Three-cylinder engine failure
Q On reading Help! in the June 2018 issue, I noticed your comments regarding failures on Ford threecylinder engines. Could you please advise how these engines fail? I understand these engines have a cambelt running in oil, which seems a little illogical. Why not use a chain?
A friend is looking at buying a three-cylinder Suzuki Celerio, which I understand has a chain for the camshaft drive. At its price, it is like a Japanesebadged rival to the Dacia. Have you heard any adverse reports about these engines? Also, are all the current best-selling small three-cylinder engines from Renault, Peugeot, VW, Ford, etc, direct-injection? Colin Rider
A The three-cylinder Ford Ecoboost engine does indeed have a cambelt which runs in oil. According to the manufacturer, this reduces noise and, due to the lower friction, fuel consumption. The engine’s weak point is the turbo cooling system, which uses a separate circuit from the engine cooling system. The pipe from the turbo to the header tank is subjected to higher temperatures than a normal cooling system and this has the effect of weakening the pipe. This normally occurs when the engine is under load, causing sudden overheating and often total failure of the engine.
The Ford Ecoboost has a directinjection system, with the fuel pressure running at 40-150 Bar. The Suzuki Celerio unit is standard injection and runs at around 4 Bar and uses a chain to drive the camshafts. The VW 1.0 3-cylinder engine has a timing belt and MFI-S (sequential multipoint fuel injection) running at 3-7 Bar. Like their four-cylinder counterparts, three-cylinder engines come in many different designs and cannot be compared to each other as a generalisation. The only common denominator is that they have three cylinders.
I have heard no bad reports about the Suzuki engines and think that the vehicles offer good value for money. It is important to stress that modern engines using a timing chain should have the oil changed as recommended. Failure of the timing chain and tensioner will result from ignoring regular service intervals.