synthetic oil to Ford correct spec, will change the spark plugs tomorrow when I have the correct size spark plug tool, NGK iridium only good quality, kind regards to you and everyone out there, Mark from Billericay 👍🌞🌞
@@ThomasKilkenny hello there, nice to see a positive question, if you type in search engine 14mm long reach spark plug socket, I found mine on Amazon, QWORK 2 pieces thin plug socket for £9.95 for a 14mm and 16mm attachment and with a built in magnet which is very good…..kind regards to you and take care, good luck 😉
@@ThomasKilkenny hi there I found mine on Amazon for £9.95 QWORK 2 pieces thin wall spark plug socket set of 2 including a 14mm and 16mm with a built in magnet which is very good…….good luck and take care 😃👍
After seeing your previous videos traded my 2020 Focus for a Toyota Corolla . So glad I did love it and everything about it feels better built than the Focus.
I've worked in the motor trade all my working life and most what I call new-age engines have a problem because they are designed by computers and people with letters after their names and has never had hands on experience with real engines(in other words never got they're hands dirty)
Apparently Ford replace their own diesel fleet at 80k but warranty to 100k or 3 years. Currently being charged £1000 per wet belt but got told by the dealer they re-use the old oil! We are having a full service as the wet belts are being changed increasing cost to over £1200. My van is just 3 years old with fsh and has done 90k and is booked in for a wet belt as it seems its a risk for the extra 20k miles. I've done 1 out of 4 vans at the moment. Mine will be the 2nd van I've had the belt replaced on. Its not just getting it done for free it's the down time and loss of earnings we would incur when or if it goes bang. I'll be going Mercedes for my fleet in future as the cost difference In a new van doesn't warrant the risk and extra depreciation as nice as the 170bhp customs are.
There are people buying these ecoboost engines second hand that have no idea how often the previous owners 1)Changed the oil and 2) What oil did they use, was it 5-20 castrol magnetic? After a short period of time the belts go and these buyers are left with a £6-8K bill after owning the car (on credit) less than 6 months and they can't afford the repair. I think the least Ford can do is give everyone a free wet belt change.
@@bobmartin5101 Yeah the new shape corsa uses it the old shape astra and corsas used gm 1.2 engine the astra k had a 1.2 turbo but it was still a gm engine not the wetbelt pureshit
The new shape astra also uses wet belt , and from what I hear is also having problems. A pal of mine has just bought one , a year old . Had his regular mechanic take a look over the car post purchase who told him that they have been doing on average 2 engines per week Wet belt of any brand is a no no
Hard to understand why sales of ANY Ford vehicle running the wet belt system has not fallen through the floor years ago. Who on this earth designed an engine with a rubber belt under tension running in very hot oil internally was a viable engine. Will changing the rubber belt for a "better" rubber belt solve the problem, doubtful at best, problems coming further down the line I guess, unless the new belt is guaranteed to be unperishable for the duration of its life.
The issue here is with the service history which will be the sticking point, how many privately owned Ford's with this engine will actually have the service carried out to the manufacturer schedule, we all know once a car is out of manufacture warranty the service on a car tends be the last thing most owners will look at doing, as a car owner myself, I tend to stretch the service due date to fit my budget, not to what a motor manufacturer recommends, for the sake of this discussion, instead of 12months/12000miles I would go to 18months/18000miles & I think The majority of privately owned Ford's will not adhere to the service schedule as well. At this point I must tell you I have worked in the Motor Trade in the aftersales department of main dealers all of my adult life (not Ford) but a premium brand, getting a customer in for regular servicing is a mammoth task, so back to Ford, they will know this & that's were the issues will be, a lot of Ford owners are going to be sorely disappointed, the guy's at a Ford dealership are going to have a seriously rough time with this announcement 😮
Why would anyone expect Ford to offer a goodwill payment if the car in question hasn't been maintained as per the Ford service schedule? Yes, some people may have had big bills and I feel sorry for them as basically the engine design is flawed, but making up your own service intervals and expecting any support is not realistic. Ford giving the +-3 months service window, including non-Ford independent garages and not having to show lubricant details is quite generous really.
