Ford Focus Eco

[nomadandy]

Can anybody advise me the symtoms that means the cam belt is starting to fail

[davebro3]

Nothing really apart from a detailed visual inspection by someone who knows. Change it at the recommended intervals or wait till your engine goes "thud" and you get a £1000 bill.

(or buy a car with a chain driven cam)

[nescio]

As Davebro stated, it may not display any symptoms prior to failure, or if it does, it is too late and failure is imminent. You may be lucky and end up with a four figure repair bill, or it could mean a replacement engine/car. A replacement belt is relatively inexpensive, but expect to pay a few hundred pounds to have it replaced - cheaper than the catastrophic alternative.

I had belt failure in my Audi a few years ago, but was very fortunate to find a replacement engine, which had about 60K fewer miles on the clock, for £1000, plus a garage bill of another £1000 or so for all the work which needed doing.

[bookbinder]

https://www.theaa.com/driving-advice/service-repair/cam-belts

[nescio]

Very good information and advice in that link, bookbinder

[bookbinder]

nescio, thank you for your kind comment. I do try to be helpful.

[Hymie]

Are we talking the 1 litre Ecoboost engine with a wet cambelt that is subject to a recall in the USA; but not within the UK/Europe despite the engines in the USA being the same engines, manufactured in Europe?

[Hymie]

If it is the above, here is a bit more on the subject – worryingly, as a result of the problems with the wet cambelt, the servo-assistance braking fails on the vehicle (hence the USA recall).

 

Apparently there are also a problem with the belt breaking-up, and the broken off parts blocking the oil filter, resulting in oil lubrication starvation of the engine.

 

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