The Camaro Club (UK)

Hi Guys,

Although this post is directed at "z28stu" it has only come about because of the Daily Greets.

Hi Stu,

I noticed in the Daily Greets thread that you said you were doing some warranty work on a couple of Ford Focus's (or should that be Foci ?), am i right in assuming you work for a Ford dealership ?

My reason for asking is the Mrs wanted a new car to replace her Fiesta and as she fancied something a little bigger we just bought a 12 plate Focus 1.6 Diesel. Just wondering if we have dropped a bollock, any thoughts/opinions ?

Cheers.

Russ.

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Hi Russ
I've ran out of time I will tell u all later
P.s dont panic ok !!!

Hi again sorry for the delay Russ
Dinner break came round too quick + got home tonight only to be confronted with 2 big boxes of ikea flat pack !!
Had to score some brownie points and build it

For my sins your correct been with ford now for 24ish years

Right then hear we go
The focus is an all round good car.
Minor things happen as with any make or model
But there are two points which are worth sharing with you and other owners
The 1.6 diesel engine is good as long as you look after it as they can suffer with premature turbo failure
This is due to owners not servicing them regularly and with top spec oil
The engine is not a ford lump it's a Peugeot engine and they produce too much carbon which over time clogs the strainer/sump pickup brake vac pump filter + the turbo oil feed pipe filter which then starves the turbo
I've fitted many turbos for this issue along with oil pick ups etc and most of them could have been avoided !
Second point is always steer clear of supermarket fuels there more costly than you think .over the years I've seen all sorts of issues to do with running concerns idle problems smells etc
Stick with the main suppliers -BP-SHELL-ESSO- and you will greatly lesson poss very costly fuel system concerns

Hope this helps and not made you too nervous for the future
Cheers
Stu

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Some days it just isn't worth chewing through the restraints !!!!

Interesting you mention cheap or supermarket fuels. Theh mention the same thing all the time on the BMW forums

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Hi z28stu,

Many thanks for your reply, hopefully none of those issues should effect us as my wife only seems to keep her cars until the warranty runs out and she always gets them serviced by the main dealer. My main concern was with the new Focus you had which wouldn't start, and the stalling.

My wife said her Focus had stalled a few times on her but it has never happened to me when i was driving, then yesterday it happened when i was in the car with her driving. When it happened it coincided with a light coming up on the dash, my initial thoughts were engine management problem. When i got home i had a look through the handbook and turns out the car has got "stop start technology" on it but it only works when the drivers seat belt is plugged in, and as i never wear a seatbelt that explained why it had never happened to me. Bloody technology gets on your tits.

I already knew about the supermarket fuel, apparently the supermarkets buy what they call bunker fuel or fuel nearing it's sell by date for want of a better expression and it can vary in quality, although it is still supposed to meet a minimum standard.

Cheers.

Russ.

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Hi Russ

Tecnology on cars these days is mental

Things like tailgates wont open due to door module internal faults
Wipers not working due to hood switches
Engine management lights on due to brake light system faults
Its never ending
Customers complaints about stop/start not working but so many things the pcm has/is looking at before it will allow it to happen is crazy !!!

The two foci im looking at i didnt get to finish as other more important jobs came in but one foci needs a fuel sender as its full of black goo causing a low lowpressure fault code which then shuts the engine down just as quick as you do with a light switch. Dont know but may be supermarket again !!!
The second one warranty job has a fuel drain back problem or air ingress as i bled the system parked it outside overnight for a cold start
tried it next day fired up ran for 15secs then cut out an wont restart until system bled again but havent been able to look over that one yet.


As for supermarket fuels yes its suposed to meet the min requirement but i remember having to work on 3 cars approx 10ish years ago all in the same week where they all filled up on the same day at the same place and they all didnt make it off the forecourt !!!
I had to take fuel tanks down fuel rails off new filters clean lines out etc as they all had brown pooeywater with lumps in that did smell of petrol but wouldnt burn in a controlled test on the shop floor !!!!
Where was the quality controll on that tankers load ???

Cheers
Stu

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Some days it just isn't worth chewing through the restraints !!!!

Hi Stu,

Many thanks for the reply. Not that i use the Focus that much, but thought i might as well get to grips with all the other switches and buttons and then check them out in the owners manual.

Found one of the buttons on the dash is for "Parking Aid/Self Park" apparently if i am driving down a street and switch it on if the system spots a gap between two vehicles that it deems big enough to park in it will let me know by beeping at me, i then have to put the indicator on for the side of the road the space is on, stop select reverse gear whilst i operate the throttle and the clutch the computer will do the steering wheel whilst giving me verbal instructions. Note the system may not operate properly in adverse weather conditions, it may not detect where the kerb is, the system may get confused by outside interferance such as ultrasonic waves and transmissions, it may not detect protruding objects, etc etc

This has a load of legalese printed after it but it laymans terms it roughly translates as, the driver is responsible for the vehicle at all times if you have an accident as a result of our gadgets going wrong it is YOUR fault. On that basis you might aswell park the car yourself.

I dare say i will add to this thread as i read further through the 300 page handbook.

Cheers.

Russ.

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Hi guys nice to have the heads up on supermarket fuel always nice to know for the daly , any problem with diesel Cheers Neil

Hi Russ
Fairplay to you if you read all 300 pages no one to my knowledge ever opens them up
Have you used self park yet ?? It is wierd seeing the wheel move with no input from hands
If a car is parked half on the path and the other car that creates the space to park in is parked next to the kerb the self park system may park your car at an angle or bump you up the kirb not good
So yeah use with caution

Hi Neil
Yep steer clear if you can of both petrol an diesel
This pic was from a tank pick up which had a filter at the top this goop was getting picked up an blocking the fuel supply!!!

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Some days it just isn't worth chewing through the restraints !!!!

Hi Stu,

I have got no intention of using the self park system, to be honest if someone is not capable of parking a car they shouldn't be driving one.

Regarding the fuel's in this case a few years ago Tesco's in Huntingdon had a load of dodgy diesel and within a few miles radius of tesco's the roads were littered with cars that had broken down. It took a couple of week's or so but eventualy Tesco's admitted fault and paid the bills incured by the car owner's. Since then i tend to use Shell fuel by default although sometimes i get fuel from other garages.

Cheers.

Russ.

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