Fiesta, 00 reg, 60k miles - maintenance.

[MiniMac]

Hello.

I've got a Fiesta 1.2 for my daily 70 mile charge down the motorway (not ideal I know, working on it!) and was wondering does this car have anything that it is notorious for?

I know about the cambelt, and am sorting that in the next 2 weeks. I keep on top of the brakes, and check tyres / all fluids weekly as I reckon it's a decent way to spot problems.

One thing I've noticed is that I seem to have lost some power, the engine is accelerating up the RPM but I'm not actually getting much faster without applying more beans. Granted, its only 1.25 but I have noticed it. Interestingly, this has coincided with a slight increase in MPG. Also noticed that my braking performance seems to have dipped slightly, making me think that possibly one of the drum shoes is stuck? Ideas? My dad reckons I've 'worn the engine out by driving it at 3.5k RPM down the motorway)...

I've had one of the rear shocky's replaced and it gets serviced yearly by a Indy dealer who could quite literally take an engine to bits with his eyes shut. Plugs, filters, oil change etc done at service.

Any help is appreciated.

T

[Zad]

If anything, driving at 3.5k RPM for hours on end is precisely what engines do best. Up to working temperature, middle of the torque band, no sudden jerky loads, oil flowing well.

When did you last have an oil / oil filter / air filter / fuel filter change? Tyre pressures ok? If you are worried about sticking brakes then jack the offending corner up and see if it will spin by hand (obviously take appropriate precautions!)

[MiniMac]

Hi Zad, thanks for your insight.

Good call about jacking it up. I'll do that next weekend or at a lunchtime when I have some daylight.

I've told my Dad this, he drives a 2.0 turbo Focus diesel estate like a hearse

I drive easy for the 6 miles onto the NSL road, then from there onto the 56, where it sits at 0.75 - 0.8 leptons. Bit much for 1.2 but hey.

Tyres are running at 33. Ford say 32 max, but every MPG counts and I'm at high speed 80% of my journeys (commute). Tyres are rated up to 34 I think so no risk there.

ETA: October was the last service.

Edited by MiniMac on Sunday 6th January 19:24

[Zad]

Tyres will be fine. A couple of PSI either way shouldn't cause massive problems. In my opinion, it is your dad's driving that is iffy not yours. Diesels work at optimum efficiency not at low revs, but when the turbos are providing plenty of boost and chucking lots of air into the combustion chamber.

I suppose poorer fuel consumption could partly be down to the colder weather. Definitely worth checking the brakes though!

[MiniMac]

I agree, will have the back wheels up this week. Unlikely to be the front as swapped the pads a month ago.

Should I be looking out for anything else on a model of this age too? Getting the cambelt done, and the calipers / drums checked next week. Suspension brushes (what do they do btw) need doing? Replace brake / steering fluid? I tend to just check these when I do the oil. Any point bleeding them all?

I have a tendency to .... induce huge amounts of understeer when the roads are quiet and I'm out for a hoon. Issues?

Managed to get all the way round a large roundabout with my bonnet pointing at the centre all the time a few days ago. Almost did a little of dance of joy . Slightly greasy road.

Need a RWD car next

[neiljohnson]

Try cleaning the airflow meter its common for it to get gummed up it then confuses the ecu so it just switches onto a base map and stops using it. If yu dont already know its the sensor between the airbox and throttle body. Hope this helps.

[MiniMac]

neiljohnson said:

Try cleaning the airflow meter its common for it to get gummed up it then confuses the ecu so it just switches onto a base map and stops using it. If yu dont already know its the sensor between the airbox and throttle body. Hope this helps.

Thanks, looks like I'll be getting the Haynes manual out as I am only half sure. Is Airbox the bit where the air filter sits over?

[Zad]

Yep, the airbox is the part that the filter is in.

Suspension bushes effectively connect the car suspension to the rest of the body whilst hopefully absorbing miscellaneous jiggles, bumps and so in. Obviously they can degrade over time and lead to the suspension moving out of alignment, both on the straight and around corners etc. If these were to cause the tracking to shift on the suspension, any pair of wheels could effectively be doing this / \ or this \ /. Causing tyres to scrub, sapping power and fuel.

I have found that changing the standard bushes on the front suspension for uprated non-Ford items like Superflex of Polybushes (there are other makes too) really sharpens up the steering nicely, improves feel and generally makes the car more precisely controllable. No need to go the whole hog and do the suspension turrets, track control arms (or equivalent on your machine) are a good place to start.