R.I.P Focus

[DZFord]

About 4-5 months ago, I was doing a trans fluid / filter change on the 2006 Focus. No drain plug on the auto on these, so the only way to do it is to drop the pan. Can get messy if you're not careful.




Everything was going well until I saw the following metal chunks attached to the magnet at the bottom of the pan.




I know the trans was a ticking time bomb after that. It lasted another four months, without any symptoms, until one day, the noise started. On deceleration, there was a huge whining sound, almost sounded like a sequential box with straight-cut gears.

Dropped the car in at my trusted auto trans specialist, who confirmed the worst, full reco needed, ~$2500 including labour.

At that point, it was time to ditch the car, with market value being about $4000. Even if I wanted to sell it, there was the issue of getting a RWC, with all the little things I would need to fix up, including new front and rear sway bar links, plus the cost of the RWC itself. Who knows if it would've even passed RWC with the full Xforce system on it.

I stripped some parts off the car, and then off she went to the wreckers for cash.

The plan was to always drive it until it died and 11 years it lasted. I looked after it well, but drove it hard. And I learnt so much working on this car, once out of warranty, doing all servicing and repairs myself, both major and minor.

Through work I am now driving a 2017 Mazda 3 SP25. I know this is a Ford forum but I have to praise Mazda on the job they have done on this car. Perfect small car for the peak-hour commute. The 2.5L N/A direct injected engine is great. 138kw, with 250nm @3250rpm is really nice. For close comparison, the LZ Focus with the 1.5L Turbo does 240Nm@5000rpm. The SP25 does this with a very high compression ratio, 13:1 - highest of any production car to date (or so I've read), along with a 4-2-1 long tube style header at stock:




If anyone is interested, I'm selling some spare parts on eBay, really cheap because I have no need for them now. This includes brand new DBA T2 slotted rotors (rear pair), brand new Bendix Europlus brake pads (rear seat), as well as a Bosch ACC drive belt and the special timing tools for the 2.0L/2.3L Duratec engine. Forum rules prevent me from posting eBay links, but you can PM me if you can't find the eBay listings.

I will also eventually sell my genuine Ford Mondeo ST220 rims I had on the car, still wrapped in Potenza RE003's. I just need to get around to cleaning them up.

Anyway, are a couple of pics for memory:

Stock as a rock, just out of warranty period:



The difference a tint, new wheels, suspension makes:

[In Focus]

How many km's did you get out of it?

[DZFord]

180,000km. Again, well maintained, but driven hard.

[kevino]

Certainly makes a case that manual gearbox focuses last longer. I let my LT manual diesel go at 278k and it was still strong and traded it on a manual LZ which I expect to get 240k out of. Auto,s dont last and cost more in r+m.

[Fast Eddie]

Still can't get over how mint those OE Wheels are. Credit to you:-)

[leakey]

DZ, sorry to hear of your woes, but great car you now have.

I tried rewriting that but it keeps coming out sounding like Yoda..

I never fixed the tick tick noise on my LT, but have a serpentine belt ready to go in. I never realised there was a second belt at the bottom! So could be that too.

... could be bearings on alternator or aircon pump too...

They still around on yours?

Mine is a manual btw, and just over 100K Km's. It's still tight, and no noises other than the bloody tick tick around the belt area.

[DZFord]

The above ST220 wheels are now listed on eBay if anyone is interested. I am not allowed to post a link but shouldn't be too hard to find! They come with Bridgestone Potenza RE003 tyres too