Help! My car has konked out. 08 Ford focus

Sut mae!

hi everyone. I was hoping maybe someone could advise me as i know nothing about cars. My car is a silver ford focus and I have it over 3 years now.
I was driving from roscrea to kilkenny yesterday and my car stopped dead near ballyragget. It seemed sluggish for a good few miles beforehand but i didn't want to stop incase it would not go again.
Over the past week or so the car sounded sort of rattley when i started it up but it went away after a few minutes. In addition a red light that looks kind of like a little gravy boat has been flickering on and off for the last week or so too. Does this mean anything? Yesterday it stayed on for most of the journey.

The called a garage to pick up the car and to fix it and they are telling me that it needs a new engine and it will cost about 3000 but i'm worried that they are trying to rip me off because I know nothing about cars. My friend told me that it might be a broken fan belt or something because that broke in her car a few months ago and she had to get a new engine. she says its like a rope. I hope it's not this!

What should I do? should I get another mechanic to come and look at it?

I'm worrieed now because i never had to bring it to a garage before.

R.O.R

This must be some sort of wind up?

tossy

The gravy boat light is your OIL warning light.so low level or low pressure - the general rule of thumb is orange/amber light drive on to a garage,Red light stop and call the garage.

If you drove the car on either a low oil level or low oil pressure then you might be very well need a new engine unfortunately.

We know it's silver but what engine is it ?

monkeypants

Sut mae! wrote: »

In addition a red light that looks kind of like a little gravy boat has been flickering on and off for the last week or so too. Does this mean anything?

You really need to get the manual out and give it a read. Those lights, frequently known as 'warning lights', were put in for a reason.

flyingsnail

Does this mean you have never had the car serviced in over 3 years?

Sut mae! wrote: »

I'm worrieed now because i never had to bring it to a garage before.

Sut mae!

my car is a petrol car. how much do new engines normallycost? i can't afford 3000+ at the moment. The garage that picked up the car is not a Ford garage.
Should I get a proper Ford garage to check it first to make sure it's not something else.

angelfire9

I readily admit I know almost nothing about cars
If you'd asked me yesterday I would have said I knew zilch but at least I know what an oil warning light is
OP if this is not a windup you have wrecked a good car by not maintaining it
I drive less than 10k miles a year and my car is serviced religiously every 12 months
I wouldn't know how to do an oil change in a million years but I know how to dip the oil and fill the window washer has your car even had that done??

3k for a new engine sounds cheap to me

EPM

R.O.R wrote: »

This must be some sort of wind up?

Of course it is.

It's the same person that wanted diagnostic equipment for their 2012 Rio last week...

Closed and banned.