I finally come into some money to get my car a long way to finished and of course some PITA comes along to throw a spanner in the works.

Could you spare this list a quick glance and your opinions as far as fixing things go. I just spoke to ford and the labour costs alone (£85 + VAT/hr!) are a complete ball breaker.

Its a 1.4 tdci fiesta 04, 120k on the clock.

Firstly the chunky belt on the left hand side of the engine (looking into the engine bay towards the back of the engine) is becoming increasingly squeaky and appears cracked.

Secondly although the handbrake feels fine and disengages/engages normally if it has been sat for awhile on the handbrake (during work/night) then when I start moving there is a *thunk/bang/jolt* as it seems to "let go" of the rear wheels. This problem disappears if I reapply to handbrake and take it off to try and replicate the issue and there is no warning light.

Thirdly I floored it out of a petrol station with a short sliproad onto a busy A road this morning and the engine revved freely (not good in this case) with very little acceleration. I.E. through 1st2nd3rd4th5th the revs quickly approached the red line with acceleration being minimal throughout. TBH it felt as if there was very little load on the engine at all, I was in 5th almost instantly with no risk of stalling, but crawling along!

Cheers for reading, all of these problems have arisen in the last few days

1.Replace the alt belt, simple job
2.Drive a while with the handbrake partly on to clean the drums
3.Sounds like the clutch is slipping or needs the cable adjusted

[Edited on 13/1/09 by Mr Whippy]

ok, firstly i think the only belt you can see without removing stuff is the auxillary belt. most garages will change these for £60 if theres not too much to remove. if ford charge 85 an hour, it will be that plus parts.

handbrake could simply be worn/contaminated shoes or a rusty mechanism. probably an hours labour and the cost of new shoes.

the last problem sounds like knackered clutch.. that can be expensive... off memory clutch kit is about £125ish. can be fitted in 2 hours if they know what there doing...

looking at half a days labour and about £160 parts. AT A GUESS

will

edit: whippy: good idea about handbrake, well worth trying

edit: 99% certain the diesel fiestas have hydraulic clutch so *should* be self adjusting.

[Edited on 13/1/09 by dinosaurjuice]

[Edited on 13/1/09 by dinosaurjuice]

hey dinosaur juice, I nearly built a rocket, is it a good laugh with that torquey engine in it?

Cheers, I'll be able to change that belt no problems then if its nothing to do with timing.

I'll try the handbrake idea on my way back for a few miles.

Looks like I may only need to pay for the clutch change.

I also forgot to mention that my car now only blows warm air if I'm travelling at 70ish. If I go from 70 down to 40 then within minutes itll start blowing cold. This one has me completely stumped! the engines obviously still hot (based on the gauge and the fact I've been driving the car for some time) so where is the cold coming from?!

quote:

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Originally posted by cd.thomson
I also forgot to mention that my car now only blows warm air if I'm travelling at 70ish. If I go from 70 down to 40 then within minutes itll start blowing cold. This one has me completely stumped! the engines obviously still hot (based on the gauge and the fact I've been driving the car for some time) so where is the cold coming from?!

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the rocket is seriously good fun

if its not too difficult change the aux belt tensioners (they dont cost much). its a pain if they fail after youve changed the belt..

Can confirm that the clutch will cost £120 for parts but labour depends where you go... definately worth phoning up a few independant garages before ford.

hmm not sure about the warm air...

Will

[Edited on 13/1/09 by dinosaurjuice]

I've not left it sat with the heater on, but in heavy traffic (I love commuting) it'll happy start chucking out cold air if I've been sat for longer than 5 - 10 minutes stationary after it blowing warm air while I raced along to avoid the queues.

Sounds like the water pump is not pumping fully. On idle and low revs getting very little circulation but bombing down motorway it is reving it nuts off and pumping......

Hi,

Have you actually checked that you have got coolant in it? Start with the basics.

The squeak and poor heater could both be caused by the water pump failing. Do something about it now before it takes the engine with it and the whole car is a right off.

David

[Edited on 13/1/09 by davidwag]

Yes David, I've checked everything I can without taking it to pieces.

Thanks for your help everybody, I've spent last night going over my haynes manual and I think I'm going to replace the aux belt, clutch and thermostat myself this weekend. Will probably take the whole weekend to do though..

Managed to get a clutch for £100 from Ford thanks to getting trade prices .

Considering I'm building an entire car off my own back I can't justify someone else charging me £85/hr labour..

£150 doing it myself, £300+ if someone else does it. I think I might start charging people £40/hr to do these jobs in my home garage and turn a tidy profit!

quote:

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Originally posted by cd.thomson
I also forgot to mention that my car now only blows warm air if I'm travelling at 70ish. If I go from 70 down to 40 then within minutes itll start blowing cold. This one has me completely stumped! the engines obviously still hot (based on the gauge and the fact I've been driving the car for some time) so where is the cold coming from?!

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