Timing belt/drive belt

[south21]

Just a heads up, I put my 2009 cl fiesta into sinclair ford at kingswood today to have the timing belt changed as I have reached 150,000 ks, cost me $670
they rang me and informed me that my drive belt also needs changing $262 for the drive belt I said no thanks as that is a ridiculous price for a (fan belt) in the states they cost $41, I am going to try and source one from the uk if anyone has any links to where I might be able to get one please let me know.

thanks

[trumpy73]

262 for a belt?? tell'em they're dreaming ;) It's auto tensioner right? so a 2min job to change it.

[south21]

Originally Posted by trumpy73

262 for a belt?? tell'em they're dreaming ;) It's auto tensioner right? so a 2min job to change it.

That's just the price for the belt, no labour they said they would fit it for nothing as they already had the belt of to replace timing belt, I said no thanks put the old one back on, on a side note I rang cumberland ford they said belt would cost $168, so some ripping off is going on here.

[GoesLikeAZetec]

stick it too em buddy.

between the US and Euro you should get it for a proper price online.

sometimes you wonder if they know the internet exists lol

[trumpy73]

I wonder how much you got screwed on the timing belt. Why bother with dealers at all.

[blatchie]

2009 and 150,000ks. are you ever out of your car? wow I have found that a local mechanic can do the same job much cheaper. I was quoted $870 for one car and a local mechanic charged me $250.00

[trumpy73]

of course they do. I will NEVER service my car at a dealer even within the warranty period as you will pay a MASSIVE premium. They need to pay for the showroom and all the coffee making facilities and service advisors etc. There's nothing particularly complex about the fiesta that most mechanics won't be able to handle.

[vhcbm]

yea that's a fair wack. How does the CL drive at 150k, still going strong?

[mik]

i`d be trying repco or bursons for a belt price.

[Fiesta_Man69]

Just had brake pads and discs changed at 45K. Brake shop was a third of the price and it included bendix pads which poop on the OEM pads. Btw, timing belt supplied by me (a gates racing belt too) and fitted by decent local mechanic cost me $120 a few years ago for my R32 GTR...

[south21]

Originally Posted by vhcbm

yea that's a fair wack. How does the CL drive at 150k, still going strong?

Not going the best, has a lot of issues as follows.

1 The radio controls stopped working, fixed under warranty

2 The car almost stalls about once a week, you can be driving along then it just dies, it doesn't completley cut out, complained to ford a number of times but nothing they could do as when they test drove it did not happen.

3 3rd gear has alway been hard to engage, sometimes a small crunch complained about but they said we have topped the oil up in the gearbox and have adjusted the linkages, still does it and yet sometimes it changes gear perfect.

4 A big worry here, is that my engine is very noisy when cold I took it to ford and they said the tappets need adjusting, now I know a bit about cars and I know that modern cars have hydraulic lifters so you do not need to adjust tappets, when I explained this to ford they said this model engine has shims under the camshaft post which need to be adjusted by adding more shims to and because it is regarded as an adjustment it is not covered by warranty, I fought long and hard with head office on this one but lost, by the way the cost to get your shims adjusted is around $1000,00.

5 The gearbox is stating to get a bit whinny in all gears

6 My ignition started playing up last week it would turn on ok but would not turn all the way to start the car, took to ford, they had a look and said their is a part inside the steering column that is worn and the steering column needs to be replaced as it is all one unit cost $ 1900.00 dollars, I could not afford this so they sent me around to an auto electrician who for $35 dollars wired me up a press button starter so now I turn ignition to on then press button to start, by the way I am going to send to the uk for the original start button that they use in their cars so at least it will look a bit original.

7 Leaks petrol out of the overflow hose when putting petrol in put 20 or 30 dollars in and about a cup of petrol goes onto the garage floor and I am not overfilling it either it does it even if i am on empty.

8 I am now starting to get a clunk sound when I turn the steering wheel, don't know what it is, and it is starting to wander on the road, had steering checked they said it was fine.


Anyway thats my experience with my ford Fiesta cl model, I made one big error when I bought it and that was I never actually test drove the car that I was actually purchasing, they did not have the colour that I wanted so It was ordered in and when it was ready to be picked up I just came in and drove it away, the dealer I bought mine at was sinclair ford penrith they have now moved to kingswood terrible service dept , they were alaways trying to fob me off, I ended up taking my car to cumberland Ford blacktown they were great but it was all too late.

I have never driven the car hard, do 3 trips to newcastle a week, associated with my job and stick to around 100 on the freeway, not a hard life

I am 2 and a half years into my hire purchase so I have got to keep it, cannot afford to bail out, sorry for the long winded post as i get upset the more I think about it, I put 10,000 dollars deposit on this car it was all I had in the world, first new car ect, maybe I am just unlucky.

[south21]

Originally Posted by mik

i`d be trying repco or bursons for a belt price.

Maybe a bit early yet as the car has only been around 2 1/2 years, by the way the fiesta manual is now out in the uk, haynes are the publisher, seen a few on ebay and their website, going to get one and do my own work.

[south21]

Originally Posted by trumpy73

I wonder how much you got screwed on the timing belt. Why bother with dealers at all.

Trumpy they charged me $125 for the timing belt.

[trumpy73]

didn't you say 670 in your first post? or is that for something else?

[south21]

Originally Posted by trumpy73

didn't you say 670 in your first post? or is that for something else?

Yes it was $670 for them to change the timing belt, the timing belt cost $125 rocket cover gasket cost $81.40, that makes it $206.40 parts and $463.60 for labour total $670.

I have just noticed that they left a greasy handprint on my roof lining next the drivers door and also I have doubts that they did any thing at all to my car because in the report it said that they test drove the car but when I dropped it off I reset the trip metre to 0 and when I picked it up it had 0.1 so it went 100 metres, a worry. I will never go to another ford dealer again.

regards

keith

[Fiesta_Man69]

I feel you: Sinclair Ford are useless (as are Cumberland Ford as I found). I've had similar issues with mine: I know all about the fob off from dealers - I have no doubt they have found problems with your car but as warranty repairs are paid for by Ford Australia there can be no doubt dealers are told not to carry out repairs by head office - they've crunched numbers and obviously feel the Fiesta will hold out till the warranty expires (as yours has due to distance right?)

Yep, I'm like you: never touch a Ford dealer - they are overpriced rip off merchants and, like many on here, will never buy a Ford again.

I feel for you: that stall is scary - it's a fault with the ECU btw (had mine fixed aftermarket at my cost) but perhaps these quality issues and more importantly the pathetic manner in which Ford deals with warranty issues is why the Fiesta is out of the top 20 new car sales for last month (Mazda 2 is in the top 10). The Fiesta isn't doing the numbers Ford needs it too in Australia, and with the falcon tanking, no one touching the Mondeo and even the new Focus got comprehensively beaten by the Golf in the latest wheels mag test, the long term future of Ford in Australia is looking decidedly dodgy: expect more dealers to close their doors in the next 5 years.

[In Focus]

Actually, the Fiesta was right behind the Mazda 2 in sales last month. Your other arguments out of it, sales haven't been as high in the previous couple of months because of supply issues, and this applies to the new Focus as well. The public at large isn't not buying these cars because of dealer "issues".

And the reason why Mazda 2 and Yaris outsell the Fiesta is because they are being bought by people who want to downsize from a Mazda 3 or a Corolla. Not because they are better cars (which they aren't).

There is a perception, rightly or wrongly, that Ford isn't as quality a brand as Mazda or Toyota or VW, for example. Whether this relates to your argument about dealers I'm not sure, but it would only be a contributing factor, rather than the main reason.

[Fiesta_Man69]

Ah, so the sales figures in the latest Wheels mag are wrong? Hmmm, anyways, before the Fiesta dropped out of the top 20 it was generally being outsold by the Mazda 2 at a rate of 2 to 1.

I agree that (faults aside) the Fiesta is better car than most of it's competitors.

However, perhaps you may want to look at the Carsguide section of the Daily Telegraph and read the "Readers Write" section where readers write in with automotive problems. Alas, the lead letter today is someone with a 2009 Territory with, wait for it, extensive rust issues. Considering Ford is over represented in this section week after week I believe things like this greatly affect the publics perception of the Ford brand.

[mik]

Originally Posted by south21

Maybe a bit early yet as the car has only been around 2 1/2 years, by the way the fiesta manual is now out in the uk, haynes are the publisher, seen a few on ebay and their website, going to get one and do my own work.

that should`nt be a problem, and if they don`t have it they will order it in.

[south21]

Originally Posted by mik

that should`nt be a problem, and if they don`t have it they will order it in.

I went to Bursons today and ordered the drive belt, $45.00 as compared to Sinclair ford $262.00, a bit of a price difference I would say.

[mik]

well done, my order of preference for buying parts is bursons then repco, then ford, unless it`s a part that i`m really concerned about needing to be factory for qaulity, i always go that order, it pays to shop around, i have all 3 spare parts in my mobile .

[Pube]

If the accessory belts are like the wp/wq fiestas, they will be stretch fit. That means there is no tensioners to slack off so you can install the belt. You can buy the tools for the belt installation but they are like $160 each tool (by memory)!! I managed without the tools but the engine was out of the car where I needed to remove/install alternator and power steering pump which are not adjustable.

[jerryaus]

Some places charge $300 for change timming belt, but I think people don't have to change it with new fiesta.

[greenfoam]

Done 120,000k on ours now. No issues apart from the usual bent rims and blown headlights (Get a heap of them at ALDI a couple months back for really cheap and haven't blown one of them yet). No extra engine noise, clunks, noisy gearbox, wandering or anything like that. Might have to get one of these manuals though since we stopped getting it service through Ford at about 90,000ks. Just been doing my own oil and filter changes. Might have to do brake pads and rotors soon but after reading how much that is going to cost I've been gentle on the brakes and have made them last a bit longer than they were otherwise going to

[south21]

Originally Posted by greenfoam

Done 120,000k on ours now. No issues apart from the usual bent rims and blown headlights (Get a heap of them at ALDI a couple months back for really cheap and haven't blown one of them yet). No extra engine noise, clunks, noisy gearbox, wandering or anything like that. Might have to get one of these manuals though since we stopped getting it service through Ford at about 90,000ks. Just been doing my own oil and filter changes. Might have to do brake pads and rotors soon but after reading how much that is going to cost I've been gentle on the brakes and have made them last a bit longer than they were otherwise going to

Just a heads up on the rotors, bought mine through auto one in penrith, $48.50 each and the pads bendix code 1941, I think about $85.