the ford Sigma 1.6

[vinnie01]

My 1999 Focus is about to click over to 120,000miles. It has the above engine. What do i need to be looking at on both engine and rest of the car in order to keep it running as cost effectively as possible? I am a poor student after all

[jamiesonmurray]

I know they will be experts they can list the common wear / failure points of this particular engine,

but my advice to a young student is this, regardless of make / model of engine

oil is the cheapest form of maintenance, if your budget minded, then cheap oil from asda / even home bargains still comes up to a industry standard and is better than old oil,

check if your car has a timing belt, if it has, try and find out when it was last changed,
i once changed a timing belt on an audi TT myself and the belt cost me £10 from Ebay, (it was a good brand and new) I'm sure you'll find videos of how to change a belt on youtube / google, or get a mechanic friend to do it,

the biggest killer of old car engines is the head gasket,
once an old car has head gasket problems, it's gonna cost more to repair than the cars worth,
learn how to check for symptoms, mayonnaise in the oil filler cap, traces of oil in the coolant expansion tank, bubbles in the coolant tank when the engine is running, engine using coolant, and the coolant hoses going hard when the engine is running due to pressure from the combustion chamber leaking into the coolant channels,
If you think your headgasket is about to give you trouble, you can get it "sniffed" where a mechanic uses a fluid that changes colour in the presence of exhaust gasses, he checks the air in the top of the coolant tank,

if your head gasket is on its way out, take your car to the local auctions and cut your losses!

if you have an old focus, it's most likely going to be rust / MOT items that ends the cars usable life,

Hope this helps!