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Comments
Also, after I had the front bearings changed, I noticed that the car now makes loud rattles whenever I hit potholes or unevenly paved roads. Also, when I turn, the right wheel makes a "thunk" sound. Did the mechanic damage the CV joint?
Is the sound indigenous to the Focus? My friend told me that he noticed it in another Focus. I don't like the sound at all. Can't hear the radio and annoying.
HELP !!!
I also have an '03 (SE) with 2.0SPI. With 25K miles, recently it's been making a buffetting- whirring- rumble noise from 40mph and up. The exhaust system is very rusty(was a rental?), so maybe it's a leak. However, I was interested in why you needed front bearings replaced? Is there a TSB/recall for that on the 2003? I thought that was for older models, and resolved by now. You also replaced the tires. Was that for noise or just worn from miles? My SE also has alot cabin noise from the factory goodyears
I believe. Sounds like I'm driving on snow tires mostly! I'm afraid to let them touch anything.Not good,I know.Thanks & Good Luck!
Thanks for responding. I had the front bearings replaced because I was trying to eliminate the possible cause one at a time. The bearing replacement helped a lot and indeed eliminated some of the sound it produces. I read about the bearing recall on the 2000-02 models. My 2003 rolled off the assembly line in the fall of 02, so I should consider it still part of the defective batch. Bearing was $30 for each side, so it did not hurt my wallet that much. Still, after the replacement, at speeds like what I mentioned, it's still there. I replaced the tires months after I bought it because at the time of purchase, there was a significant amount of shaking on the road too. It was eliminated after putting a new set of tires, except for the whirring sound. The tires it had on when I bought it were of a Korean brand.
The cabin sound is just annoying, really. Reminds me of old Toyota cabs in Asia in the late 60s. They made this kind of sound, because of bad differentials (bearing?). Perhaps if I switch to 15 or 16" rims it will also help.
Thanks. Your experience does not make me alone in this. If I find the source, I will let you know. Oh, my car was a rental vehicle from a popular company. I found out when I called Ford in Michigan to complain about this. :mad:
Now its the radiator. It is a 2002 Focus with almost 69,000 miles on it. I am very good to my car - change the oil regularly, have it checked out when it needs to be, etc. I am so fed up.
Anyway. The radiator is super expensive. I looked up prices on ebay instead of through the dealership, and there are two very different looking radiators that are supposed to fit my car. One looks to be a bit curved and has an opening for coolant, the other looks more like the one in my car and is flat. What is the difference between the two, and would you/would you not reccomend buying parts off ebay?
Also - how much of a pain is it to put in? I changed out the springs this winter, and it was a bit difficult, but not impossible. Any thoughts?
:mad: --BrokeFocus
Had the tires rotated and helped a little. You mentioned a recall on the car for a bearing problem? Was this a official notice form Ford? Also, has anyone out there had any problems with the engine exhaust be a little blueish-white (oil)? Car has only 45,000 and a recent oil change. I checked under the car and on the drivers right where the air conditioner sits (bottom of car) I found oil all over the a/c unit? Or maybe it's compressor oil? A/C works fine so don't think it's a compressor problem? Appreciate any input........thanks
Focus is a very British car (no pun intended)... requiring a lot of time in the garage ! In asia my cars were Ford Cortina and Ford Granada (UK version) -- spent more time in the shop than on the road !!! If it's not one thing it's another. Not amusing thing in America. My alternate car then was a Mazda GLC/Ford Laser. It never spent a minute in the shop for repairs.
I called Ford in Michigan to complain but all I got was a message saying they were going to document my complaint. And that was in 2003. Never heard from them again.
Too bad. I like the handling of my Focus. But it's draining my wallet for repairs and check ups.
Any expert opinion on this? Whirring/Humming and chipping/cupping rear tires.
Toyota is getting very attractive each day ...
To the author of message #110, I suggest you read all the discussion topics in the forum section. You will see that we are not the only ones with problems with our Fords. Keyword is LOW QUALITY and Ford USA never seemed to consider our complaints.
John
JM
It is now at 25,000 miles, and the cruise control has stopped working. That's a source of dismay, but Ford will fix it.
The windshield wipers do not return to their stowed position when I turn them off.
They just stop wherever they are, forcing me to distract my attention from driving in order to manipulate the blasted things back down and then turn them off before they come back up.
The turn signals are LOUD. Is that typical of all Foci or all Fords?
It sounds wierd. Really. When I have the car moving at low speed, under no acceleration, the sounds coming from the wheels remind me of driving through mud.
It gets poor fuel economy. In my commute, this thing gets only 22 mpg. It is not much bigger than the old Prizm, certainly not much more power, but can't even get close to the 30 mpg my Prizm delivered on the same commute.
My biggest concern is in the totality of all this. Ford has been designing and producing automobiles for 90 years, and they haven't learned how to build a car that has "pleasant" conveniences or globally competitive performance. When I turn off a wiper, I want it to return to it's stowed position. When I turn on a cruise control, I want it to engage. When I use a turn signal, I don't want it to try to wake the dead. When I drive slowly, I don't want to hear alarming noises coming from the wheels.
I must admit that I don't deserve to complain. Before I went car shopping last year, I did an internet search for the top 10 fastest-depreciating cars. Both the Ford Taurus and the Ford Focus were on a list which I thus found, and I chose to buy the cheapest warranted Focus I could find on a dealer's used-car lot within 50 miles of my home. For my effort I got a late model low mileage commute-mobile with with low payments and low interest.
It runs, it's warranted, so I'll keep it for a few years more. It will join the 1983 Ford Escort I once owned as regrettable mistakes, not to be repeated.
a couple of questions. how far is your commute? what are your tire pressures? what kind of tires do you have?
it's ok to complain, maybe some things can be easily corrected(or improved), like your cruise control.
the directional signals are somewhat loud or noticeable. i hear them, but that is it for me.
try this. find some sloping pavement, not too steep. let the car roll with the engine off and your foot off the brake. do you hear any noise? my guess is you have dragging caliper, or bad wheel bearing. that can affect gas mileage, in addition to creating noise.
Also, I had all bearings replaced, rear struts replaced, and now I am waiting for Monday to have the front struts replaced. I am totally convinced FORD assembled this car either on a Friday, Monday, Holiday, OR the parts were all ordered from the junkyard.
I totally REGRET trading my 1999 Escort SE for the Focus. The Escort did not give me a single problem the whole 4 years it was with me. The Focus started giving me problems not even a month after I bought it.
Does Ford care at all? No. They have laughed their way to the bank with my purchase of this lemon.
:lemon:
My fears were soon confirmed the second I drove it off the lot. I test drove this car and found no noticeable problems. I soon discovered the the directional signal return decided to stop working, immediately. So I now have to manually turn off every signal turn. I am almost positive they worked in the test drive.
I took it right back to the dealer and they shook their head. They said probably the air bag and column would have to be pulled out to see what is wrong. They didn't say they would not fix it but they have not said they would fix it either. I am to call them back Monday.
Does anyone know what could have caused this, and what if any rights I have under required safety equipment that they might be responsible for, if it even applies? Thanks :surprise:
He test drove the car & experienced the problem. Then put the car on the lift, dropped the pan & found metal filings. His suggestion was to rebuild the transmission. One problem that he said was known issue is the "Valve Body", it can leak & cause the type of problems I'm having. $2,400 later, I get the car back. It's still slipping as bad as it was before. The Cottman guy concurs w/this and is at a loss as to the cause of the problem. He also says he has checked all the electrical systems & there are no problems there.
He has a brother-in-law that owns a local Ford dealer & I'm told the brother-in-law has never heard of this problem either.
Now I'm out $2,400, and still have the same problem. The "experts" have no idea what is causing the problem. Help!
Thanks. :confuse:
When I first bought it I thought it looked loose, but it wasn't until I made the trip to school that I became really concerned. On the highway and at high speeds it would shake so badly I couldn't make use of it. When I got out I nudged it gently away from the car and towards it. It moved much more than the passenger side mirror which is pretty firmly attached. It has an opening on the side that faces the driver window where I can kinda see in. At the moment I use tape to keep it down and that's helped.
My questions are these; Is this a common problem with the Focus (poor quality?) or more likely the result of a previous handler's mistake? Do I need to take the car in to get fixed or can I do it myself? Several of my friends have suggested just gluing it back in place, but I would like some informed opinions before I do something rash.
Thank you for your time and help!
It's driving me crazy!! I have started looking at every Focus I see, and NOBODY has these plastic hub caps but me!! Everyone else has wheels, no hub caps. What gives? Is this the only Focus made with plastic hub caps??
I guess I'll have to spend money on new hub caps (metal!) if I want the noise to go away!
04 Focus, is this the new design Focus? I am amazed. I thought Ford has finally gotten their act together regarding the new Focus with the new one.
We really should return all our Foci to Ford and let the President, CEO, and all top officials of Ford drive the Ford Focus. Let's see if they don't start complaining too.
A Ford Focus rebellion !!!! What a good laugh we will get out of this... :lemon:
One service advisor who rode in my Focus with me explained that the noise from the wheels was low quality factory-installed wheels. I'll try to specify "quiet" the next time I buy tires. Otherwise, I'll attribute the road noise to a lack of insulation.
Right now, all systems are working nominally on my Ford Focus. For the price, I'm satisfied.
The next time I rotate the tires, I'll pay attention to the brakes, the calipers, and check the wheel bearings. I'd be very surprised if the wheel bearing was already deteriorated. I have had worn-out wheel bearings on another vehicle, and the sound they make is quite recognizable, but not coming from my Focus.
My car has had an idling problem, which I've seen written about on Focus discussion pages by other owners. Stopped at red lights, sometimes the steering wheel vibrates as if a seismic tremor were coming from inside the car. More recently, I'd noticed a surge problem (something I've also seen written about). Sometimes when I give gas it just seems like the car is about to die instead of go, and other times it surges ahead. When in Cruise, sometimes the shifting up a hill takes forever, the car will stay in gear shifting mode way past the point where the car has gone over the hill. And most recently, the car would die if you did not keep your foot full throttle on accelator. Dealer said that was an air valve which needed to be replaced, which was done and for a few weeks the car worked fine other than ongoing idle and surge/hesitation. But the other day while driving around 55, there was a huge knock from the engine, the whole car shuddered, and the indicator light for transmission/engine coolant system came on (an exclamation point). It went off just as quickly and the car kept running, but I had it towned into the dealer anyway as it is under warranty. They still don't know what's wrong with it and say no codes come up in computer. Are any or all of these things related. I read some stuff online about how Focus keyless gears can be really sensitive and a slight screw up in assembly can cause lots of problems. Could it be something like that? My car did not have cruise control when it was bought but the dealer installed it later as an IOU enticement to buy car. Could they have screwed up something with the cams when installing cruise control? The idle problem has been forever on the car, but with two recent tow truck trips to the dealership, I guess it makes me think now that it indicates something really wrong. The dealer just says, well, you've got some kind of shifting problem, but we don't know what. Anyone out there who can help to make me car literate? I sure would appreciate it. I'll even learn how to change an air filter.
They appear to be stripped or something as I when I turn the bolt; it just keeps spinning. A big problem is that it really isn't a nut attached to the other side but rather a crazy fastener thing that is perfectly round; hence I can't get a grip on it to try and break it free.
I've tried the LiquidWrench/WD40/PBLaster route and still no luck.
Anyone else have this trouble and how did you correct it.
I've got an idea but it's really my last resort.
Thanks...
Also, what brand of snow tires do you suggest?
TIA
Ken
tranny, but haven't decided whether to get the base engine
or the bigger one.
I've read that the Focus is noisy while cruising at freeway speed.
Do any of you Focus owners agree?
How comfortable do you find the seats after driving a few hours?
Thanks for the info. This is helpful.
Is your Focus ST the one with the higher
horsepower engine?
did you replace which resulted in almost silent cruising?
Were the bearing Ford stock or aftermarket?
Your steering wheel vibration and wiggles at 70 mph, could be related
to improper air pressure in your tires; wheels are out of balance or
you need a wheel alignment.
having with your 04 Focus, there is hope. You could of had all kinds
of worse problems with the car. If the Ford dealer doesn't resolve the
problem, you have rights, and suggest you keep good records and keep
complaining to Ford until they resolve it.
By the way, is the car noisy when cruising at freeway speed?
with your Focus's stereo system - I assume you got the upgraded one?
i am thinking of changing from 14 to 15, or even 16, if i find a good deal at ebay for rims. anyone know of a good deal for 15 or 16 rims? lemme know... thanks
btw, earlier i complained about cupping on my tires and I saw a similar focus with the same tire condition. this could be a structural problem for the 2003. i wonder...
I bought my Focus SE new and now it's four years old and has a little over 50K miles. I had to replace my power window motor in the back last year and thought it was a fluke but now the other window in the back is having the same problem! Those windows don't ever get used!
Is anyone else having a similar problem? :confuse:
Carole