My bangernomics story this far with photos/ dilema.

andyseadog

Well guys, as some of you may remember in september last i bought my diesel focus for 1500 quid with the intention of trying to find a comfortable car that was cheap as chips to run and could rack up the miles with ease with the intention of driving it until it stops.

the focus was a 1999 1.8 TDDi. came with 160,000 miles NCT until 06/12 air con, electric windows and mirrors, 4 new bridgestone tyres on genuine alloy wheels. it had done less than 50 miles since it passed the NCT, but it was backdated.

so far i spent 1500 on the purchase of the car
in november i spent 300 on an alternator belt and service kit and 3 months tax.

so now, its just january. the focus is growing on me immensely, i like its looks, i can do 150-200 miles a day in it in reasonable comfort and costing maybe 15-20 euros. the car drives great, no unusual noises in the engine/ suspension, gears and brakes feel very tight and all is generally well.

Downsides
-there is now around 170,000 miles on the car with the last timing belt noted at 70k miles, so its priority now to fit a new timing kit estimated cost 250-300 euro
-the tax is up again at the end of january, 150 euro
-the back inner arches are showing signs of rust bubbles, potential NCT failure? i reckon i could bodge those to an NCT passable level myself
-on startup you get a very large cloud of blue smoke but after 3-4 seconds its gone and when you floor the car in first or second you get a noticeable cloud of black smoke out the exhaust, doues this sound like turbo trouble?

and thats my dilema, what could be causing the smoking issue? i wouldnt mind throwing around 500 euro at the car to tax/ test/ maintain it with the intent of getting maybe another year out of it, but not if the smoke is an expensive issue like a turbo, in which case id rather drive the car until the test is up, sell it for a couple of hundred and buy another car because it would likely fail on emissions anyway?

if your still reading this far, what do you think i should do?

Ardennes1944

You're back! Long time no see andy

Nixer Jim

Well it looks a fantastic, straight car for a start.

Cant help on the smoking though. Maybe it'll give it up for New Year

andyseadog

Ardennes1944 wrote: »

You're back! Long time no see andy

cheers, thought i could slip back in un-noticed :P

Nixer Jim wrote: »

Well it looks a fantastic, straight car for a start.

Cant help on the smoking though. Maybe it'll give it up for New Year

nice one thats what i'm thinking though, the car is in seemingly a very good condition despite everything.

darg

the smoke could be as simple as a glow plug failure

I Was VB

Thats a lovely clean focus!! I wouldnt worry about the smoke most diesels smoke on start up and if they're under load, want to see my yoke under load greenpeace has never been more active in Dublin!!

andyseadog

andyseadog wrote: »

................

Downsides
-there is now around 170,000 miles on the car with the last timing belt noted at 70k miles, so its priority now to fit a new timing kit estimated cost 250-300 euro
-the tax is up again at the end of january, 150 euro
-the back inner arches are showing signs of rust bubbles, potential NCT failure? i reckon i could bodge those to an NCT passable level myself
-on startup you get a very large cloud of blue smoke but after 3-4 seconds its gone and when you floor the car in first or second you get a noticeable cloud of black smoke out the exhaust, doues this sound like turbo trouble?

and thats my dilema,................

..........

Hi Andy, seasons greetings to you
- that's reasonable for the timing belt, well worth it as I reckon your car is sound
- you have to tax every car so ignore that
- rust bubbles on inner arches aren't a worry for the NCT, might be no harm sanding them back and kurusting them or similar
- black smoke out the back wouldn't be a worry, if it was the turbo 'twould be blue, for peace of mind before investing money in it for the timing belt you could get a smoke test done in a suitably equipped garage. I reckon 'tis fine though.

Well worth belting and testing it I would think

gyppo

its a clean looking car that should give good service for a good while more if you spend a few pound on it.
new timing belt will give you peace of mind. get your mechanic to change the water pump and renew the coolant while youre at it, it wont cost too much more.
bubbling arches are not an nct failure as long as there are no sharp edges present - do as RJ said.
blue smoke on startup could be worn or hardened valve guides - i wouldnt loose sleep over it, but keep an eye on the oil level.
black smoke on hard acceleration is pretty typical in a ford. an italian tune-up now and again does wonders.

JJJJNR

I'd say its the air filter that is causing the smoke, have you checked it recently? Bearly ruñ in at the mileage.

vetstu

Do you drive around with the radio removal keys stuck in the radio?

andyseadog

Thanks for all the input men, i really appreciate it .

the garage replaced the glow plugs when i bought the car, or at least they look brand new on the engine bay compared to everything else :pac: so i'l leave them be and i'm layering a water dispursing wax seal onto the back arches once a month or so anyway so its nice to know i can leave them be hopefully.

as for the blue smoke, i reckon i've only needed to top up the car with around 500mls of oil over the last 7-8k miles which isn't bad going i think considering the cars age. and the black smoke, i changed the air filter when i serviced it at around 162/163k miles so i'm doubting its that but the general opinion seems to be that its actually nothing to worry about so thats great, i might treat it to a sip of dipetane or something similar just to see.

and as for the radio removal keys, i spent 40 euro on a second hand CD head unit from a scrap yard because the focus only came with a cassette deck, i didn't add that to my price list though :P

if i get this car over 200,000 miles then anything after that is a bonus really, because i realise that regardless of whats done to maintain it now, its internals have seen a lot of work, so hopefully it makes it i'l get the timing belt sorted towards the end of next week because i have a few days off then.

i'l keep you's posted on the progress! :cool:

cadaliac

I would invest in the belt too and also agree that the smoke issue isn't bad if it's black.
Blue, I would worry about but afaik, all Ford Diesels of that vintage will puff black regardless.
If the car was serviced on time for its life so far, you should have no problem seeing 200k miles.

BuzzFish

Well,

Smoking under acceleration is very likely down to the EGR valve. Basically all the crap from the exhaust comes back through this to be re-burned in the engine (all down to emissions standards) and over time and mileage it gets blocked up and can stick open or closed.

I have actually blocked mine off on my 156 and the engine runs smoother and a lot less smokey.

Bigus

andyseadog wrote: »

as for the blue smoke, i reckon i've only needed to top up the car with around 500mls of oil over the last 7-8k miles which isn't bad going i think considering the cars age.
if i get this car over 200,000 miles then anything after that is a bonus really, because i realise that regardless of whats done to maintain it now, its internals have seen a lot of work, so hopefully it makes it i'l get the timing belt sorted towards the end of next week because i have a few days off then.

i'l keep you's posted on the progress! :cool:

I don't think you're being ambitious enough, 300,000 k would be more like it

up until now, a lot of Irish cars were Clocked ! so now with car history checks stamping this out, we are now only getting used to high mileages.

there's loads of them in germany and the uk with 400k km on them eg



http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showDetails.html?id=154894642&__lp=16&scopeId=C&sortOption.sortBy=price.consumerGrossEuro&makeModelVariant1.makeId=9000&makeModelVariant1.modelId=20&makeModelVariant1.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant2.searchInFreetext=false&makeModelVariant3.searchInFreetext=false&fuels=DIESEL&minFirstRegistrationDate=1999-01-01&maxPrice=2001&negativeFeatures=EXPORT&lang=en&pageNumber=1


1,100 EUR
VAT not reclaimable
Limousine, Used vehicle
FR 11/2000
390,000 km
Diesel
66 kW (90 PS)
Manual gearbox

andyseadog

i see your point with the EGR, i just watched a youtube "how to" on the TDDi engine so i reckon i'l try it on tuesday, it cant do any harm i'd imagine either way

and cheers Bigus, thanks for inspiring a bit of confidence, it never goes astray with these matters, i reckon the car is a keep now for sure :cool:

Bigus

andyseadog wrote: »

i see your point with the EGR, i just watched a youtube "how to" on the TDDi engine so i reckon i'l try it on tuesday, it cant do any harm i'd imagine either way

and cheers Bigus, thanks for inspiring a bit of confidence, it never goes astray with these matters, i reckon the car is a keep now for sure :cool:

Confidence is key for sure, noises and the odd wisp of smoke begin to lose their significance and help you enjoy your cheap motoring.:D

In the meantime keep an eye out for a crashed one or a cheap low miles engine and box and sure you'll make the 600,0000 mile mark no prob.

kupus

Andy can you link to the utube video please. I would mind taking a look at it. If its easy enough to understand that is!!

Hal1

kupus wrote: »

Andy can you link to the utube video please. I would mind taking a look at it. If its easy enough to understand that is!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DhYk3Mm8HQ

kupus

Cheers for that Hal,

WTF was that at 9 mins!!! and from reading the comments it looks like that is NOT the way to do it....
any thoughts from you lads here.......

heres one comment
What a lot of crap. TDDI shown here runs on Bosch VP pump and during cleaning pump is going crazy due to wrong combustion. This will foul knock sensor and then the pump which can't adjust timing properly. That's why it will add extra fuel and this is the reason why the car throws that amount of smoke.

If anyone know how the EGR is built or here or those who had cleaned it ever will understand that spraying will not help.

But hey, snakes oil will help...

BuzzFish

kupus wrote: »

Cheers for that Hal,

WTF was that at 9 mins!!! and from reading the comments it looks like that is NOT the way to do it....
any thoughts from you lads here.......

heres one comment
What a lot of crap. TDDI shown here runs on Bosch VP pump and during cleaning pump is going crazy due to wrong combustion. This will foul knock sensor and then the pump which can't adjust timing properly. That's why it will add extra fuel and this is the reason why the car throws that amount of smoke.

If anyone know how the EGR is built or here or those who had cleaned it ever will understand that spraying will not help.

But hey, snakes oil will help...

Not the way to do it!!! the EGR should be removed and cleaned with a bit of kerosene or similar and then replaced. Can't be good the way they have done it.