What are your tips for general maintenance ?

[MrSpermCell]

My fiesta is 13 years old and so it has some parts that are starting to show there wear and tear. For example some seals are starting to peel and there are spots on the paint that is cracking and showing the metal beneath.
whilst these issues are not serious and probbaly wont be for a while. i still would love to be abl to fix them to prevent future issues and for the look of my fiesta.
Please if you can, tell me any ways to fix these issues as well as your tips for general maintance as the car gets older.
id really appreciate to hear all the ways to help maintain my cars health as its gets older.
Thanks in advance

 

[scotman]

From a strictly mechanical and electrical perspective timely oil and filter changes are critical for keeping the internal engine components clean and lubricated especially the camshaft phasers that use oil pressure passed through tiny passages to make fine adjustments to the intake and exhaust camshaft’s. When one of these gets plugged up with debris it affects the drivability and fuel economy and not in a good way.
Battery condition is also very critical to the proper operation of any feature that uses electricity, which could be one or more of many features. Weak or faulty ground connections are also a major concern for the electrical system and the reliability of stable, clean voltage, even if it means tiny voltage requirements becoming unstable such as the signal voltage of the Canbus system. Stable voltage is critical.
The cooling system will inevitably “age out “. More specifically the coolant reservoir and the plastic lines that attach to the reservoir. The plastic lines and their attachment clips are very sensitive to heat soaking and embrittlement. They are much less expensive to replace as a maintenance task undertaken in your driveway than after a failure on the highway at an inconvenient location and time.
The major maintenance point of replacing the timing belt and water pump should be combined with replacement of the stretchy serpentine belt and the thermostat to prevent any issues with reinstalling an old stretchy belt. Dividing those tasks might prove to be a false economy if you have issues that strand you and require a tow. There goes your savings and then some.
It would be a good idea to get some simple Vaseline petroleum jelly to coat the external ground connections and slow down the process of corrosion.
The rest is normal maintenance given to any vehicle that is valued enough to be serviced regularly to ensure that it is safe and functioning properly.
Please use the search function bar using keywords to find the subject closest to what you need to know. This forum is in the process of becoming more of a database or archive site than an active forum where queries are being answered in a timely manner.

 

[Handy Andy]

If you haven't already done so, might want to take a look at on-line Ford Parts dealers and see if the year you have - they still can locate parts for. On-line ordering is not exactly my cup of tea when it comes to knowing if the part will fit, but it can give you part numbers in strings that you can take to a local Ford Dealer and ask their parts counter about. They can then at least compare - inspect or bring up the part and even offer cheaper solutions at local stores for parts they no longer make due to the Aftermarket has taken over and many Dealers won't support parts that sit and gather dust on their shelves because 3rd-world markets have taken much of their business away.

​