Advice on ford focus 1.6 TDCI

martineire

Just looking at buying this ford focus 1.6 tdci. Any advice on this car? Are they reliable? pros and cons? What's the tax like on this car? Any advice much appreciated?

Mycroft H

Pro:

Nice handling car
Not as prone to rust as previous Fords
Nice looking
Powerful engine for size
Economical
*reasonably* reliable compared to modern diesels.

Con

Engine isn't tolerant of abuse; look for service history, if none, walk away.

martineire

Sorry second pic in wrong. Here's the right one

Mycroft H

Is it being sold by a dealer (warranty mentioned; I presume so)? Scrutinise the service history; this engine is particular with oil changes; they really need to be adhered to.

The turbos do not like having poor oil being used or the service interval being pushed out.

advertsfox

+1 on service history, I have the same engine in my C5 and Citroen recommend a service every 12,000 miles / 19,000 KM (which mine was done religiously by previous owner thankfully) and it purrs along nicely and averages 40 mpg in the city and 55 mpg cruising. Don't drive it like a 1.2L petrol and keep it regularly maintained and it will be a good car for you. Also, check to see if or when the timing belt / water pump was done last as it will be due soon enough at 84,000 miles (within the next 30K miles).

I believe Ford recommend a service every 15,000 miles so there should be at least 5 services in the books.

bazz26

That looks like a UK import, pretty low mileage for the year too. Make sure to go through the service history with a fine tooth comb and ring the garages who serviced it to verify what was done.

OP, going by your previous threads I thought you were selling your Passat diesel and buying a petrol because you didn't need a diesel anymore?

NIMAN

I have a 2010 Focus 1.6TDCi, and I must say its been an excellent car for me.

Its drives well and is economical. Never given me any bother, but I bought it from a dealer when it was a demo car, so I owned it from maybe 6 months old.

In fact about to change up a couple of years, and the new Focus is high on my list of possible cars.

corsav6

Plenty of horror stories with that engine OP, have a look through boards and read some stories. The focus is a very good car in most other aspects so a different engine and you'd have a nice car.

Zubeneschamali

corsav6 wrote: »

The focus is a very good car in most other aspects so a different engine and you'd have a nice car.

No, the 1.4 petrol is a complete slug, painfully slow, and very low geared so motorway work bashes your ears and drinks petrol.

TRS30

I have a 1.6 petrol and just got 5.9L/100Km on a trip from Waterford to Dublin and back. Very smooth and easy to drive car.

mullingar

1.6 TDCI is a very well proven engine.

Its #1 problem is neglect by its owner. These engines simply have to be serviced on time with the correct grade oil. Service history is a must.

No service history = walk away

(We have a 2006 1.6 110hp Focus at home, dpf deleted & remapped to 130hp via a dyno - fun little car and yes its serviced every 10kmiles)

JohnBoy26

mullingar wrote: »

1.6 TDCI is a very well proven engine.

Its #1 problem is neglect by its owner. These engines simply have to be serviced on time with the correct grade oil. Service history is a must.

No service history = walk away

(We have a 2006 1.6 110hp Focus at home, dpf deleted & remapped to 130hp via a dyno - fun little car and yes its serviced every 10kmiles)

The only thing well proven about them is that they suffer from sludge problems and turbo failure.

The neglect by the owners argument has been proven to be mostly false when it comes to these engines woes, as examples, maintained by the book, with full service histories, are suffering the same fate with sludge and turbo issues.

It is also not an issues confined to these shores. Cars fitted with these PSA units are suffering from the same issue internationally and in the uk, a place where most cars are maintained religiously.
There is obviously issues in the design of these engines.

mullingar

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

The only thing well proven about them is that they suffer from sludge problems and turbo failure.

The neglect by the owners argument has been proven to be mostly false when it comes to these engines woes, as examples, maintained by the book, with full service histories, are suffering the same fate with sludge and turbo issues.

It is also not an issues confined to these shores. Cars fitted with these PSA units are suffering from the same issue internationally and in the uk, a place where most cars are maintained religiously.
There is obviously issues in the design of these engines.

Sludge is mostly caused by a combination of poor driving practices (short start/stop diving), poor maintenance and wrong grade oil.
Turbo failure is usually always caused by oil starvation from either wrong grade oil or dirty oil or both.

JohnBoy26

mullingar wrote: »

Sludge is mostly caused by a combination of poor driving practices (short start/stop diving), poor maintenance and wrong grade oil.
Turbo failure is usually always caused by oil starvation from either wrong grade oil or dirty oil or both.

True, usually what you mention above will cause those issues on an engine. However on the 1.6 psa unit, sludge builds up and the turbo fails outside of the factors you mention in the above post.

It is IMO defiantly a design flaw in this engine rather than a maintenance issue.

The only way to really prevent turbo issues on these engines imo is to go above and beyond normal maintenance, that is to remove and clean the sump, oil feed pipe and to replace the banjo bolt after every three or so services.

Even this might not guarantee success though.

Now I know some people have had good luck with these engines and when they are working properly they are a decent enough unit to use to be fair.

However plenty more have had lots of issues with these engines and buying a car fitted with one is a bit of a gamble imo.

martineire

bazz26 wrote: »

That looks like a UK import, pretty low mileage for the year too. Make sure to go through the service history with a fine tooth comb and ring the garages who serviced it to verify what was done.

OP, going by your previous threads I thought you were selling your Passat diesel and buying a petrol because you didn't need a diesel anymore?

Hi guys, thanks for all the replies. I've went and viewed this car today and after a think I decided against this car. I finally decide to take all your advice and go for a small petrol engine car since I am not doing much millage anymore. I just need a car to nip around town is all now so I'm going for a small reliable, cheap to run car. So I've took the advice I've received here and am looking into getting a Toyota Yaris.

I'm going to view this one tomorrow http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/toyota-yaris-1-0/6635048

What should I be looking out for and asking when viewing this car? Any advise for me thanks