2002 Ford Focus: engine failure

Filed Mar 2, 2015 · Engine · 125,000 miles · MN

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford focus. While driving at approximately 65 MPH, an abnormal noise was heard and the vehicle seized without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The technician diagnosed that the rod bearing detached from the engine. As a result, the engine needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 125,000.

Filed Sep 9, 2013 · Electrical, Engine · 132,000 miles · OR

While waiting at a construction site the engine died and would not start (the engine indicator lit). The brake lights, power windows, and rear hatch release also failed to function. The vehicle was towed and the personal mechanic reported the electrical harness to the rear hatch had failed where is passed between the body and the hatch door. The harness electrical insulation was cracked on the entire bundle of wires and shedding fragments causing some wires to short, the 15 amp fuse for the brake lights had evidence of heating, but did not blow, rather, wires leading to the brake pedal sensor, the 15 amp fuse, and along the harness back to the short in the rear wiring harness near the center brake light had discolored and were melted in some segments. Ford customer service said to consult a ford service center to determine if there was a manufacturing defect. The ford service representative said he had seen this before and said it was not a manufacturing defect, rather it was a design defect that occurs after 10 years or more.

Filed Oct 27, 2012 · Engine · 45,226 miles · MS

I own a 2002 ford focus zx3 with a very low mileage of 45226. On october 12th friday, I drove my car to the university, (~2 miles from my home) and parked for a few minutes. Then I started driving toward the commuter parking lot. However, 30 seconds later, a huge ?continuous knocking? Sound came out from the engine followed by white smoke. Then I saw a very large amount of engine oil spill, down the road. Since I could no longer drive the car, I had to get it towed to the nearest garage. The mechanic concluded that one of the piston rods have been broken and spiked the engine oil sump. He was clueless about seeing such a mechanical failure from a low mileage, well-maintained car. Most surprisingly, there were three other ford focus cars with similar engine failures/defects. For a small university town, four cars with similar defects is not a normal issue. The main reason for this complaint because I had to go through a life threatening situation. The continuous knocking and wobbling that occurred for a speed of 18mph, I could only imagine what would have happened if I had been on the highway, 55+ MPH. There has to be a defect or else this would have not happened to a well maintained car with regular oil changes, wheel alignments...etc.

Filed Nov 11, 2011 · Engine · 130,000 miles · IL

Without warning the engine blew! I service my auto like I'm suppose to and this happens. By looking online I see I'm not the only one. Try finding a engine for this car is so expensive that it's ridiculous! That let me know I'm not alone! I can't believe the going rate for this car's engine is $1700! So now I'm stuck with a piece of junk costing me $3500 to get it fixed only to wait until the next shoe falls!!

Filed Aug 1, 2011 · Suspension · 60,000 miles · MI

Tl* the contact owns a 2002 ford focus. The contact stated the rear bearings seized and needed to be replaced six times. On one occasion the contacts rear passenger wheel broke off causing the contact to replace the control arm. The dealer did not diagnose the failure, but stated the failure occurred frequently with that model year vehicle. The failure mileage was 60,000 and the current mileage was 85,000.

Filed Mar 10, 2011 · Locks · 82,500 miles · MN

I have a 2002 ford focus zx5. The front passenger side door lock actuator is seized in the locked position. There are no alternative ways to open this door. This results in a serious safety issue if the passenger is not able to exit the vehicle in an emergency. There was no warning before this happened and appears to be permanent. The actuator must be removed and replaced at a cost of approximately $400.00.

Filed Aug 13, 2010 · Engine · 139,638 miles · TN

The check engine light came on suddenly on my 2002 ford focus. Immediately, I took it to the ford dealership. The technician couldn't find a problem , the check engine light wouldn't come on. Therefore, nothing could be done. They didn't understand why. Within in week, the engine light came back on. This time there was a miss in the engine and it was running rough. Now, the ford dealership mechanic told me my focus se had a dropped valve and in the #4 cylinder. Inorder to fix the problem, the head of the engine had to be removed to see if the dropping of the valve had caused serious damage to the engine. Because the scheduled required maintenance,I.e oil changes, according to ford instructions for my ford focus, I thought the engine would last. After this event, I became curious about ford focus' engines. Was this an isolated mechanical flaw? Or was it an engine defect? From my research, this type engine failure appears to be from a defect in the design of the 2.0 liter efi spi type of engines. For years, I thought the ford focus was a great product to have because of its reliability, if you complied with scheduled maintenance of the vehicle. It appears that I was wrong. The cost of repair for a well-maintain focus engine $6000.00. There is a pattern to these engine failures. Should the 2002 focus be recalled for engine defects? All I know is that quality well-maintain engines shouldn't have dropped valves for no apparent reason. So, it must be some type of engines design defect.

Filed Sep 8, 2008 · Engine · 96,340 miles · NV

On my 2002 ford focus, the thermostat housing began leaking coolant when the thermostat housing gasket against the engine block failed. This is a common problem on various years of the focus as verified by the comments of the ford motor co. Parts sales people in saying that they sell many of the thermostat housings, and also by blogs on internet chat lines. The rubber gasket swells when it comes in contact with oil and breaks off the inner gasket-support ring, allowing the leak to happen. It is a poor design that can lead to major problems such as environmental pollution and engine failure. I would be glad to mail the affected part to you for your examination. It is amazing how completely the support ring failed, and the condition of the gasket that is not compatible with oil which leaks from the valve cover above. The part could easily be redesigned to use a standard o-ring for the seal, which is resistant to oil, and seals better. The current gasket is more like a rubber band that is held in place by the inside rim which breaks off.

Filed Aug 28, 2008 · Engine · 190,000 miles · 00

We bought this two yrs ago from ford dealership and up to the date it broke down not one problem . We do all the maintenance plus some all buy certified mechanics . This was our only car . The engine blew at under 200xxxkm . These are all highway km as we are commuters . There is no way this engine should have blown at that many km without some kind of warning sign . Before the day it blew there were no knocks nothing ran like a top . We have never taken this car over 100km on the highway as its our only mode of transportation . We still owe 140000 on this hunk of crap . Im just wondering if this is the norm for the focus engines . Im just baffled because like I said there was absolutely no warning signs up till the morning it happened it started to sputter and lose power . The misses dropped me off at work made it to the shop barely and its never started since . The mechanic says there is no compression in number 4 cylinder and it was just in the shop for a tune up maybe a month tops before this happened . Any help or info would help . There aren't that many out there that care about the little man so I'll take any help or advise I can get . Thx tania and derrek eberlie

Filed Jun 15, 2008 · Engine · 85,282 miles · ID

I was driving to work. I live 7 miles from work. At a stop light my car started shaking very bad and the engine shut down. It would not start again.. I had it towed to my brothers house and started researching the symptoms... Everything I could find leads to engine failure, caused by a thrown rod or broken piston. After checking the compression in the cylinders # 1-3 no problems about 75 psi and #4 was 0. I believe that the #4 piston or rod is broken or otherwise rendered useless causing the complete engine failure. The vehicle has 85500 miles and has been maintained per the owners manual.

Filed Apr 4, 2008 · Engine · 117,000 miles · CA

1. Two days before the engine died I noticed it was having problems starting first thing in the morning, like a sputtering. Then it would go away and the car would drive fine. The car had a transmission fluid leak and so I continued to make sure it was at the right levels. 2. The day when the engine died it had been running normally. I had stopped at the store. When I got back in my car and turned it on the engine made a popping noise and then the engine "turned over" and started making a thwaping noise, like cardboard in contact with a fan blade. After towing it to a mechanic (it wouldn't start, it kept making thud-ish thwaping noises), who had worked for ford previously, he said that the 4th piston had broke and was grinding on the side of the engine block (he had taken a look at the timing belt - ok- and was testing the gears that the timing belt attached to. 3 turned with the right torque but the final one at the bottom of the engine block didn't turn unless torque greater than what was normally needed was applied. When it turned there was a thwap sound inside the engine). What made me wonder is he said that this always happened with this model on the single overhead cam engines at around 90 to 120 thousand miles. He said that he repaired numerous similar incidents with this type of engine, even guaranteeing that opening up the engine would show that the 4th piston (farthest on the right facing the front) broke. I hate to think what would have happened if I had gotten on the freeway and the piston had broke. 3. The cost to replace with a new oem engine was more than the value of the car if I were to personally sell it (based on kelly blue book) and so was the cost for a used engine ($1200 was the lowest, compared to the duel overhead cam engines for the focus which I found used for $500. Seems the demand for that style engine is high). I have not repaired it. I am considering selling it to a scrap yard.

Filed Jun 24, 2005 · Engine · 89,000 miles · WI

The day was very hot, 90+ degrees. I had the air conditioning on while driving and had to take my husband to a dentist appointment. I left the car running with the air conditioning on for about 10 minutes, then shut the car off. After another 5 minutes, I restarted the car, with air conditoning on and waited for my husband to return. The car was running for a total of about 25 mintues while parked. My husband returned and we proceded to go over to the other side of town to get some dinner. It was 4:30 pm at this time. On our way, the car started to 'jerk' forward and backward and I had no acceleration at all. I stepped on the gas and absolutely nothing happened. I managed to get over to the side of the road when the engine just died. I tried to start it several times to no avail. We waited several minutes and I was able to restart the car. We drove on, with the air conditioner on for about 6 more miles when the same thing happened. I managed to get off the road, but not before the engine died. My husband called a local ford dealership and told them what had happened and we were told it sounded like the fuel pump might need replacing. We had the car towed to a local ford dealership, not the one we had called, and were told they would get to it that night yet. They called us at 8:30 pm and had not gotten around to doing the diagnostics as yet. They called back within 30 minutes and told us that the fuel pump will probably need replacing, but they will call us as soon as they knew for sure. At 11:30 pm, they called to say that the diagnostics had shown nothing and they could not replicate the problem. They had no idea what the cause may have been and were shocked that such a thing could even happen to such a new car. There was nothing they could do. We picked the car up this morning and are praying to god that we can get home this evening without the problem happening again.