Three-cylinder failure
You’ve said that you don’t like the three-cylinder Ford 1.0 engines after having seen some dramatic failures. I have a Focus with the 123bhp engine, so would be interested to know about these failed engines. What happened to them and what do you think caused it?
Also, I have read in the Haynes manual that the crankshaft, big ends, etc, cannot be removed or refitted by conventional tooling and was wondering what tooling Ford uses? There is no mention of a fuel filter in the service schedule – why is this? William Atkinson
I will start by saying that I have a great respect for the engineers who design these engines and manage to extract a vast amount of power from such a small unit, while remaining economical and producing some very impressive mpg figures. The problem is that many calculations made assuming optimum conditions do not allow for the working variations that occur. One of the big differences with the Ecoboost engine is that it uses a watercooled turbo to increase the aspiration of the engine. The cooling system has been adapted to manage this, but there were originally a few oversights that meant the cooling pipes from the turbo were inadequate for the high temperatures in the system. The engine also operates on a very tight tolerance. The biggest failure with these engines is due to failing degas pipes, which are the cooling pipes from the turbo. When this occurs, it usually results in a sudden loss of coolant while driving, allowing the engine temperature to rise dramatically and resulting in the total failure of the unit.
The crankshafts and big ends are not serviceable items and even the Ford dealer information does not include rebuilding instructions. I believe that the set-up and tolerances are so tight that this unit is one step closer to the sealed-for-life disposable engine concept. Autodata says: “Measurement of bearing clearance is not possible by normal methods and should not be attempted, as this will result in damage to the cylinder block and crankshaft. If the bearing bolts have been loosened the entire cylinder block and crankshaft must be replaced.”
The fuel filter is built into the fuel pump and is designed to work effectively for the life of the pump, so will not need replacing during the normal service cycle.