Ford Focus ecoboost 1.0 wet belt replacement

lampsie

We have a 141 Ford Focus 1.0 which is running well, but of course the 10 year timing belt replacement is due shortly. Service history before we bought it is a bit sketchy, so i can’t say for sure if it’s always had its annual oil changes etc before we got it. From what I’ve seen online, UK prices for the wet timing belt change are anywhere from £800 to more than twice that. Curious to ask, anyone here had the timing belt changed on this engine in Ireland, and a rough cost? Near Galway ideally, but i guess most indy’s would be able to do it.

Thanks a mil for any insight or input…

hellyeah

Hi, was looking at a 12 reg focus last year which needed the belt doing. Called ford for a quote as I had the reg and was quoted just over 1000euro. Ballpark.

Needless to say I passed on the car. Massive job to do belt on these, all labour.

lampsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121545105#Comment_121545105

thanks for that, very interesting… i would have expected closer to 1.5k from ford direct so i hadn’t even considered checking with them… gives me some hope too that an indy garage might be sub 1k. Generally yes, seems they designed these engines initially for the belt to last the “life” of the engine but then changed their minds and made it 10 years or 150k in the clock (i think)… that of course had the knock on effect of making it a complete pain to do the job as it wasn’t intended for it ever to need replacement. Standard ford fubar!

Saying all that, i do really like the car and the performance, so i’d be willing to take the plunge on the belt if (big if) it lasted a few more years

jelutong

According to Autocar Magazine the specialist tools required to do the belt change would cost £800.

TheGreatUnkown

I had this done on a 2018 Ford Fiesta. Had around 70,000 miles on the clock and was worried after reading about all the horror stories of the wet belt failures. It cost me 1,000 euro in labour to get changed from a local mechanic with an excellent reputation. I bought the parts myself off Auto-doc.ie.

I'm surprised by the quote you got as I would have thought at least 1.5k. Not sure on the design of the wet belt on earlier models, but I would recommend you change the oil pump belt as well as the wet belt. This was not part of the wet belt kit I purchased. It was only about 15-20 euro for this.

My mechanic advised my wet belt and oil pump belt was in poor condition and it was breaking down. Parts of the wet belt had accumulated in the oil pump and if left unchecked, this blocks the oil pump. It is a poor design by Ford as changing it requires a lot of labour.

The Ecoboosts need regular oil changes with 5W20 oil. Neglecting this means the wet belt degrades quicker. Some good info on the Ford fourms in the UK also if you wanna look into it.

turbodiesel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058328629/ford-focus-ecoboost-1-0-wet-belt-replacement

There's an eco boost specialist in the UK and the charge 960gbp for a replacement. Hope that helps with a guide price.

https://www.facebook.com/northwestengines/

https://northwestengines.co.uk/timing-belt-replacement

lampsie

Just thought I'd put in an update here, figure there'll be a few more people with an Ecoboost coming up on the 10 years.

Quote from Ford dealership was two grand...I've also tried two local garages including one I've used for a few years, both replied immediately with a variation of "sorry, we don't go near those, not worth the hassle". To be fair, I can understand that given how labour intensive it is to do on these cars and the specialist tools required.

Given its a 10 year old car, taking a gamble on two grand only for something else to go feels pretty risky. I'm keeping my ears out for an independent garage that might do it for less than the Ford asking price, but I'm not too hopeful...

Cheers for the replies above, much appreciated.

GavPJ

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602609#Comment_121602609

Hang around your local Ford dealer in the evenings just before they close and ask one of the mechanics...............

sligopaul

know nothing about the individual advertising but it is an indicative price from an independent

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/ford-wet-belt-replacement-ecoboost-eco-blue/35960006

lampsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121602977#Comment_121602977

ahh nice find, never thought to look on there cheers

lawred2

What happened in the end? Mine is coming up on ten years. I've been on the fence for a while about changing but the car runs well enough not really ever costing me much so I've not had any motivation.

Potential 2k outlay might change my mind. That's nuts.

Surely a belt sitting inside the engine was meant to last a lifetime?