Im looking at a Fiesta 1.25 R reg at lunch time today, just wondering what to look for on them? is there any rust points to look for? and common issues that will Fail MOT`s etc? Its Moted till Dec, and Taxed till June, and 72k miles its up for £350. I know this is cheap, so just a bit warry just in case. It has a few cosmetic problems, couple of knocks etc. but want to know what to look out for.

Cheers

 

Back arches rot badly. For that reg make sure its had a timing belt. They should be replaced every 10 years or 100.000 miles. The bottom arm bushes wear. Apart from that there a good car with a cracking engine. The wife had a R reg mk 4. She has a mk5 5door gear now. We have had it 5 years and its been spot on. The back arches are a bit rusty but apart from that it just keeps going. Its got 96.000 miles on it now and it still feels fit.

 

Cool, cheers for that. Would do the cambelt normaly as dont know the history, cant always beleive whats in the service book. Kit dont cost much either looking on ebay.
Hopefully the arches are not bad then.

cheers

 

You will need the tools to do it.Once you loosen the crank pulley all the timing becomes free floating.It took me 3 hours to on a 2 post lift at work.If you get stuck give me a shout.

 

im looking at getting a mk4, looking on ebay seem to be a lot that have engine trouble, or have had the engine changed, not sure what the common fault is with small zetec engines, might be big ends due to lack of oil changes or head gaskets, seems to be quite a few zetec engines with head gaskets gone, mainly escorts tho

 

I jus did a mot for my mate in his white rusty r reg fiesta! Failes on seals n back axel bushes so look into those but apart from the rust the car drives superb! It is a 1.25 zetec engine aswell! Great reliable cars.. Crap shell lol

 

They rot on the inner rear arch panels, under the arch liners. Can spread to the area where the rear beam bolts to the car.