New car - opinions please?

katebl

Hi eveyone,

Have had some great advice on this board so hope you can keep it up! For anyone familiar with my last thread I have a ford puma thunder 1.7, currently a non-runner. After an RAC diagnosis it appears the coil driver has blown the ECU, and for a quick repair I'm looking at about £350-400. I have just had a new battery fitted (which I can return) for £65, and in order to pass it's MOT in November it needs approx £250 worth of bushes replacing and suspension work. All in all, excluding tax (£115 and ran out today, currently kept off road) it needs at least £700 spending on it to get it firstly on the road and then running decently. :mad: It has had a new clutch and fuel pump in the past year as well as a service which did bring up a couple of things needing doing.

Have seen a 2006 1.6 focus sport, 45k on the clock, metallic sea grey at a local ford franchise for £4800, and am thinking of going to see it tomorrow (assuming it's still there).

Am I doing the right thing in going for it do you think? After what I'd be expecting to spend on the Puma in the next few months it'll be £4,000 extra which between me and OH is manageable.

Any thoughts welcome - and any potential pitfalls with the new car appreciated.

Tigerspain

Focus sounds good, Decent enough brand and with the low mileage it should be fine, Stay away from anything French Or Italian and you'l be just fine ;-)

Tigerspain

Sorry that was vague actually, If you dont get the focus I would reccomend the Honda civic's, Most car surveys say they are the most reliable cars out there and it certainly seems true from what I have seen, It's rare to get Japanese stuff come into a garage with anything other than routine maintannece.

Hope this helps a bit more :-)

BM-AK

The 1.6 Focus is a good runner. You can't go wrong with it. I'd say go for it.

s_b

s/h ecu and key ebay £100?
back bushes are £10 a side and are standard to go
an independent garage should charge an hour a side to replace in case one refuses to budge
any front bushes are standard fiesta so hardly the end of the world
basically you are talking yourself down an alley to get ripped for this thunder and its a wanted car
by the way your ecu went probably because its normally badly serviced and the plugs /leads couldnt cope

Tigerspain

s_b wrote: »

s/h ecu and key ebay £100?
back bushes are £10 a side and are standard to go
an independent garage should charge an hour a side to replace in case one refuses to budge
any front bushes are standard fiesta so hardly the end of the world
basically you are talking yourself down an alley to get ripped for this thunder and its a wanted car
by the way your ecu went probably because its normally badly serviced and the plugs /leads couldnt cope

What?, Have you ever even held a spanner before!??? The ecu went due to bad plugs:eek:???? That is the most insane thing I have ever heard, The ECU is like the chipboard inside a computer and the sparks are like the keyboard, In that sense keyboard failure wouldnt ruin your chipbboard!!!!!!, I like how you mention 1 hour in a garage but what about fitting the new ECU?? ABout 2 hours and £500 in a specialist garage?? Didnt account for that one!!!

katebl

Thanks for your replies. We have only had the car for a year and had it serviced in November, last service before that was at approx 80k and it's now at 95k. I actually love the car, she's great to drive, but for the last 6 months has been unreliable.

I'm now thinking no matter if I source parts myself or let an independent garage get them (garage I use charges £65 p/h labour) it's still going to be a few hundred. Cheapest ECU repair quote has been £250 odd but would take 3 weeks.

s_b

Tigerspain wrote: »

What?, Have you ever even held a spanner before!??? The ecu went due to bad plugs:eek:???? That is the most insane thing I have ever heard, The ECU is like the chipboard inside a computer and the sparks are like the keyboard, In that sense keyboard failure wouldnt ruin your chipbboard!!!!!!, I like how you mention 1 hour in a garage but what about fitting the new ECU?? ABout 2 hours and £500 in a specialist garage?? Didnt account for that one!!!

ecu is up the bulkhead easy to change if you have done them,i have,
sorry just trying to help but obviously i no nowt.
by the way plugs and leads cause ecu's to blow as the output transisters go in the ecu

its like plugging an old type keyboard into a computer when the computer is turned on,this is why computers moved onto usb plugs so you could hot plug ie plug in whilst turned on as otherwise you could damage the mother board but you know this anyway because you know about computers

Tigerspain

Yes the Ecu is in the bulkhead and yes the unit is easy to change but it need's to be fully re-programmed for said car's ignition, Fuel delivery, Spark timing and a whole host of other things so it's really not just 'swap and go', I have never ever heard of the keyboard breaking the motherboard before even on old systems!!! It switched to usb as it was easier and usb was the way forward!

The plugs and leads have no relation to the ecu whatsoever and thats fact I have been a mechanic for more years than I care to remember and I have to say on this one you really are wrong

s_b

Tigerspain wrote: »

Yes the Ecu is in the bulkhead and yes the unit is easy to change but it need's to be fully re-programmed for said car's ignition, Fuel delivery, Spark timing and a whole host of other things so it's really not just 'swap and go', I have never ever heard of the keyboard breaking the motherboard before even on old systems!!! It switched to usb as it was easier and usb was the way forward!

The plugs and leads have no relation to the ecu whatsoever and thats fact I have been a mechanic for more years than I care to remember and I have to say on this one you really are wrong

Tigerspain i really shouldnt be bother replying to this but i will
i initially replied to help the OP so she had an easy option low cost way of keeping her puma now we find the ecu is faulty on the road at minimum spend
Now to your reply
The puma is pre canbus and therefore the ecu gets its parameters from the sensors on the engine, the bosch eec1v type ecu fitted to this car is one that benefits from losing informatiuon once disconnected from its power supply .
So-- so long as the new key is recognised once its been swapped over it will work
Obviously you need to change the coil pack and leads and plugs but thats it because these are what blow the output drivers in the ecu
Nothing needs coding on this car
Please dont tell me how to suck eggs because i dont boast about what i do for a living ,i just help at no cost because it wont affect my business.