Ford Transit Custom - suspected wet belt failure

Tucosalamanca

Tucosalamanca said:

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

To follow up on this.

The visit was a return to the dealer who fitted the replacement engine.
I had a complimentary service voucher from Ford UK to use (this was my only compensation for the engine failure).
Since the van has now done 10,000 miles with the new engine, this was the perfect opportunity to  'cash in' the voucher.
The van had a couple of issues that needed investigating. The dealership charge just under £130 to diagnose each fault.
I reluctantly agreed to have one of the faults looked at (the other issue not worth spending on).
I was advised that NS driveshaft was failing and that OS was in a similar condition. Cost to replace £700 each / £1,400 for the pair (on top of the diagnostic fee).
I politely declined and took the vehicle to my trusted mechanics. They're not cheap but are very good at their jobs and I trust them 100%.
The van has just been collected. OS driveshaft was deemed to be fine, the NS replaced for £362.
This included £12 for gearbox oil. On inspection the gearbox was approx 1ltr short of recommended level.
This was not picked up during the dealer service and it seems likely that fluids were not replaced or topped up during the engine replacement.

Unless the new engine fails in the next six months or so (remainder of 12 month warranty), I'll be having no further dealings with Ford or the dealership. Every single step of the journey has been problematic.
I'm struggling to get my head around how a multimillion pound franchise can be so poor and consistently disappoint. 
I do know that I'm done with Ford, never again...

Goudy

It's hard to say, but it appears to me Ford do seem to have a some expensive faults with the vehicles that mainly show up outside of warranty and I'm guessing, but I think they like that!

Duck1234

It seems this issue is wide spread. My 2018 transit custom broke down last Friday, AA said it was the Wet Belt, and took my van to a company that would take on the job, as my regular garage said it was a specialist job! They took engine apart and found that the Wet Belt was in good order, they went on to remove the head and found all in good condition, so after some head scratching they said that I need a new engine, and for me to take the DPF to a specialist company to get it flushed out, which I did, the company said it was blocked solid and took two goes to clean it, so was it back force from the DPF that caused engine to blow? There was no indication of oil pressure nor did any regen sign ever com up, the van has 19,000 miles from new, new filters and oil every year! 

Tucosalamanca

And another one. My scaffolder has just had a 2017 Transit go bang, only 16,000 miles since the engine was replaced by Ford last year (and already been serviced twice). I honestly don't think that they're fit for purpose.
My fleet of Customs have a constant stream of issues. 
Since my last post in November, I've had a turbo and dpf replaced and currently have one with 'vibrations' and another with an intermediate engine management fault (as yet unresolved).
In 30 years of running vans, I've never experienced anything like it.
My day will now be taken up rescheduling works and apologising to clients....

Ganga

Tucosalamanca said:

And another one. My scaffolder has just had a 2017 Transit go bang, only 16,000 miles since the engine was replaced by Ford last year (and already been serviced twice). I honestly don't think that they're fit for purpose.
My fleet of Customs have a constant stream of issues. 
Since my last post in November, I've had a turbo and dpf replaced and currently have one with 'vibrations' and another with an intermediate engine management fault (as yet unresolved).
In 30 years of running vans, I've never experienced anything like it.
My day will now be taken up rescheduling works and apologising to clients....

And i dare say looking for a new supplier of vans ,cannot see you buying another Ford.

Tucosalamanca

I see that once again, Ford were featured on The One Show/BBC Watchdog last night (Wednesday 28th Feb).
The feature was specifically for the Ecoboost Engine but it's very similar issues with the Ecoblue engine. 
BBC One - The One Show - WATCHDOG – Ford Ecoboost

Ripp3rCrust

Interesting to hear everyone else's experiences here, I'm not sure if you're aware of Ford reducing the service intervals for wetbelt replacements in Transits from 150,000 miles and ten years to 100,000 miles and 6 years, this beung due to oil dilution as a result of diesel leakage.

See the attached image. It seems that they have changed position with the EcoBoost engines in cars to cover repairs under most circumstance, so long as the car has been serviced appropriately. 

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be happening with Transit owners. My 2020 van had a failure at 75k miles, despite having full service history. Ford have only offered a contribution of £119.36 on a total repair bill of over £1.5k as a 'gesture of goodwill'. It seems criminal that they aren't helping owners of vehicles with EcoBlue engines despite knowing they're defective. 

willowthewisp2009

I know this was posted over a year ago but hoping someone knowledgeable on here can help with my similar issue!  Our Ford Transit Custom van 2019 broke down at the weekend and wet belt failure is the diagnosis, so ultimately a dead van that is too expensive to fix.  It has only done 35K miles, purchased directly from Ford in 2021.  Does anyone know what kind of come back I have on this?  We haven't even finished paying off the finance yet so it's so very upsetting.  Any advice appreciated thank you.

Tucosalamanca

If the vehicle has a full service history carried out on schedule, with details of oil used, you stand some chance of a goodwill payment, particularly as the vehicle was purchased from Ford.

2019 Transit Customs with low mileage are retailing for £15-20k plus vat, so not sure why you think it's uneconomical to repair?

Your first port of call is the dealer you bought from, I'm seeing reports of people having success, as well as others who are being left to pick up the pieces... It seems to be luck of the draw. Hope it works out for you!

willowthewisp2009

Thank so much for the quick reply.  Both the RAC guy and the initial chat with the garage said it's a dead van, new engine required.  Now it has been towed to the garage they are having a proper look today, so will see what they say regarding costs to repair.  It has full service history, not at Ford but very detailed reports, they used 0W-30 oil.   Will let you know if I get any further with it.