[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by mithun

Also, the ol' Ford Ikon D was always notorious for the maintenance !

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

I presume that the Ikon's you mentioned were the old 1.8 D's. Not much of TDCi Ikons with the yellow board yet !

We are talking about the TDCi DuraTorq versions alone - and that is what I was talking about too!! Not the ancient 1.8D not-worth-mentioning mills!!!

Originally Posted by Zero Cool

My accent viva crdi was recently sold with 116000 kms marking the odometer. There was nothing really wrong in the car.

Lucky you!! Many I know, and many here, have had problems with the 3-pot in the Accent CRDi after 80k!

Spare prices for regular maintenance, like you mentioned, may be a concern with Ford, but I get the feeling that they are working hard in making their cars affordable to maintain too

[ramzsys]

OT: Ford ikon 1.8D is not at all prone to frequent maintenance, atleast the powertrain. My current ride is 150k on odo, and another few ikon Ds i knew lasted 2L marks and going on.

[ph03n!x]

IMO, the 1.8D mill is a heavy one, and is underpowered for the car's weight - the iKon has excellent handling characteristics, and this engine did no justice to that aspect of the car. The gear ratios do not help either (compared to the TDCi - low on power again, but excellent spaced gear ratios). Though I have not owned it, the iKon of that time - petrol and diesel - are well-known to be costly to maintain.

But we are going here- lets keep to discussing the TDCi

[govigov]

Originally Posted by Zero Cool

I have not driven a duratorq engine but i have owned an accent viva crdi.

from what i have heard and is the general notion -

the long term maintainability (high costs) is the factor where the MJD trumps over the duratorq. my accent literally ran for free till the first 60k kms but it was afterwards as the recurring costs forced me to sell it. The timing belt, clutch,axle etc were priced more than twice its petrol counterpart. Im sure that the spares of duratorq engine wont be any cheaper than the crdi engine. Now the MJD , because of the fact that it is being marketed by Maruti and Tata should have its spares priced at much more reasonably.

This the same general notion that i have heard. apart from this a lot of people (frineds/relatives) have said no to this car/engine

Originally Posted by mithun

But the DuraTorq is not a mile cruncher like say a DDiS. And, I've seen lots of smoking DuraTorqs and from what I've heard (from the folks) the DuraTorq is not so a nice engine to keep for long !

ditto! not a milecruncher is what i heard to. read the point mentioned below.

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

We drove one of the Figo TDCi prototypes for 300,000 kms in India, South Africa & Australia & absolutely drove it enthusiastically. There were no problems except for the regular replacement of service parts, No engine jobs done!

Thats good to hear!


I have another doubt, how reliable is this engine? as in, if we were to take out a mahindra(2.5crde or 2.2mhawk), we know that car will reach its destination no matter what!

Is the 1.4 TDCi notorious in having highway breakdowns? nobody would like to be stranded in the middle of the road!! well, notorious is pushing it, but the thought has gone throught the mind.

i have not yet seen a 1.3MJD or a mahindra (2.5crde) on the road with the bonnet open. maybe i am not looking enough!

regards,
govigov

[Mustang.101]

@govigov : The TDCi is not at all notorious for breakdowns, If you all fluid levels are ok then you can travel as long as you want.

[akj53]

One of my son's friend has a Fiesta and has covered 1.8 lac kms and the engine is still running fine. He is perfectly happy with the car as it is running without any major repairs.

[Mpower]

Taxi sales are a good indicator of engine durability and reliability. Its not a fluke that Logan has been embraced so enthusiastically
by them.

Originally Posted by condor

Yes, Ikon-D taxi's are increasing by the day & I dont see any yellow plate DZire's / Swifts.

Ford should agressively pursue the taxicab market to keep the Ikon alive.
Now hows the price comparison between IkonD and LoganD. Surely you can stuff more people into a Logan.

[unni.ak]

Originally Posted by mithun

But the DuraTorq is not a mile cruncher like say a DDiS. And, I've seen lots of smoking DuraTorqs and from what I've heard (from the folks) the DuraTorq is not so a nice engine to keep for long !

What makes you say this? I've heard of Fiestas with upwards of 2lac kms on the odo, taxis, which has only regular maintenance done. These cars most times push the service limit, and do it only after 10k kms unlike privately owned cars.

The engine has been in the market for a long long time, not one of the most tech-filled engines around, but more than does its job. Even in my visits to the service centers, I've seen only a couple of "engine job" cars there. And almost always its because of owner negligence.

Originally Posted by govigov

I have another doubt, how reliable is this engine? as in, if we were to take out a mahindra(2.5crde or 2.2mhawk), we know that car will reach its destination no matter what!

Is the 1.4 TDCi notorious in having highway breakdowns? nobody would like to be stranded in the middle of the road!! well, notorious is pushing it, but the thought has gone throught the mind.

i have not yet seen a 1.3MJD or a mahindra (2.5crde) on the road with the bonnet open. maybe i am not looking enough!

regards,
govigov

Govigov, just curious, how many Fiestas/Ikons with TDCi engines have you seen with bonnets open on the highways? I'm yet to come across any.

These days, be it mHawk, DDIS, MJD etc, engine failure can usually mean just 2 scenarios:

1. Maintenance not on schedule.
2. Manufacturing defect/Lemon.

[abhibh]

My friends Fiesta TDCi ZXi has done around 1.5lac km last time i checked in 2009 September. Must be around 2 lacs now and its butter smooth. Drove it at 1.56 lacs and the engine was so smooth in acceleration it never felt like i was driving a diesel car.

The car is running on synthetic oil since 20k KM so must have made some difference with oil change interval at 10K KM.

[tj123]

Diesel engine car are generally very reliable and will last at least 3,00,000 Km easily, under normal driving conditions, provided that all running-in ,regular service & oil changes are done properly.

[condor]

Mpower : Taxi sales are a good indicator of engine durability and reliability. Its not a fluke that Logan has been embraced so enthusiastically by them.

Institutional sales made a huge diff there. Remember our earlier discussion about the Logan's sales ?

Mpower : Surely you can stuff more people into a Logan.

It's rare that these cabs are stuffed with people. Business travel hire is often about 1 to 3 passengers.

[ssenhyd]

I have completed 101,000 KMs on my 2007 Ford Fiesta Duratorq 1.4 TDCI last month.
The engine is as smooth as it was the first day I bought this car, and the way it runs now, unless I am unfortunate, it should run merrily without any issues for another 70K to 80K KMs at the minimum, if not more.
I have always got my car serviced at a Ford authorized service center at the recommended servicing interval of 10,000 KMs or 6 months which ever is earlier and carried out all routine replacements as per manufacturers recommendation and guidelines.
I have used non-synthetic Ford recommended engine oil throughout and do not feel any difference for not using the expensive synthetic engine oil that so many people recommend.
The only major unexpected repairs till now have been the failure of the main fan motor at 25K KM, which I replaced.
Other than that it has been the regular manufacturer recommended changes such as replacement of engine belts, shock absorbers etc.
As far as the engine is concerned there has been *NO* issues with the engine and no repairs undertaken.
All I can say is that this one very reliable and trouble free engine.
I plan to keep this car and run it till the car becomes unreliable or the repairs become too expensive.

[mail4ajo]

I was on a NTL Taxi Fiesta. Since the car looked surprisingly neat inside, I asked the driver on the mileage and he said inching towards 93000kms. His boss was the 3rd owner of the car and no major work in last 2 years. I think thats normal for most Taxi segment cars.

Unless you plan to drive so much in a short time frame, you need not be worried about the reliability of most Diesel engines especially Ford. Its the associated components that can fail.

Also forgot to add, I am sure you all know that the Ford engines are made from a tie up with Peugeot/Citroen.

[arvind71181]

My father in laws vehicle has run 1.23L kms and is still doing fine, engine wise. Think it will be good enough to go till the 2L mark at least. Its the AC which has started to act up after the odo crossed 1L.

[myshanks]

There was some smoke emission and they changed the Turbo unit and no luck. They said they will check the compression and they did and it is OK. Now they say we need to open the engine and look for oil rings and if it is worn out, then I need to change the entire engine block costing 1.6 Lakhs.

Is it really the options in front of me.

Kindly give your thoughts and I can even bring my car to Bangalore for a check up, if any one suggests.

Shanks