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Ford Focus Hatchback ZX3 - Part X
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Comments
Thanx
ps- My ZX3 is back from the body shop, looks better then the day I got it off the lot!
thanks.
Loved the comment re: "focus", zx3beast. Family program, indeed.
Let me share my knowledge about breaking in a car and general car care with the newbie car owners (enthusiasts in the case of ZX3 owners). My qualifications for giving such advice are: I read a lot of technical and auto repair literature, do my own car repair, have a mechanical engr. degree and I work at Ford. Consequently, I know very little about things besides cars, hehe.
Anyway, just follow the owner's manual about break-in period and technique. In general, cars are broken-in the same way. Light braking, light acceleration, varied speed, keep RPM under 3500. First oil change after ~3000 miles, then follow the owner's manual.
Same goes for maintenance. Follow the owner's manual. No need for excessive oil changes, excessive being every 3000 miles. You're beating a dead horse by changing it so often. No need for synthetic oils either, unless specified.
Tip: When having trouble shifting into reverse, go into fourth or 5th gear, then shift. By doing this, you are stopping the layshaft from spinning. Sometimes you have to move the car in neutral too, to line up the reverse-gear's teeth. Shifting into reverse should be easy and quiet.
Some safe driving tips:
- Practice emergency braking somewhere safe. That is, not locking the wheels and maintaining that limit. It's like balancing yourself. It is called threshold braking. Do this in dry and rain (quite important to know the limits of your car in the rain, b/c the limit is more easily exceeded).
- Practice circling your car as fast as possible until your tires make noise, to know the limits of your car. Do this in both dry and rain. Be safe about it of course (a wide open smooth parking lot).
- Practice scanning your eyes far ahead, assessing the traffic, planning your path, preparing for emergency stopping.
- Check the tire pressures, especially after tire work. Those guys often overinflate it, which can be dangerous for handling and braking.
- These tips are from race car driving, and apply to road driving as well.
Less important tips:
- Don't be scared to rev the engine to near- redline after ~2000 miles break-in. It's fun too.
- Do not accelerate hard while the steering wheel is turned all the way. It wears out the drive shaft joints.
- Do not overfill the oil
- Do the easy maintenance yourself if you can! Like oil change (to avoid overfilling), brake pads, tire rotation (to avoid over-torquing the wheel nuts).
You must be a budding enthusiast to have read this far, hehe. What do you think?
-Otto
The important thing to me is that I want instant oil circulation. Would like the oil coating everything inside motor before I turn the key, but that isn't possible, so synthetic is the next best to this. Plus from everything technical that I read, synthetic appears to hold up best under severe conditions. And its pour point is excellent for the upstate New York winters.
Thanks Otto and Silver Bullet,
Pat
I know how my car behaves normaly and these two occurances are not normal. Oh plus they still havent fixed the loose window or ratlling sound.
whyford?
If yes, what type of Redline can we use?
Chinzy things on this car make me believe my clutch will act up again also.
Wait until a FEW problems show up.
]Deal with them one at a time.
Record and document everything!
And when you get really upset then make noise.
I mean make REAL NOISE!
One item i see is "hesitation"...various rpms?
But a common problem. Correct?
Poor mileage? Yes.....no where near what we thought. I also agree.
Does anyone have A/C problems?
No. It seems.
Maybe when i have time i will bring up my beefs.
Dealer posts the complaints>onto Blah Blah Blah..
A year goes by.....BLAH BLAH..........
Then the words "EXPIRED".
Hmmmmmmmm.
Whyford.
an 8 cyl.engine.but no way,no how with the four.
pushing the limit on relatively cheap preventive
maintenance makes no sense.your engine oil,be it
refined or synthetic is its lifeblood.a good point
made was concerning proper tire pressure,a very
often overlooked detail.i plead guilty on that one.
www.redline.com/
Soon as I have a chance I'll make the switch to Redline Synthetic manual tranny lube.
(Also thanks again S/B).
NOTE: Redline has synthetic lubes for Automatic trannys. I forgot name of poster who asked, hope he sees this.
MY Z AT 1500 MILES ON TACHOMETER.....
Car being broken-in ... gently. At the speeds it will be "mostly seeing" during its life-time. No "near-redlining" of engine. No "screaming acceleration". In other words.... no hot-rodding.
First oil/filter change 600 mi. (get the shavings out). Ford 5w30 conventional oil. Second change 1200 mi. Mobil-1 Synthetic 5w30. Final "break-in" change will be at 3000. Mobil-1. ("Recommended intervals" will be followed from then on).
The z is still running flawless at 1500 miles. I mean, not a single squeak, not a rattle, not a failure, not a hiccup -- since Day One.
I've owned a lot of cars (some fine ones like VW-GTI) but this sweet little z, is my first car "flawless from the get-go".
Mileage (80%hi-way) has gone from 29mpg (34 total miles on tach) to 31 (1100 total mi. on tach). I'll be checking it again, next tank fillup.
5-spd Tranny was a little tight for first few hundred miles, even a little rough, sticky, balky at times... but by the time it had 1000 mi, it was shifting much more smoothly ... now shifts nicely, easily, continuing to improve steadily as mileage builds up.
"Engine pep" (accelerating from standstill, or from low speed) seemed "lacking" for first 700 miles. Heck, to tell truth -- my engine was a "Wimp"!! I was kinda disappointed.
Around 1000 miles, I noticed it seemed to be coming to life.
At 1500 ... engine now accelerates (from dead stop or low speeds) with Authority!-- with real Punch! wow. I am PLEEZED! No more, a wimp!
Idling: Engine is still as quiet as it was on Day One. (Remember much earlier, one of my first posts -- where I remarked on it)?
Sitting at red traffic lite, I sometimes glance at Tach to see if engine is still running. It's that quiet, that vibration-free (my GTI was NEVER this quiet). Very pleased here.
"Tracking down road"/"Handling" etc.... tracks down the road like a cat. No wandering. No pulling to either side. Responsive, precise steering. Handles like a VW (that's a real compliment!).
Brakes: Solid feel, stops car rapidly with authority. Not mushy. Quiet. No squeaking from Day One.
Autumn-color z, gleams under 3 coats of Meguiar's Liquid Car Wax. Easy on, very little rubbing required. (Bottle says "most reflective car wax in our 90-year history"). I'm pleased with it. And with RainX "Self-Drying-Carwash".
Yes indeed, 'Beast, you were right -- "the z is a sweet lil' Road Machine".
Later....
zx3
www.redlineoil.com
second that experience minus the clutch pedal return spring at 4500 mi.ive done enough cranking
about that deal,lets see if the replacement hangs
in there.i had tried westleys spot-free dry and
was impressed with the results.i have not seen
rain-x wash yet.i know their glass treatment which i use is nothing short of amazing,an easy to apply
quality product that actually does as it claims.we
now have that re-form green gas here,(which i have
posted + complained about previously) .i swear that
the by-product of that fuel is wicked + nasty.it
gives me head pain and generally lousy feeling.its
now being required year round.locally,mtbe is showing up in fresh water supplies + wells.its a good thing that the z has more punch. all z owners
will need it.im sure you heard by now the latest craze......
about how 2 blondes will stalk and hunt down a z
owner.its wacky,its wild, its z-mania......help!
thanks to all of you posting positive things about the zx3. mine just hit 1200 miles, running great, what a car!
so how do I change the transmission oil?
I ALSO HAVE NOISY BREAKS AND THE DEALERSHIP SAID IT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE MADE OF METAL AND NOT ASBESTOS. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS OR THINK THAT THEY TRYING TO FOOL A LADY.
Engine Oil must meet Ford Specification WSS-M2C153-G with API Certification Mark. Also see page 181 in owners manual.
Oil Filter, Motorcraft FL2005 for 2.0L Zetec-E engine. Aftermarket filter must meet Ford material and design specifications of the FL2005 filter. You need to have the Motorcraft and the aftermarket filter catalog to determine this.
Auto Transaxle Fluid must be "MERCON V" and meet Ford Specs WSS-M2C202-B.
Manual Transaxle IB5 Fluid must be "Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid" and meet Ford Specification WSD-M2C200-C. *See Note 1 below.
Manual Transaxle MTX 75 must be "MERCON" and meet Ford Specifications "MERCON". *See Note 1 below.
Brake Fluid: Ford or equivalent, High performance DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid. For service Ford recommends Super DOT 4 for manual transmissions. Each has different spec. See page 247.
Gasoline Octane: Ford recommends 87 Octane (Regular Unleaded) determined by the "(R+M)/2" Method and should be labled on the Gasoline Pump.
Vehicles certified to meet Calif. Emission Standard are designed to operate on "Calif reformulated gasoline". If not available it can be operated on non-Calif gasoline - BUT the performance of the emission control devised and systems may be adversely affected.
*Note 1: Your manual transaxle type should be listed on your Safety compliance label and if it isn't your dealer should be able to obtain it from your VIN number. I don't know which manual transaxle is used on the ZX3 because I got the auto transaxle. Maybe someone else can tell us which it is.
Hope this clears up what you can and can't do concerning aftermarket lubricants and fuels. As long as the product you choose meets ford specifications and is equivalent you should be okay in using it.
As far as fuel/gasoline goes, try to stay with a locally "branded" (Kwik-fill, Marathon, Sheetz, are a few on east coast) chain, or nationally "branded" (Mobil, Sun, Exxon, Shell). Stay with the newer stations with newer tanks. Try to purchase from the same station all the time.
Sorry for such a long post
Pat
normal as one poster implied and disagreed.i was
hoping for drebes sake that nothing was wrong.it
never seemed right that all of a sudden,after driving the 5spd.that he would forget how to shift
in + out of gears.anytime there is doubt about what
is or isnt normal should be addressed immediately
with the dealer.once any component of the clutch goes,forget it about it,your stuck.
Will hopefully be buying a new black zx3 Monday...the dealer didn't
have any on the lot, but did locate 2 in south ga (i'm in atlanta).
2 questions for ya, if ya'll don't mind...
1) If the dealer is hacing the car brought in from 200 miles away, do
I pay extra for that?
2) For the zx3 I want, the msrp will be around 14.8k..what is a good
price to get...i was thinking of offering 14k....
thanks in advance for your help!
jeff
As for making an offer? It costs you nothing to make offers. So do it, what do you have to lose?
that shows invoice prices, add up all the options and then make offers starting at a couple hundred below invoice and work your way up. I understand this cars are going pretty fast, the demand is much higher than the supply so don't feel bad if you end up having to pay 3 or 4% over invoice, but it doesn't hurt to offer less. and don't pay for the delivery trip, like
The link Superf22 gave has excellent, must know, information in it. Like a bible for buying a new focus or any other vehicle for that information.
Pat
"*Note 1: Your manual transaxle type should be
listed on your Safety compliance label and if it
isn't your dealer should be able to obtain it fromyour VIN number...."
Question:
Where do I find "Safety Compliance label"?
Thanks....zx3
Best of luck, many happy miles in your new ride. Don't let the Bumble Bees catch you (they might think you're a big yellow flower!).
zx3
1-Does anybody have any more ideas on what the "diesel" noise at low RPM's could be? Is is a rattle, something else? More importantly, does it sound serious?
2-My tranny noise comes and goes, but I noticed the following thing today. After starting my Z she had the slight tranny noise while sitting in neutral. The noise is a subtle rick-tick-tick. However, if I try to engage the gears without using the clutch (just slightly pressing the shifter up), the noise goes away. Conversely, times when I start her and she doesn't make the tranny noise in neutral, I can replicate the noise by slightly pressing the shifter up. Weird, huh?
On another note, I plan on leaving for my long awaited vacation in two weeks. I plan on changing the oil for the first time before I leave, but is there anything else I should check on (approx. 1000 miles on her when I leave). Since I'm nervous about driving her such a long distance (due to past problems), are there any precautionary measures I can take in advance?
The tick tick sounds more like a minor annoyance to me then anything to be really concerned about. Don't obsess over it. Enjoy the trip.
In my younger days A friend and I frequently made non-stop drives from Winston Salem NC to Alamorgodo NM (1500 miles and 52 hours each way) in an old VW Beetle. That was an adventure. And I lived to tell about it. On one trip the starter gave out and we had to push start the car every time we stopped for gas.
I think your Focus will prove to be a lot more reliable then that old beetle.
< I plan on leaving for my long awaited
< vacation in two weeks. I plan on changing
< the oil for the first time before I leave.