The Ford Focus has been rightly at the top of the car sales charts since its introduction way back in 1998. It’s pretty much the perfect all-round car, especially for a young family – affordable, good to drive, well equipped, safe, practical and cheap to run.
What’s not to like? Not much, but it has had its fair share of problems. Thankfully the sheer number of Focuses sold means there is now a useful body of knowledge about the various issues you may encounter with your Focus, which helps us as garages find and resolve problems a little bit quicker.
There have been three generations of this benchmark-setting car; the first series was built from 1998 to 2004, the second from 2004 to 2011, and the current series built from 2011. There’s some evidence that the 2000 and 2003 models are the ones which have caused their owners the most problems, but let’s look at the most common issues which affected the various models of Ford Focus.
Many of these were narrowed down to particular models produced at particular times (in particular factories) and most resulted in recalls, so the underlying issues should have been resolved by Ford themselves.
Older Cars
1. Alternator problems – some models built between June 1998 and March 1999 had alternator problems which resulted in short circuits, overheating and even fires.
2. Door latch problem – Some cars built between September and November 1998 had problems with their door latches which weren’t built to specification, preventing the doors from closing properly.
3. Loss of engine power – the 1.6 petrol version of the Focus, built between January 1999 and January 2000, may exhibit engine cut outs, which are caused by a malfunction in the engine management software.
4. Oil filler cap problem – many 1998-2004 models had a oil filler caps which worked loose and allowed oil to drip onto the exhaust heat shield.
5. Automatic gearbox problem – damage to the crankshaft position sensor often led to engines cutting out; this specifically affected 1.6 petrol Focuses with automatic gearboxes built between August 1999 and February 2000.
Newer Models
6. Wiper motor problem – some early second-generation cars built between April 2003 and March 2005 had wiper motors which could overheat and fail due to water entering through the wiper arm spindle. This usually happened in winter when the roads had been salted.
7. Engine failure – a serious problem specific to 1.6 TDCi cars built between February and June 2004. Misaligned oil feeds reduced oil flow, causing premature wearing of the camshaft bearings and eventual engine seizure.
8. Brake pedal sticking – Focuses built between November 2005 and December 2006 may exhibit problems with their brake pedals becoming stiff in cold weather, due to a non-return valve in the pump began to stick.
9. Power steering problems – models built between April and May 2008 could have had problems caused by inadequate power steering hoses, which degraded and allowed hydraulic fluid to seep out. Normally this caused the power steering to fail but in some cases the leaking fluid became hot and caused a fire.
10. Rear hub bolt problems – some models built between February and April 2007 had problems with the rear hub bolts which could work loose because they weren’t made to the correct specification.
As you can imagine, knowing about these “known faults” helps us investigate problems if you bring in a Ford Focus (or any other car for that matter) which is exhibiting weird symptoms. Being able to point to a solution rather than spending ages rummaging around re-investigating a problem helps us save ourselves time, and you money!