2002 Ford Fiesta LX from UK and Ireland - Comments

The vehicle has low mileage for it's age, however due to a fault the power steering liquid has been leaking, which has resulted in the requirement to replace the full steering rack.

Have been advised that this is a common fault and wondered if anyone has had the same problem?

My Fiesta LX 1.4 has just been 'diagnosed' with this fault, so will be having its steering rack replaced this week. I also know of another person who has had theirs replaced a couple of weeks ago. However, Ford won't admit that there must be a fault in the manufacture, and, as my Fiesta is out of warranty, aren't interested. Other than that, the car is great.

I have a fiesta 1.4 zetec, which is three years old. It has just had to have its power steering pump replaced and now I have found out that it also requires replacement of the steering rack.

I have the 1.4 Fiesta Zetec, luckily for me I bought the car when it was 3 years old and they threw a years warranty in with the car! At 24,100 miles the groaning started so I took it to the Ford Service Center who have ordered the new steering rack.

Where was the leak? Eg, If you parked the car and checked underneath. Was the leak towards the front? My 1.6 fiesta 2003 is leaking a red clean liquid... Power steering fluid. How neccessary is it to replace the steering rack in the scenario? CLayton, JHB South Africa.

My Fiesta LX 1.4 has just been 'diagnosed' with this fault, so will be having its steering rack replaced this week. I am another person who has had theirs replaced. However, Ford won't admit that there must be a fault in the manufacture, and, as my Fiesta is out of warranty, aren't interested. Other than that, the car is great.

My 1.4LX Fiesta has also now been diagnosed as requiring a new steering rack, its 6 months out of warranty and only done 21,000 miles. It possibly also requires the power-steering pump changed, but I'll find out in the next few days.

It had a major service and MOT only 2 months ago and the report indicates that the system was checked and no leaks found, I'll no doubt be investigating this issue. Apart from this issue its been fine.

My 1.4 LX 2002 (02) fiesta was diagnosed with this problem at the end of 2005. Ford told me I needed a new steering rack at a cost of about £550. I told them that was ridiculous as I couldn't afford it and the car was only 1 month out of warranty. They agreed to pay 45% of the bill, but it still cost me over £300.

I'm very happy with the car now, apart from a belt noise/squeak that it's developed - anyone else have this problem? It's going in to be checked out later this week - hopefully it won't be another expensive job!!

I have a 52 reg 1.4 turbo diesel fiesta. Noisy power steering lead me to check the fluid level and found the level was below minimum. It is leaking from the rack which acording to my local Ford dealer is a common fault on the "New Shape" Fiesta.

19th July 2006 Noon.

I was directed to this site from Fiesta Owners GB forum where I posted a comment about my 2002 Fiesta 1.4LX.

After only 36000 miles it started leaking steering fluid.

Ford dealer from whom I bought it from new, and has regularly serviced it, diagnosed a leaking steering pump. They wanted to replace the pump, and to be safe, the steering rack as well. Total cost over £1000.

I got them to agree to change the seal in the pump (£12) + labour = £200.

This was probably not necessary as unfortunately, the fluid is still leaking.

New rack diagnosed.

This is definitely a common problem, but Ford will not have any of it.

I am told by people who know better than me that the fault lies with the rubber gaiters being too big, allowing the ingress of water, that rusts the inner rack, and presumably perishes the seals – these cannot be replaced alone.

I want to use these reports to draw this conclusive manufacturing defect to the attention of Ford.

Do any of you object to me using your reports?

I bought a Ford Fiesta Zetech 1.4 5 door 2002 model and my 6 month warranty ran out a few months ago. A month or so after this I noticed leaking under the car and after taking the car to a garage was told that that due to a leak in the steering rack I would need to buy a new one costing approx £600. My car has only done 37000 miles.

Having read the reports on this site it seems like a common fault from Ford and I feel strongly that something needs to be done.

I have a 52 reg fiesta and have just been told that it needs a new steering rack / pump at a cost of £720.96.

I have looked on another website and noted that there were a lot of other fiesta owners struggling with the same problem.

I have just got off the phone to Ford Customer "care" centre and they say that there is no such common problem and it is just because it is quite old. The car is four years old.

A lot of the owners on the other website have contacted Watchdog. Ford really need to be made aware of how strongly we feel about them pretending this problem doesn't exist.

I had the same problem, the car was 1 month over 5 years old. We put the car in for an M.O.T and to see what the problem was, the Ford main dealer rang us back and told us what the problem was and how much is what going to cost (around £800) I was speechless, the mileage on the car was under 20,000, so me to the car had not done the mileage and wasn't the age you would expect that sort of repair to be needed, Ford customer service didn't want to know and even put the phone down when I told them that hundreds of people had this same problem and I felt it needed investigation.

I have a 1.8 Diesel model (Endura engine), bought it about a year ago. Only problem with the power steering so far happened yesterday. I recently changed the belts, and with the new ones the tension adjuster (don't know the technical name) was too far back (that is to the front of the car) that it was right against the power steering hose, and the hose was worn cut in two days.

Other than that the car is just fine. I like it a lot.

FB (from South America)

I have a 2002 Fiesta (a Netherlands version of the First Edition) and I, too, have the leaking steering issue. It's been leaking for over a year now and I'm sure it's going to be the rack and the pump, but I'm not about to stick 1300 euros into it (I've owned the car from the beginning). Right now though, I'm just topping the reservoir up every 600 km or so).

I'm going to check the Dutch car boards and see if there are any real discussions concerning this problem, and moreover, see if they're taking any group action.

Clearly, this is more than a few cars having problems...