Ford Transit Custom - suspected wet belt failure

nataliel2728

Just told us they won't help he bought the van Nov 2020 the garage serviced it he bought it from in nov don't even know if a service was done before then but was covid so becauE service 4000 miles late they won't help this is a joke it's a common problem and ford are a joke a don't even know what to do now x

sevenhills

nataliel2728 said:

Just told us they won't help he bought the van Nov 2020 the garage serviced it he bought it from in nov don't even know if a service was done before then but was covid so becauE service 4000 miles late they won't help this is a joke it's a common problem and ford are a joke a don't even know what to do now x

How common is it?

The OPs van had done 80k, its quite common for manufacturers to recommend changing the timing belt at 60k, so the fault is the recommended timing belt change interval.

I changed the timing belt on my Zafira when I bought it, to be on the safe side, but that only cost £300 or so, not the £1,000 being suggested in another thread, for the Ecoboost.

nataliel2728

Very common ford recommend changed 10 years old or 150000 miles what ever comes first.....

TedGlennn

Hi All, some horror stories on this but has anyone ever taken any legal action against Ford for this or anything else ? I'm involved in a Ford warranty claim (not a wet belt thing) but to be honest they are useless. When is enough passing the buck enough and you get legal ?  any thoughts gratefully received.

Goudy

TedGlennn said:

Hi All, some horror stories on this but has anyone ever taken any legal action against Ford for this or anything else ? I'm involved in a Ford warranty claim (not a wet belt thing) but to be honest they are useless. When is enough passing the buck enough and you get legal ?  any thoughts gratefully received.

Ford won't help because they can.

Missing servicing intervals and driving it without changing the belt at the recommended interval get's them off the hook, legally.

Any warranty has terms and conditions and if you don't follow them, then the warranty is void.

To be fair to Ford and to take more legal care of themselves, they did ask owners to book their vehicles in for a free check and if needed, they would replace the belt under the warranty.

Legally it's not their fault owners didn't take their offer up as they took their vehicles outside of the dealer network or just didn't both at all.

jugeshm

Hi
I have a 2017 Ford Transit Custom Crew Cab. I've just been made aware of this "wet belt" shambles. A customer has told me "get your belt changed before your engine blows, it's a common problem".

Just to be clear, I have no issue/breakdown (yet!). But I'm trying to be pro-active. The van has done 130K miles (all motorway miles). So it's only a matter of time I reckon.

What shall I do? Do I just ring Ford dealer and ask them to book me in. Will it likely be done for free, if it's a known issue? Or do I need to put my foot down and complain to get it free/goodwill discount?

I've tried looking if there's a recall on my reg, but it's coming up as no recall.

Had the van serviced every time it warns me to. First 2 services with Ford, rest with private garage (all invoiced).

Thanks, any advice would be appreciated.

Tucosalamanca

At 130,000 miles it's due for replacement regardless. Ford will not contribute and in my opinion you would be wasting your time asking for a goodwill contribution.

Since the first failure, I've now replaced the wet belts on my fleet of Customs, all have shown various degrees of belt delamination on removal.
Costs are around £1,000 plus vat and all parts are currently available.

My local dealership has slots from 02nd November, I only know this as I booked a van in for service earlier today.

jugeshm

Tucosalamanca said:

At 130,000 miles it's due for replacement regardless. Ford will not contribute and in my opinion you would be wasting your time asking for a goodwill contribution.

Since the first failure, I've now replaced the wet belts on my fleet of Customs, all have shown various degrees of belt delamination on removal.
Costs are around £1,000 plus vat and all parts are currently available.

My local dealership has slots from 02nd November, I only know this as I booked a van in for service earlier today.

Thanks for your reply and info.

I called Ford and they can see my van was recalled and it passed their inspection (I think they did it during the last service). Never received the recall letter or any communication. But it seems they decided to look at it, as it's been logged as a job.

I've been quoted £1523.00 by Ford to replace the wet belt. Seems a little high compared to what most people have said.

I was just thinking, when they inspected it (during recall) they were prepared to replace it for free. So wondering if I had any chance of it being done for free now? Probably not!

Pinehead

Tucosalamanca said:

zedem said:

Just had the same issue on my 2.0 Transit Custom 2017, I had it serviced at Ford in Oct 22 (130K), it says there was a timing belt visual inspection no issues reported.

Last week it failed (138K) and I tried to get it recovered to Ford, they wouldn't take it saying no slots available until June. A 3rd party mechanic has diagnosed timing belt failure and a recon engine will cost me £4k fitted.

I have contacted Ford UK and got the 3 day response email, don't have much hope after reading this post as I have patchy records of service history.

This is my only van and rely on it heavily. 

I've got to be honest, I think you have almost zero chance of getting an acceptable solution from Ford.
The fact that it's recently had a visual inspection might go in your favour and the servicing dealer might be happy to assist.

The Transit Custom group on Facebook (COG) has a wealth of information, but wet belt posts aren't being well received as many members are keen to defend their van's reputation!

A new wet belt failure group has recently popped up, which may be able to assist, Ford Ecoboost Nightmare is another helpful group.

Ford are becoming difficult, The same happened to me the timing belt brokeI went to Hayes centre and they repaired it there free, 

Nobbie1967

jugeshm said:

Tucosalamanca said:

At 130,000 miles it's due for replacement regardless. Ford will not contribute and in my opinion you would be wasting your time asking for a goodwill contribution.

Since the first failure, I've now replaced the wet belts on my fleet of Customs, all have shown various degrees of belt delamination on removal.
Costs are around £1,000 plus vat and all parts are currently available.

My local dealership has slots from 02nd November, I only know this as I booked a van in for service earlier today.

Thanks for your reply and info.

I called Ford and they can see my van was recalled and it passed their inspection (I think they did it during the last service). Never received the recall letter or any communication. But it seems they decided to look at it, as it's been logged as a job.

I've been quoted £1523.00 by Ford to replace the wet belt. Seems a little high compared to what most people have said.

I was just thinking, when they inspected it (during recall) they were prepared to replace it for free. So wondering if I had any chance of it being done for free now? Probably not!

No, they checked the belt and found it was fine, so no sign of early failure which might warrant a free replacement. As you’re close to the scheduled replacement date I’d get it done sooner rather than later as I’m certain Ford won’t replace the engine FOC if it fails at 145k. Maybe the sort of driving you do doesn’t knacker the oil, but not a risk I’d like to take by taking it right upto the 150k service life. Maybe an independent garage could do it a lot cheaper as the labour rate will be lower.