WOAH! Piston slap does NOT mean the engine has had it
My 1.4 used to knock like hell!! people used to say my bottom end was about to give in any seccond... And sure enough it was just a worn piston, I ran the car a good 20,000 miles, slowly got louder and louder, i got my self a doner 16v engine so i decided to rag the hell out of my 1.4, knowing it had a bad piston, trying to blow it, after all that, when i stripped it down and inspected it, there was slight ovaling of the piston but no damage what so ever...
Modern cars do get piston slap and its something you live with, it will cause you to loose your hearing before the piston goes pop
Generally speaking anyway, sometimes it can scratch the bore, causes it to burn oil etc.. but the engine hasnt had it, you can usually slap some new piston rings on or a new piston, depending on whats actually causing it.
Go out and find a ford Zetec engine that doesnt have slight piston slap when cold.. you wont find one, never does them any harm....
