A Ford Joins My Garage: Ford Figo Petrol (1st Gen) Ownership Review

[mayankdixit]

Changing the Drive Belts of my Figo as a DIY, in my Home, without any special tools


Installation Pics:

This is the Crankshaft pulley
:

Belt connecting crankshaft pulley to ac compressor pulley

Routing of the belt

Belt is loose over the water pump pulley

This is the belt cover/shield

Coolant bottle removed out of the way to access the belts

Belt cover is intact even after many scrapes

WIP

This is the Timing Belt

All the 3 pulleys seen in this pic

Car has to be raised quite high to work underneath

Condition of timing belt. Looks to be alright with no cuts or cracks

Work in Progress, engine cover removed

Crankshaft main bolt

After Final installation of new belt

This is how the routing has to be done in a serpentine way

 

[mayankdixit]

Few more pics from the DIY

OEM Belt is costly. Part no. and DOM and MRP seen clearly.

Bigger belt is 6PK

Old Belt still had some life left

Smaller Belt is 5 PK

Both the belt are made in EU

Overall very satisfying DIY. Feels good. Car engine is far more silent than before.
Although I couldn't have done it on my own without muscle help from my son. He was the one continuously rotating the crankshaft manually, which is very tight and takes a lot of effort !!
I also happily demonstrated to him all the belt routing and all the pulleys, and what do they do and their roles and risks in case of failure etc. etc. He is a keen learner, and understands faster than me.
Thank you for staying with my DIY till the end.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

A kind polite suggestion, When working underneath ensure:
1. Jack is mounted properly (Use 2 Jacks), or put your spare wheel underneath too !
2. Wear gloves, always working with fluids, and sock gloves when handling metal parts.
3. Closed shoes a must !
4. A log book of whatever you are doing is great (Your son can do that, as it will be easy for you to take a note if something goes wrong, or something worked after multiple tries)

 

[mayankdixit]

A kind polite suggestion, When working underneath ensure:
1. Jack is mounted properly (Use 2 Jacks), or put your spare wheel underneath too !
2. Wear gloves, always working with fluids, and sock gloves when handling metal parts.
3. Closed shoes a must !
4. A log book of whatever you are doing is great (Your son can do that, as it will be easy for you to take a note if something goes wrong, or something worked after multiple tries)

Thank you for your kind suggestion, as well as concern. You are right by all counts.
Except point no.3 everything else was followed properly.
Now that you have pointed out, I will take care of that too. Sounds logical and correct, and better than bruises on toes. or worse loosing a finger in bad scenarios.

 

[mayankdixit]

Figo has crossed 11 years peacefully. Running fine. Good pickup. Very good lower end torque and power, but that comes just past the idling rpm, not at the idling rpm like diesels. Still far better than my petrol Marutis,which had nothing to offer before 1500-1600 rpms.
I find it very reliable and forgiving car, with very less electricals as compared to todays gen. And I find this (very less electricals) as a blessing. Rear window glass is huge. Very helpful in reversing the car. Nowadays cars have been getting smaller and smaller rear window glass. Very difficult to reverse in conventional way. Need cameras. But not here with Figo. Its very easy reversing here in this car.


Faced small issue with vandalism. left backlight was cracked when I returned to the parking. Got upset for some time. I know, crap happens, so I had to just let it go . And buy a new one.

pics of the replacement

New one is on the right side

crack seen on the red portion

old and new comparison, new one is at the front

this rubber gasket should not be shifted/removed as its water seal gasket. If removed/shifted water will enter boot compartment.

packing with part no. and price

crack clearly seen. Finger can enter the crack. Risk of water filling in the broken light chamber while washing.

wiring is straightforward. But tricky thing is there are 2 blanks. Maybe for fog lights.

upper light chamber is blank, for extra lights maybe.

 

[mayankdixit]

Figo is running fine. Its a joy to drive in traffic as well as open roads. Winters have started in Kanpur and Figo has a very good heater. I am liking it.
What I have noticed is that in diesel cars engine coolant takes time and distance to gather some heat. This results in delayed heating and if the journey is short, lets say for 2kms to the marketplace, you don't get to enjoy hot blower much, before the journey is over !
In Figo within a minute or two, the blower starts emitting hot air. This feature is I think common in petrol cars. As I said , I like this feature very much, and appreciate it in winters


Tear drop shaped headlights

Fastag put up.

Moondust silver colour looks elegant

 

[bhvm]

diesel cars engine coolant takes time and distance to gather some heat

True that. Safari takes a good 15 mins of driving before the temp gague shows any action.
And it never seems to warm up when idling. Even after half hour.

Fastag put up.

My recent experience has been poor. The cameras take too much time to read the tag. Often needing a manual scan. Any speed advantage over cash is lost.

 

[deville_56]

My recent experience has been poor. The cameras take too much time to read the tag. Often needing a manual scan. Any speed advantage over cash is lost.

Mine was just the opposite. Been to Chennai and back recently with 20+ tolls to and fro, some toll gates even opened without stopping showing tag accepted.

 

[mayankdixit]

My recent experience has been poor. The cameras take too much time to read the tag. Often needing a manual scan. Any speed advantage over cash is lost.

Mine was just the opposite. Been to Chennai and back recently with 20+ tolls to and fro, some toll gates even opened without stopping showing tag accepted.

My experience is midway between you guys. Mostly I was not needed to completely stop. Just after the front car truck/car has moved ahead and crossed the barrier, crawl slowly- slowly towards the barrier gate, don't hurry, keep crawling. By the time you reach the gate, mostly it registers the fastag and gate opens up and you accelerate ahead.
Just before opening, you can also see the LED/LCD display on the right side before the barrier has turned from red to green, and your car no. is showing on that display.

 

[mayankdixit]

DIY Engine oil + Oil Filter + Engine Air filter change.
I was able to drive about 5000kms in the last one year. This is more than my average running. I could achieve this because I drove Figo more than other cars. It was time to change the oils and filters.


Air filter box was dirty inside. Honestly I did not expect this much dirt in an year of driving. Considering that air filter change interval is much- much more, I expected it to be reusable after air pressure cleaning. but after giving it a thought I decided to replace it straightaway.

Nobody likes to open air filter in a ford. Overall 12 bolts need to be opened to reach air filter. Its an overkill. And time consuming too.

OEM Filter has this logo and code, which matches the sticker on outside box. Helps to find out genuine ones. Aftermarket ones obviously don't.

After searching for OEM parts of Figo for many many days in my local market, I now realise that the happiest Ford owner person in whole of India will be the one living in Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu,603204

 

[mayankdixit]

After searching for OEM parts of Figo for many many days in my local market, I now realise that the happiest Ford owner person in whole of India will be the one living in Chengalpattu, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu,603204

Well I was just joking.

Ford very clearly recommends 4 litres of 10W30 engine oil for petrol Figo. It is difficult to procure this spec oil nowadays. I bought 3.5 lit MOTUL can and added 500 ml from Servo 10w30 can.
3.5 + 0.5 = 4litres.

This 1 lit SERVO can is also 10W30. It was purchased for this very reason. I measured 500 ml by pouring oil into a jug with scale on the sides.

This 1/2 inch square drive socket was used for oil filter removal. This is very helpful when the filter is very tightly stuck.

Oil filter removed

More closeup shot

New OEM oil filter. EFL600

 

[mayankdixit]

DIY Engine oil + Oil Filter + Engine Air filter change. (contd.)

Air filter routing is convoluted and very confusing. So I made intake and output marks for air. Air filter should be put upside down.

This is how the air filter goes in. Right pic compares New and old air filter

Socket to open oil filter

Looking for oil leak after the DIY

Tappet cover has signs of oil leak from the gasket. Not good. Will have to mend it.

It appears that oil leak is from the corners where the gasket is bent

Tappet cover has signs of oil leak from the gasket.

Sump bolt gasket needs to be replaced at every oil change.

 

[mayankdixit]

Replacing fuel lid opener knob :
Original fuel lid opener knob was missing in my Figo for past many years. This part is not available in the market. Too insignificant small part + too little demand, they said. But for me that held a lot of significance !! Car was not looking complete, you see. The more I searched for it , the more times I got a 'no' for availability. Soon I got obsessed with this small part. OCD, its called, in medical parlance. Yes, its a type of mental illness.
I was searching for this small part for quite some time. In vain I tried Maruti and Hyundai spare parts, but those were not fitting properly. Luckily today I could lay my hands on this small Ford OEM thing. I installed it as soon as possible.

Its very economical, just 67/-

This was how it looked so far, with just a plastic piece remaining.

Plastic cover piece removed

original knob installed

Part number and price, so that no one gets OCD anymore.

 

[Redex]

-continued

DIY changing Engine oil and oil Filter of my Ford Figo petrol:

I used kitchen dish cleaner + surf excel detergent solution to remove all the oil, grime, grease, and mud from the sump area

After cleaning pics

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You can understand the cleaning better when you see before pics

Before cleaning pics

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Old and new side by side

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Oil drained is very dark and deteriorated

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Post the oil change I have noticed 4 things:

1. Car is running very smoothly.

2. Engine pickup is back to original. Max speed( compared to previously) is easy to reach.

3. Engine has become quite silent. Previously it sounded like a diesel.

4. Idling is still very rough, Although I did not expect it to improve by mere engine oil change.

Hi,
Check the air inlet pipe and change the air filter element. Get the ECU code read. Check, clean or replace MAF sensor. Check,clean or replace the PCV (especially if the engine oil has been overfilled.
Regards Neil

 

[mayankdixit]

Hi,
Check the air inlet pipe and change the air filter element. Get the ECU code read. Check, clean or replace MAF sensor. Check,clean or replace the PCV (especially if the engine oil has been overfilled.
Regards Neil

Thank you for your advice. And a very warm welcome to you on the forum. Nice and comforting to have folks like you around. Your huge experience will surely help us all.
There is some oil around PCV outlet pipe ( where it comes out of the engine). Its difficult to reach. But now that you have pointed it out, I think I will look into it.
@ Redex May I ask you a question:
While changing timing belt on my Ford Figo petrol, How should I fix/stop the crankshaft pulley from rotating, in order to unscrew the crankshaft bolt??
There is no mark, no hole (to insert a tool) on the pulley, nothing to hold the crankshaft pulley from rotating. Timing tools will get damaged if I use them to stop the engine from turning. They are only for locking the timing.