Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Ford Focus: Problems & Solutions
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Anyways couple of questions....are the Zx3 manual transmissions generally noisy?? What I mean is traveling at low speeds the tranny sounds awful growly and rattly..is this normal on the Focus? My 1989 GMC P/U used to sound like this a bit...give it some gas and the let it coast and sounds like a muted garbage disposal! lol Also when giving it gas it sometimes sounds like an exhaust leak...you know that sort of noise...can't describe it...if you've ever had an exhaust leak you know aht it is....been doing it since day one Assorted clunks and clanks but the thing starts everyday so thats what counts. Overall are the ZX# manual trannys just noisy beasts? I think someone over at a Focus forum mentioned this is a trademark but just checking
Next when I operate the fan I hear what sounds like water dripping every 10 seconds or so...any ideas what this is?
I used to scour the TSB's when I had my Maxima and ended up driving myself crazy over every little issue..I vowed not to with this car....anyways I'm happy with it so far...not the best ride in the world but I've been in worse!
Well if anyone can answer on the noisy tranny that would be great and also the drippping noise when the fan(blower) is operated that would be great
ZX3 - I don't know if your tranny is different from the LX's, but my MT is not noisy or growly. I haven't seen comments on this board about noisy MT's.
I have seen posts from people being driven CRAZY by the AC kicking in and out with a frequent loud click. Does this happen with the AC off? Search the board and see if the symptoms match. It's not a problem on my car.
Strong but noisy. It's normal for this car.
Yesterday...2 years later...the same problem appears to repeat itself. This time the AAA fellow messed around a bit by tapping at the starter with a tire iron....pushing the car a bit...jumping in and letting up the clutch (just as one would do to start the car by deploying a gear while rolling...only he wasn't trying to start it...just "get the starter off of the dead spot", he said. Low and behold the car started right up and today it was fine as well.
So one might assume that the starter has some sort of dead spot.
Do any of you know if a mechanic can fix a starter with a dead spot, or even find out if a starter has a dead spot?
I'm thinking that I should just have a local mechanic put in a new starter since the car is out of warranty and I've avoided returning the the dealership for obvious reasons. I called one up and they quoted me about $300 for the part and an hour of labor.
Any advice/knowledge on this topic would be appreciated.
Rich
If you enter the keyword "ignition" in the search discussion box, it will return the posts concerning that issue.
For those who haven't done it yet:
don't fix it at the dealership.
They'll rip you off.
Call a locksmith!!! For a resonable amount, usually under $100, he'll replace your lock, probably with the more reliable model from the Explorer or similar. Just call around and ask.
Well, today it was about 95 degrees and I notice that as the AC attempted to cool the car, the two driver's vents were blowing lukewarm air and the two passenger vents were blowing "colder" air. How is this possible? I closed the passender vents and the air coming from the driver's vents got a bit colder but not as cold as when it came out the passenger vents. It didn't matter if I had it on Max AC either. Also, when I switched it to the floor vents it was the same story. Any ideas?
Any help is appreciated! I'm tired of sweating it out....
Neither my ford dealer locally (Springfield Pa.) or the ford dealer who did the most recent repair (norris ford Easton Md) would do the work as warrantee since I was over the mileage for warrantee. I was over for the bearings but they did that as warrantee.
Total cost for all this is over $2500 (1500 this time 1000 last year) and I am seriously irritated.
I would like to fight ford on this and recover something, anyone with similar experience that can help would be appreciated, even if it's just to be able to say I'm not the only one.
Thanks
Jim
Thanks
I just want as many reply's within the next couple days to know whether this car is a good investment or if I should look elsewhere. If you had the choice would you purchase the same car or a different one. Thanks.
I didn't see any posts for window problems, anybody else heard of this window problem?
Why the dealer could not find this problem? I am guessing because there was no profit to be made. Not a surprise really..I have found dealerships are the same the world over. "Buyer Beware!"
Now if I could just do something about the poor gas mileage, the squeaks, the flickering lights.....
Last night it stalled at a stoplight (I thought my boyfriend just killed it) but it would not restart. It took 5 tried for it to start.
Anyone else have this problem with their 2003? I've checked for recalls, but there are none. I love this car and was glad that the 2003's got better marks for reliability, but it looks like Ford has messed up yet again.
AC not cooling - open circuit- operation 19700A
Wiring assembly repair - operation 14200A
Wiring Repair- pin-point test operation 14200A1
Hope this helps.
I am not condemning the entire Focus line, terrible sorry to give that impression. I am quite happy with my car and want to keep it for as long as possible. And I hope that others will give some advice before chewing out new people with real problems.
Like I said hope this gets to you in time.
I had an Escort that was a wonderful car and decided about 5 weeks ago to buy a Focus as a gas saver. Bought a 2004 Focus ZX3 base, manual trans, only option is ABS brakes, paid $11k new. In 5 weeks we've put over 5000 miles on the car with no trouble. It seems as solid as my Escort and more so then the Corolla I owned. I fully expect to get 200k miles out of it.
The Focus is a good economy car, nothing more, nothing less.
They scheduled to come over next day to my choice of places. My concern was about the quality of the glass (subjective), safety (use of the right glue, priming, time for glue to set). Clearly there is no information on how to compare different brands of glass- other than price, but I am not ready to automatically assume that more expensive glass is of better quality. As a matter of fact OEM glass has more middlemen in the process and just as easily can be of low quality, since manufacturer just submits the glass contract to the best bid, unless it is some kind of a luxury car (not the case with my Focus SVT). Speaking in defense of those self producers (Safelite and Guardian) they make the glass in US, to survive US manufactuering environment, they have to be pretty good (sadly). The glass which was eventually installed by Safelite guy on my car was manufactured in Ohio. Optical quality is subjective and so far I cant really tell any difference, so here are my observations. Safelite glass has the same dot matrix pattern for visor and around the edges (where the black border is for UV protection of the urethane glue). No visible difference form Carlite OEM. In addition there is a slight greenish tint stripe at the top, which is pretty much not noticable, however it is extra, which was not present in Carlite. I was concerned that Safelite glass can be thinner and less durable than Carlite (OEM). I took measurements using a micrometer in the same bottom part of the windshield, where there was no glue. Safelite turned to be thicker by 0.03 inches. Carlite was 0.200 inches think, Safelite was 0.234 inches thick in the same place (roughly bottom middle).
Next came the installation job. The installer was quite a nice guy, who took his time doing his job and still finished within 1 hour 20 minutes (he is being paid per installation, but gets fined if the installation takes too long). He removed the old glass without making any mess, he knew where to pry the covers, where to unscrew, how to remove one of the wipers (very professional) and such. He mentioned that he did many Foci before, but there are a few on the road too. He trimmed the leftover urethane, and primed the metal, even though he paid extra care not to scratch any paint (none was scratched, but he was careful). Then he used heat activated urethane glue (my understanding it is one of the best kinds, had windshield replaced on my car before (4 years ago and was not impressed with technology used). Then he quickly set the windshield and pressed it lightly. That was it. Excellent job. Supposedely the job is garanteed for the life of the car, but I am being realistic about it, if the windshield will work for another two years, I am going to be happy camper.
My Focus is clear for the moment, so is my Titan, our Dodge got hit the other day and cracked......oh well. Winter's coming so I'm sure by spring all 3 will be busted. Gotta love Alaskan roads.
On another note- since you say cracked windshields are somewhat a norm in Alaska, did you see any benefit from using those plastic hood deflectors? Ironically I had one installed like 3 hours before I had my windshield cracked, could be that this thing protects your hood at the expense of windshield.
Broken windshields ARE the norm here in Alaska. My hubby's Ram has a nice crack after getting hit with a HUGE rock, took a chunk out of the windshield. We'll fix it when its not able to be seen out of anymore.
My mom drove around for 6 years with a broken windshield in her car, was broken all the way through, if a semi went by her she would have to hold the windshield.
The stock access panel is a pain to open and reseal.
Docweston
I also have the "cutting out.....acts like it is carbuerated" actions going on.....and they say there is no fix and they don't know what to do.
I'd pass.....
Most reliable car I've ever owned. Drove through 600 miles of snow, ice, and slush yesterday without breaking a sweat.......course that's with the help of blizzak snow tires. ;-)
Also noticed brake lights don't operate when depressing pedal. I checked brake light fuse and foung it okay.
Have there been any solutions other than replacing ignition cylinder? Are the two problems related? Help.
s0nya
I have had a lot of problems with the Focus. There have been more than 12 recalls on the car. The dealerships and customer service are more often than not uncooperative. I've found that dealers do not want to honor the recalls, especially if a rental car comes with it. They did not want to replace the fuel pump which was recalled unless I exhibited problems. This car is also very bad on gas. I recently got a tune up thinking that that would cause it to drive better with better mileage, but it has made no noticable difference.
Regarding the ignition, I will call the customer service on Monday to try to get this done for free seeing that so many people others have posted messages with similar problems.
I read all these problems with the Focus and I asked my service advisor at the Ford dealer, he said they hardly ever see a Focus. Likewise, I hardly ever see them in there either when I stop by to say hi (no service needed, but am friends with several people there).
I usually am the one with all the problems, but not this time. A few of my co-workers have the Focus and they to say they've never had a problem.