Hi All,

I'm looking for some help - I'm pretty depressed tonight

Last Thursday I was driving to work in my Ford Focus when the cambelt snapped (it's a 1.6 Zetec SE). I got the AA guy to recover the car to my house so I could have a go at it. My plan was to swap the cambelt and see if it started and ran ok.

I've spent the last two days doing the job and it doesn't work. I'm guessing that the pistons hit the valves and there is no compression - it doesn't even try to start.

It's a 2002 Ford Focus Elle, 1600cc, 3 door, leather seats and air conditioning.

So what do I do now?

Another engine is about £300-£500 plus time or money to fit,

or

Sell it "as-is" and find someone who wants to do the work

So: what would you do? How much is it worth with a knackered engine?

surprised a replacement engine is quite that bad. there must be a lot of these engines in scrap yards with the number of these cars sold. out of interest how many miles on the cambelt?

if you don't change the engine i reckon you'll struggle to get more than scrap value.

For that car you will get an engine for a lot less money than that. £2-300 maybe for a decent one and a day to change.

If you sell as it is it will worth buttons.

£400-500 for the car as it is

oh dear

Might be worth taking the head off and seeing if the damage is just to the valves & head

Secondhand head would be cheaper than another engine and an easier job to swop


Unless the rest of the car is poor, it must be worth repairing ?

Nothing lose by removing the head to see what's what - you might be lucky and get away with a 2nd hand or recon cylinder head.

Did you test for compression or is that a guess? The reason I ask is I am fairly sure some of the ford 1600s are a 'non-contact' engine.

Might be worth a look anyhow.

HTH

If the car was in anywhere near decent condition then I'd definately fix it. Not an easy job to do on your driveway/garage but do-able & if you can get access to a lift or pit to make it easier then great.
I've got 2 fixing up jobs on the go now, one a V reg high mileage but MOT'd Clio that would'nt run & was just corroded wiring at the fuel pump relay, fixed now & I'm servicing it & sorting a few other jobs on it. The other an R reg mk4 Golf without MOT that has head gasket issues & is'nt started on yet. I paid £220 for both so could have weighed them in & made money, your car is worth more than those two together whether you value them broken or fixed.
As said take the head off to check for damage to the bottom end (unlikely) & then get a head for it. This is unlikely to be cheaper as a breaker will want near as much for the head as the whole engine (he's left with the much less saleable bottom end) plus you'll have to buy a gasket but it will make the job much more DIY friendly, no gearbox, clutch etc to deal with.

quote:

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Originally posted by Daddylonglegs
Did you test for compression or is that a guess? The reason I ask is I am fairly sure some of the ford 1600s are a 'non-contact' engine.

Might be worth a look anyhow.

HTH

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Thanks for the advise/sympathy - it helps a bit

Yeah, AA man showed me his 'info' screen. That said it was an "interference engine" and that valve damage was "highly likely" I reckon I'm going to ask a couple of local garages for quotes and then go from there. I'm hoping to replace the complete engine - I think the head swap idea will be similar cost/hassle.

The car's worth about £2500 if in good condition.

I'm also going to have to use the Locost for the next week - which means I'm going to get drowned tomorrow as I've got no weather equipment. Although I do have a cover for when it's parked.

Just dont do it the way I know one job went, Rover 200TD snapped the belt, a family member "who knows about cars" set about fixing it, the owner bought a complete replacement running engine for them to use. As he "knew wbout cars" he decided the best way to do the job would be to strip both engines down & build a good one with all the best bits. As a mate of the owner's brother I was asked to look at the job as they were a bit concerned about it's progress, there were pistons, cranks, valves etc spread over a 2msq area in front of the car, it has never ran again!

[Edited on 7/11/10 by hillbillyracer]

how many miles are on the rest of the car ?
if its a low milage and the rest of the car is good then its got to be worth sorting

(btw - I'd buy it off you at the drop of a hat if you were closer)

[Edited on 7/11/2010 by mcerd1]

quote:

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Originally posted by hillbillyracer
Just dont do it the way I know one job went, Rover 200TD snapped the belt, a family member "who knows about cars" set about fixing it, the owner bought a complete replacement running engine for them to use. As he "knew wbout cars" he decided the best way to do the job would be to strip both engines down & build a good one with all the best bits. As a mate of the owner's brother I was asked to look at the job as they were a bit concerned about it's progress, there were pistons, cranks, valves etc spread over a 2msq area in front of the car, it has never ran again!

[Edited on 7/11/10 by hillbillyracer]

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quote:

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Originally posted by MakeEverything

quote:

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Originally posted by hillbillyracer
Just dont do it the way I know one job went, Rover 200TD snapped the belt, a family member "who knows about cars" set about fixing it, the owner bought a complete replacement running engine for them to use. As he "knew wbout cars" he decided the best way to do the job would be to strip both engines down & build a good one with all the best bits. As a mate of the owner's brother I was asked to look at the job as they were a bit concerned about it's progress, there were pistons, cranks, valves etc spread over a 2msq area in front of the car, it has never ran again!

[Edited on 7/11/10 by hillbillyracer]

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Yeh, but thats just because it was a Rover!!

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My wife's friend had the exact same problem with the same car unfortunatly i got the job to fix it. After stripping the head off 2 valves were broken off, 2 valves were bent and one piston was holed. It took £900 in parts alone to get it going again but it was in very good condition so was considered worth it. BTW if you need pistons Ford won't sell them to you, they will only sell you a refurbished bottom end. Ford think of the zetec se as a throw-away engine but you can get pistons from certain places though. If it has any piston damage at all don't bother trying to fix it, it will be much cheaper putting a replacment engine in.

^^^ just looked on burtons site (I know they arn't the cheapest...) they want ~£110 for each piston
(the 2.0 pinto etc are ~£45 each)

thats only £25 a piston short of forged ones....


[Edited on 8/11/2010 by mcerd1]

Drop a second hand engine in and change the cambelt before fitting you can do that for under £500 and a days work, I'm sure Someone on here would help

I use that same engine in my kit and I wouldn't even bother rebuilding