do you always get the car serviced by Ford? i'm asking this because a couple of years ago i had a wee mk4 fiesta zetec. It was always serviced by Ford. But about 1 month after such a service it started making ticking sounds that came from the engine, so i checked the oil and found it to be really low, wasn't even registering on the dipstick! now bearing in mine this was one month after a service and the car only had 20k on it, i took it back to ford. Without any bother at all they agreed to replace the small ends which were knackered an only asked me to pay something like £100. They called it a 'Good Will Warranty' as the car was always serviced by them. hope this is of some help to you