Hello everyone.
Thanks in advance for helping me out here. I haven't driven in several years and ended up buying a second hand car from a car dealer this week. I have no clue about cars and parts, etc.
It is a Ford Fiesta 1.3 (is that 1.25?) (Finesse - whatever that means)
And the reg is an 03 reg.
The mileage when buying this car was 65k.
It came with no service history.
I enquired about the cambelt and the dealer, the next day after it went for its final preparations said that this car has a "timing chain". He said it will be fine as long as the oil is kept changing at regular intervals and kept an eye on.
I read up about differences on cambelts and chains. It seems from what I can gather, belts can break anytime, but a chain lasts a lot longer (in some cases, the lifetime of a car if its looked after well). I also gather you hear the noises and the car feels more sluggish before a timing chain will break so you usually will know to change it.
Is it worth changing this now? Or do you think it'll be fine? And if it will be fine, can MOTs or getting it serviced check if it needs changing? Is it worth waiting until then (next MOT September) near year. I can't seem to settle in my mind thinking, is this thing gonna break on me? But I do feel more relieved that it's much rarer for a chain to break.
There are no noises on the engine and it seems to be driving smoothly.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance for helping me out here. I haven't driven in several years and ended up buying a second hand car from a car dealer this week. I have no clue about cars and parts, etc.
It is a Ford Fiesta 1.3 (is that 1.25?) (Finesse - whatever that means)
And the reg is an 03 reg.
The mileage when buying this car was 65k.
It came with no service history.
I enquired about the cambelt and the dealer, the next day after it went for its final preparations said that this car has a "timing chain". He said it will be fine as long as the oil is kept changing at regular intervals and kept an eye on.
I read up about differences on cambelts and chains. It seems from what I can gather, belts can break anytime, but a chain lasts a lot longer (in some cases, the lifetime of a car if its looked after well). I also gather you hear the noises and the car feels more sluggish before a timing chain will break so you usually will know to change it.
Is it worth changing this now? Or do you think it'll be fine? And if it will be fine, can MOTs or getting it serviced check if it needs changing? Is it worth waiting until then (next MOT September) near year. I can't seem to settle in my mind thinking, is this thing gonna break on me? But I do feel more relieved that it's much rarer for a chain to break.
There are no noises on the engine and it seems to be driving smoothly.
Thanks in advance.