my sister in law has owned a ford focus 1.4 since new (it's a 54 plate) and has, on a couple of occassions, sent it back due to errant misfires and a lack of power.
i've never really paid attention to the problem (or even driven it, which is a shame now!), but when she got a call yesterday, I had to go and check it out.
apparently it was in having yet another set of spark plugs fitted when one of the plugs broke (really), and the head had to come off to remove it properly. when they pulled the head, this is what they found...
yep, a missing piston! when she called to say it had a piston missing, i assumed she'd misheard the mechanic, but no, it really was missing! the mechanic couldn't believe it. he drove it in to the workshop and said it seemed to run ok with no obvious problems or noises!
the weird bit is that although the rod is clearly bent, the bore shows no signs of damage or wear. the gudgeon pin is a little scuffed (but looks a lot worse in these pics). in fact, the bore is quite rusty with no obvious scuffing at all - almost as if it's never had a piston in there.
i'm baffled - i'd have thought it would have been spewing smoke and banging around, but it seems not. but how on earth has this been in to the main dealers on 3 occassions and nobody realised it was missing a piston?! surely it would have flashed up some sort of fault code and what about the emissions, they must have been all over the place!!
the other weird thing is that they've used this car every day, 80mph on the motorway, with no problems other than the odd stumble. just madness really! the worlds most bullet-proof 3 cylinder!!
anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this pans out. the mechanic is writing a report saying he thinks it may not have had a piston ever as there's no lumps or evidence of a piston (apparently they're assembled by machine, not by hand), but I can't imagine that it could have slipped though the radar for so long if that's the case. it'll be interesting to see what ford come back with as it's out of warranty now.
just a crazy find that blew me away, so i thought i'd share it!
