2001 Ford Focus, anyone have any experience?

[Scott R]

I'm hoping this is isolated to just this one Focus, but I'm finding a lot of unhappy customers on Google. We were given a 01' Ford Focus Zx3 (we own a lot) and I had it parked out back for a few months.

This weekend I started on some of our older projects and this was one of them. It had a nasty hesitation, if you floored it the car would bog and die trying to get into traffic. Dangerous problem really, and no CEL light ever.

I pulled the fuel tank noticing that the fuel pressure was a bit low and found a ton of contamination in the tank. Brown almost like mud in the bottom of the fuel pump housing. When I drained the fuel filter black and brown ooze ran out as well.

After I cleaned all of that up I replaced the pump, sock and filter it ran a lot better. Now I had a missfire on two cylinders, well that was a bad coil pack, and after that the EGR sensor was dead as well.

I replaced all of this and now it runs as it should, but the thing that gets me is this car has only 90K on it and it had a ton of failures, all very well documented on the internet. I would have thought this one car was just a lemon, but it seems that most of these are lemons.

I think I'm going to donate it to the vetrans group locally as I'm afraid to sell it. Anyone else have any experience with these cars? Good or bad?

[looneybin]

the problem with these cars is related to that blue oval on the front

[kaisen]

They are like any small, cheap car. The original owners barely take care of it (cheap car) then it depreciates and gets cheaper and finds a buyer who is even less able to take good care of it. Then it gets handed down to a kid who beats it.

Pretty soon there is a bunch of deferred maintenance, abuse, and cobbled band-aid repairs. To the owner, the car isn't worth enough to invest in maintenance. Eventually, there are so many little issues that they give up and trade it in, or sell it as-is.

It sounds like you got one of those. No biggie. Make things right and it should be good for years, especially if the new owner takes care of it. Which they likely won't.

If this were a Mercedes, these issues would have been taken care of one at a time, during regular scheduled maintenance visits, and the owners happily open their checkbooks and not think twice.

So why condemn?

[BlueSkyJaunte]

These things have a cool feature...

If you squint as you pass them, the nameplate on the rear looks like "Feces".

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by kaisen

They are like any small, cheap car. The original owners barely take care of it (cheap car) then it depreciates and gets cheaper and finds a buyer who is even less able to take good care of it. Then it gets handed down to a kid who beats it.

Pretty soon there is a bunch of deferred maintenance, abuse, and cobbled band-aid repairs. To the owner, the car isn't worth enough to invest in maintenance. Eventually, there are so many little issues that they give up and trade it in, or sell it as-is.

It sounds like you got one of those. No biggie. Make things right and it should be good for years, especially if the new owner takes care of it. Which they likely won't.

If this were a Mercedes, these issues would have been taken care of one at a time, during regular scheduled maintenance visits, and the owners happily open their checkbooks and not think twice.

So why condemn?

According to the guy that gave it to me this happened all at once, rendering the car dead in a parking lot at the airport. I can't be sure though since we had it towed to us.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by looneybin

the problem with these cars is related to that blue oval on the front

Feeling superior in yer 944, are you? This old man with a blue oval car would be willing to try to keep up with ya...

(edit) Kaisen said it well...most small economy cheap cars receive krap service if any at all.

[HarryD]

I have a 2006 I bought new to use as my Commuter Appliance. I have 35000 miles with no complaints. It does all it is asked.

I think the 2001 you have just needs so ove. Have Mike and Ed at Wheeler Dealers take care of it for you.

[Scott R]

My ignorance comes from never dealing Fords. We do mainly Honda, Toyota, and European cars. Which is why I'm considering donating it, we do this with a lot of domestics since they don't fit well in our inventory. On occasion we sell some domestic pickup trucks.

[Seahawk]

We bought a Focus for our Au Pair(s) in 1999 (2000 model year)...the base, really base, model.

175k with no issues other than replacing the key mechanism. It was going strong until our last AP was hit while she was at a stoplight by another car. The driver had a heart attack and lost control.

That was last year. I really was fond of that car.

The AP was fine, btw.

[looneybin]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Feeling superior in yer 944, are you? This old man with a blue oval car would be willing to try to keep up with ya...

(edit) Kaisen said it well...most small economy cheap cars receive krap service if any at all.

not superior, i just don't care for Ford products
BTW that stang would kill me in the straights, but i'd leave him in my mirrors in the twisties

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by looneybin

not superior, i just don't care for Ford products
BTW that stang would kill me in the straights, but i'd leave him in my mirrors in the twisties

Keep believing that....

[71T Targa]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Keep believing that....

I'm pretty sure you'd kill him in the straights...

[pwd72s]

Interesting video here...this a GT 500, but many of it's suspension tricks were used on Bullitt Mustangs. The Bullitt was sort of a "test mule" for suspension tuning & other stuff. If a 944 left me in the twisties, I'd be surprised. Keep in mind, I have played with P-cars for a few years...

YouTube - 2011 Shelby GT500 at Virginia International Raceway Grand West Course

11th fastest lap at VIR above...GT3 was slower on the same course.

[Laneco]

I suspect the coil pack quit which led the abandoment, then the fuel system accumulated dirt (people are sooo helpful with vehicles when they are left abaonded in places...) which gave you the other problems.

All the problems, you've fixed.

Is a 2001 ZX3 a good car? Well I would buy it from you, fly to Denver and drive it home to Oregon. I think that the ZX3 is one of the best small cars Ford has ever made and as good or better than anything else out there in the same price bracket.

angela

[Oh Haha]

My brother had a 2001 Focus(Slocus) he bought new. He just traded it in on a 2010 Focus. His had 120,000 miles and the only thing we had to change were the ball joints, outside of the normal maintenance(brake rotors, pads, oil, etc.)
It ran fantastic which is why he bought another.

He is fanatic about maintaining his cars and crotch rocket so that has a lot to do with the reliability.

Great idea on donating the car to the VA. Good job!!

[pwd72s]

I think that's really it. A Ford Focus would serve well and long...with proper maintenance. Not a hot performer, but good basic transportation.

[looneybin]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

If a 944 left me in the twisties, I'd be surprised

you have obviously never been in a well balanced 944 driven to it's capabilities, that ford sled would be wondering WTF just happened - surprise

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

I think that's really it. A Ford Focus would serve well and long...with proper maintenance. Not a hot performer, but good basic transportation.

Looks like the oil was changed and the brakes were recently done, other than that nothing. We decided to donate it today, it's worth a lot more to us as a charitable donation. I was already dropping off a few vans to DAV, going to have this sent to them as well. I'm sure they can put it to good use.