Just bought a Ford and noticed this in the service history

[Steven1212]

Hi

I just bought a 2014 1.25 petrol Ford Fiesta 4 cylinder engine. 45,000 miles

I went through the service history book and along with that it had an invoice from 2021 where it had a big service and what they did exactly. Ive uploaded a pic of it so should show below.

Basically During the full service they also changed the spark plugs as they noticed the car was only running on 3 out of the 4 cylinders.

I’ve read online that this can damage the piston rings / engine and also the catalytic convertor?

It’s hard to tell how long the previous owner was driving it like that… it’s since had another service by a Ford main garage 2 weeks ago.

It seems to be running perfectly fine but I’m
Just worried in the future I could come across problems with the engine. Was really expensive car for me anyway with the current value of second hand cars.

Any thoughts?

[E-bmw]

Assuming it has had an mot since, any issue would have come to light then.

[tumble dryer]

E-bmw said:

Assuming it has had an mot since, any issue would have come to light then.

Eh?

[anonymous-user]

tumble dryer said:

E-bmw said:

Assuming it has had an mot since, any issue would have come to light then.

Eh?

+1 ... Although maybe with the emissions test

[Simon_GH]

It’s pretty clear when a 4 cylinder car drops to 3 cylinders - I doubt it was driven far once it happened. I wouldn’t worry. My old Focus was driven a short distance when the coil pack started to go - it was still on the original cat 40,000 miles later.

[Steven1212]

Ok thanks. Yeah it had an MOT at the Ford garage that I bought it from since then . Just me overthinking it!

[E-bmw]

tumble dryer said:

E-bmw said:

Assuming it has had an mot since, any issue would have come to light then.

Eh?

The OP is asking if the fault could have caused cat issues, the cat is tested in an MOT.

Please try to keep up.

[Polly Grigora]

Simon_GH said:

It’s pretty clear when a 4 cylinder car drops to 3 cylinders - I doubt it was driven far once it happened

It wasn't clear to the previous owner, fault was rectified during a service

[Dogwatch]

Polly Grigora said:

It wasn't clear to the previous owner, fault was rectified during a service

Did a car share with a work colleague (and two others) who was running a marina with 3 firing cylinders. He did nothing about it and eventually someone pointed it out to him. He just hadn't realised!

Obviously it isn't an ideal situation but I have never heard of it damaging an engine, not sure how a 3 pot would cope though.

[E-bmw]

Dogwatch said:

Polly Grigora said:

It wasn't clear to the previous owner, fault was rectified during a service

Did a car share with a work colleague (and two others) who was running a marina with 3 firing cylinders. He did nothing about it and eventually someone pointed it out to him. He just hadn't realised!

Obviously it isn't an ideal situation but I have never heard of it damaging an engine, not sure how a 3 pot would cope though.

It is not a case of it damaging the engine, the OP is specifically asking about damage to the cat, which can occur with unburnt fuel entering the cat.

[Steven1212]

Yeah that’s the thing. It was picked up during a service … unless they just decided to service it because he noticed the engine light on or noticing loss of power.

Oh it just mentions online how the fuel gets injected into the dead cyilinder and eventually gets mixed up with the oil so over time it looses the lubrication which wears out the rings 🤷‍♂️

Sure it’s fine as it passes the MOT Recently … and it’s running fine