[Closed] Ford focus 1.6 tdci 59 plate

Advice? Don't do it. Oh.....

It's a 1.6 TDCi focus, possibly one of if not the most common car/engine on the roads? There's always going to be more hits on google than something more niche.

My parents have one, it's been fine.

IIRC the 'problems' are something to do with a DPF cleaning fluid not being topped up, and a dip pipe not being replaced which are supposed to be part of the oil change service, so owners not getting dealer services didn't get more than jus the bog standard oil and filter change which lead to problems.

Park your worries and enjoy the car. If you got rid of it and bought another, you could end up with a duffer as a result of a panic buy. The service history is a great comfort on a car with this mmileage as issues will have been addressed as they've come up.

if i bought one - it would need a full verifiable service history - reciepts etc not just stamps for dealer service.

id also drop the sump , clean the oil strainer , change the oil feed pipe to the turbo (it has a filter in that gets gunked starving the turbo) - but thats a turbo off job to do with engine in situ IIRC and may be above most owners heads. and the oil filter gauze in vac pump .

IF it was my own car.

good engines if looked after - regular oil and filters . I was brought up on a diet of old turbo diesel JCB and MF diggers and was always taught to let turbo diesel engines A. Warm up before working hard(not sitting idling though) and B. spool down and Cool down before shutting down - again not sitting idling. and its stood me well with both new and old turbo diesels going on for a long time with me - although people on here know better...........

DPF is a problem as stated above if fluid not replaced every 70K, also turbo oil feed pipe needs cleaning out regularly or replaced otherwise kiss good bye to £1K!

Yes - DPFs should be ok if you are aware of what you've got to do. Read the manual to start wtih.

As for spooling down - yes, this is true, but in reality by the time you've chugged slowly through the carpark/housing estate and manoeuvred into a space the turbo will be fine.

DO NOT blip the engine as you turn it off though, like some people do.

"As for spooling down - yes, this is true, but in reality by the time you've chugged slowly through the carpark/housing estate and manoeuvred into a space the turbo will be fine"

not everyone lives in a housing estate....ive seen some shocking treatment of turbos over the years - mostly coupled with a turbo failure a couple years down the line.

"DO NOT blip the engine as you turn it off though, like some people do"

BUT BUT BUT they do it on fast and furious and their cars are dead fast innit.

not everyone lives in a housing estate

I suppose if you lived on a main road or up a hill and no-one else lived nearby you could screech to a halt right outside your house 🙂

Stuff like this, incidentally, is why I'm sticking with the Passat. I know it's not been abused the last 60k miles.

Re the blipping - I've been told in the past that people used to do this to 'prime' the carb with a bit more fuel to aid starting. Seems implausible though.

Get its oil changed correctly and filter gauze done asap. Can be too late but start as you mean to go on.

TBH at 115000 miles, pretty much any production turbo is into territory where it [i]might[/i] fail. I might do some preventative medicine but it'd depend on the car, cost of replacements, difficulty of the work etc, I'd cost that all up first especially with FSH.

(on my car, replacing the turbo with a recon unit was £300 with gaskets, an extra £100 or so for a new oil line, dropping the sump, and obviously an oil change and filter- so it wouldn't take much before the cost of precautionary work would become a fairly dubious bet. Especially as changing the oil feed was a pain in the arse. There didn't seem to be any particular cause for the failure other than age/use- oil line was clear, sump was immaculate (other than a couple of bits of ex-turbo! So I'd probably have been in the "spent £100 on preventative work- turbo still blew up- had to do it all again" camp)

No point in stressing over it. Pretty much all 115K mile turbo diesels are potentially prone to DPF and turbo issues, plus loads of other expenses. That's why they cost a fraction of what a new one would set you back.

Just make sure you don't skimp on the servicing and it should last another 100K miles, but it's inevitable that servicing costs will be relatively high at this sort of mileage. You can't have it both ways.

For example we had a Volvo V50 (Focus in drag) from new and literally nothing went wrong with it until it went over 100K miles. Then over the next 20K miles it had a very expensive DPF issue, the front suspension arm bushes all fell to pieces, the headlight levelling system failed, it had an oil leak, a wheel bearing collapsed, the alternator failed and loads of other more minor issues. Suddenly it became a very expensive old car and I got rid of it. Having said that it will now probably run quite happily for years.

Good point that I think- you could easily spend ages worrying about and looking after the turbo, and have one of the other various issues kick your arse. Happened to me- "Oh, you've totally replaced my aging brakes? To show my gratitude I'll shit my clutch"

just drive it.

you'll probably lose 1k selling it unless you're blessed with Apprentice style sales technique.

i don't think the AA garage repair thing is designed for covering Turbo's and DPF's. If thats why you bought the cover, might be worth cancelling and getting a proper used car warranty instead (although IMO, you're better off just sticking your money in the bank to cover problems yourself).

It will, most probably, be fine.

Mentioned this on other thread but we're on our third car with this engine and they've all been fine. The oil pickup/strainer was redesigned a few years back- yours will have the updated version.

The issue with injector number 3 (blow-past) doesn't happen any more (and even if it did its now an easy fix).

Definitely, definitely keep it. Its a great car with a great engine, fitted to all manner of vehicles. There is bound to be the odd bad one out there, yours sounds good.

Relax and drive the car. The stress of worrying is worth more than 'what if'.

Bear in mind DPFs don't actually fail - they get blocked and can't be cleaned, but most likely because the engine is either making too much smoke or the regen isn't working - both not actually part of the DPF.

codybrennan - Member 
It will, most probably, be fine.

Mentioned this on other thread but we're on our third car with this engine and they've all been fine. The oil pickup/strainer was redesigned a few years back- yours will have the updated version.

The issue with injector number 3 (blow-past) doesn't happen any more (and even if it did its now an easy fix).

Definitely, definitely keep it. Its a great car with a great engine, fitted to all manner of vehicles. There is bound to be the odd bad one out there, yours sounds good.

POSTED 2 DAYS AGO # REPORT-POST

Thanks for this..Good advice and mechanic has also said very similar Cheers all..

I had a mobdeo tdci that made if to 180k having avoided all the issues that were supposed to be common , in the end an injector went which would have been fixable but whole car was tired . I bought another at 132k and spent few mobths panicking it was going to blow up , but 14 months in and still going sweet. ( there I said it and jinked it )

As long as it has been serviced properly, it should be fine. (although I do know of a properly serviced car needing 3 turbos in a year)

I missed a service. Turbo blew up. Not warrantied due to missing the service, so £800 for a new one. 🙁

A year later though, swarf from the old turbo was discovered in the engine, writing it off. Ford wanted £5k for a new engine. I proved they were negligent when they fitted the new turbo and threatened with small claims court. Got a free replacement car with the 2.0TDCi. 🙂

However, I now never, ever use the Ford garage who fitted the turbo due to their cock-up and subsequent blatant lying about it. Arnold Clark of Hexham, in case you're interested.

"A year later though, swarf from the old turbo was discovered in the engine, writing it off"

this is why i would avoid any of this engine thats had a turbo replacement. ask rob hilton about his blingo. Its very rare the full proceedure is followed for the flush after turbo replacement. and why i would replace the pipe work my self - because i can and because im a firm believer in keeping the engine and gear box sweet - anything else can be repaired fairly easy.

what would you lot think about some 2 stroke mineral oil in the deisal.

ive heard of it being run in veg oil or heating oil in old lucas and bosch low pressure injection pumps to increase lubricity

i see no benifit in doing it in a modern common rail diesel engine running conventional clean fuel in the uk ( and to try and run a CR engine on anything else would be madness)

if i was running questionable diesel in an old diesel engine on a world tour - i might consider it....

you can get all sorts of additions for your diesel these days - wynns / millars

i think you will find your OE warrenty would be void if any of them were found in your system when the car crapped out anyway.

another point - next time you fill your car at the pump and read the "this diesel may contain up to 7% biofuel" look at what your car warrenty limits on the use of biodiesel are.....

However, I now never, ever use the Ford garage who fitted the turbo due to their cock-up and subsequent blatant lying about it. Arnold Clark of Hexham, in case you're interested.

Nobody mentioned the fuel pump? Are these not a problem any more?

Not wishing to worry you 😉

One of many

Not so much the cock-up that annoyed me, more the denial and lying about it afterwards. However it did give rise to the best Customer Service phone conversation I've ever been involved in, along the lines of:

[i]Me: "I don't think the engine is fit for purpose if its so delicate"
Ford Customer Servies: "With all due respect sir, you're not qualified to comment on the design of our engines"
Me: "With all due respect, I'm chartered mechanical engineer with a Masters degree in Automotive Engineering. If I'm not qualified to comment, then I don't know who is."
Ford CS: Silence. "I'll get the manager."[/i]

New car followed shortly afterwards.

fallsoffalot - Member

what would you lot think about some 2 stroke mineral oil in the deisal.

Quite a lot of the STD Rivers people do it, supposedly it makes them less rattly and gives better economy. But I've noticed a few of the people who say this, say it happened as soon as they put the 2 stroke in the tank, ie before any of it had got near the engine.

I had an injector fail straight after putting in some fuel system cleaner. Which some might attribute to the cleaner, me, I attribute it to the fact that cars can smell fear, and it took me buying fuel cleaner as a sign of weakness to be exploited.

Ford Customer Servies: "With all due respect sir, you're not qualified to comment on the design of our engines"
Me: "With all due respect, I'm chartered mechanical engineer with a Masters degree in Automotive Engineering. If I'm not qualified to comment, then I don't know who is."

Win.

thats the line of thought i had, but have been reading a few various forums and people have been using it in all types of engines. the general idea is it replaces the lubricity in the deisal that was lost when they removed the sulphur. i have a 2004 2.0l c max and to scared to trie it,just for the record.

Mum's had a 58 reg 1.6 tdci since 6 months old and it's been pretty much faultless. If anyone can turn a car to mince, it's her!