Hi all

 

Sorry for such a long post being my first post, but its full of information that people searching can come across so I figured it would be useful.  

New to the site, been the "proud" owner of Focuses (Foci?!) for a couple of years now so about time I signed up! Starting this thread to compile a list of common niggles and fixes in the hope it helps someone out and also to hopefully get a bit of advice please (more on this below)

Part of Focus ownership involves accepting and inevitably encountering their common problems. Unfortunately I seem to have encountered them all LOL.

 

Focus #1:

2006 1.6 Ti-VCT Hatchback GHIA. Current issues as follows - Air con inop, Heaters poor and temp gauge erratic, windscreen washers weak, water ingress in boot (fixed), cluster fault (fixed)

Focus #2:

2008 1.6 100hp Hatchback LX. (Late registered pre-facelift) Current issues as follows - Power steering leak, PAS pump noisy, steering knock, gearbox oil leak.

 

Air con not working - So this is a somewhat interesting one. When pressing the button on the control panel, the light comes on and stays on and the cooling fan switches on low speed, but the compressor clutch does not kick in. Fuse 27 in the engine bay fuse box is fine, relay 11 in the engine bay fuse box is fine but does not click when getting someone to press the air con button. I made sure the relay was fine by swapping it with the horn relay as they were identical. This leads me to believe there is nothing wrong with the aircon clutch or compressor itself as it is simply not being commanded on. My next port of call is to get the refrigerant level checked, but the air con clutch relay not energizing does throw a slight curveball to me.... I am assuming the low pressure switch/sensor could be cutting in if the refrigerant is low? But if it was low refrigerant I would normally expect the compressor to kick in then cut out. Worth mentioning that the car has been sitting for 6 months or so, and air con worked beforehand but must admit it wasn't exactly icy cold. I guess this does point to low refrigerant but if anyone has any other pointers then please be my guest 🙂

Poor heating and erratic temp gauge - I am 99% sure this is the thermostat but that makes it a bit of a pain as its all one housing with an electrical connector on the 1.6 Ti-VCT. If you start the car up and let it idle, the temp gauge will not move off 60. After a few minutes both the upper and lower radiator hoses are equally warm, one is not hotter than the other at all. If you raise the revs from idle to about 2-3k RPM for about a minute, the temp gauge will gradually climb to 75, but if you switch the heaters on max, it gradually drops back down to 60 and the heating becomes warm-ish at best. If you are driving around it never shifts above 60. If you sit in traffic it will often climb to 90 but as soon as you set off it will plummet back to 60 within about a minute and leave you without much heat. It has been like this for a long while now but I had held off as there are plenty of mixed opinions online about fitting OEM vs aftermarket thermostats. Gates ones seem to be around £150 or you can get a cheap one for £30 ish. Anyone have any experience with cheap 'stats on the MK2 Focus? I cant really justify £150 just to get toasty heaters back!

Windscreen washers - annoyingly this has just cropped up today! When operating them, you get a short burst of normal pressure then it barely trickles out, certainly not enough to reach the screen. Same applies to the back. When doing this the motor gives off a very odd tune, almost like its out of washer fluid, but the fluid level was full as I topped it up thinking that was the problem. I'd assume the motor is on its way out but anybody have any better/different ideas?

Boot water ingress - This was an interesting one. Despite how minor the leak turned out to be it was enough to steam up the windows and turn everything mouldy inside! There are many posts online about water getting in the hinge area but not so much on the lamp cluster screw ports. I stripped all the carpets and plastics out the boot to investigate where it was coming in and lo and behold it was from the screw ports where the factory felt "seal" had failed. I could have used a rubber washer but I only had bathroom sealant to hand at the time so tried that. It lasted a month or so then the sealant cracked up, so I scraped it all off and added black RTV gasket. That has well and truly done the trick and its bone dry in there now 🙂 Free fixes for the win!

Instrument cluster failure - On the subject of free fixes... This was a pretty major problem with a ridiculously simple fix. The notorious dry joint issue is well documented online and on here so I needn't go into too much detail but I'll mention a few differences in my case. I had all the usual codes - U0001, U0121, U0155, U1900, U2200. But not all at the same time. Mine was VERY intermittent however. Sometimes it would go days without repeating the fault. A quick tap of the dash would get rid of the warning lights but put it in limp mode. However hitting the dash sometimes would not trigger the fault. So my method of diagnosing it, to save measuring resistance at the OBDII port, was to detach the cluster and physically flex the wiring harness behind it while the car was running. Sure enough, this confirmed it. After having been quoted £400 to have it fixed professionally, I politely declined and took it apart and re-soldered it myself thinking there was nothing to lose by trying as the car was otherwise scrap. The soldering is not for the faint hearted at all as its very intricate, but being a bit of a skinflint I managed with just a bog standard plug in soldering iron without a temperature knob. I just took care not to overheat the board!

So that comes to the end (at this moment.....) of the '06 plate one's main issues. Now for the '08 reg

 

The 2008 one is a bit interesting. Its an '08 plate but is a pre facelift and LX trim level. As far as I know the LX trim level was canned sometime in 2007 and the facelift was out for the 57 plate. Anyhow I digress!

Power steering leak - For some context, there is history of a recent "fitting of power steering pump supplied by customer" from the previous owner's paperwork. I believe they have committed the cardinal sin of reusing the teflon nut on the high pressure PAS lines, and indeed the lines themselves. Also worth noting the PAS fluid is a murky grey colour, so something is clearly cream-crackered! This should be simple; replace the lines and stick them on the new pump, right? No! See noisy PAS pump....

Noisy PAS pump - So the "new" PAS pump is making a whiney noise as well as a recently developed rattle, quite a soft noise like ball bearings rattling or shaking rice I would say! So that leaves the conundrum of fitting new single use pipes to a noisy pump. I'm not going to chance it. There is a seller on eBay doing a brand new pump + pipes for a snip under £100. Ideal says I, except for the fact they're out of stock. So I'm playing the waiting game. Alternative options are buying them from separate sellers for about £150 in total or an eye-watering £160 for the pipes and £250 for the pump from the local motor factors, so that's not happening either. I'll take the car off the road if it gets bad enough and wait for a cheaper alternative. 

Steering knock - It seems to be well documented that MK2 Focuses tend to suffer from having noisy/knocking racks but no play. It seems to be a trait and nothing much to worry about. However one of the inner tie rods have a bit of play on mine that can only be felt with the weight off the car. So well worth checking before signing it off as needing a rack!

Gearbox oil leak - Pretty simple, but worth a mention. One of the diff seals weep and leave drips of oil. The leak looks really bad as it inevitably sprays everywhere but hardly affects the level. Simple diagnosis and simple to fix, but I mentioned it anyway 🙂 

 

I'll be happy to help anyone with any of the above if you drop a comment below I'll try to get back to you. Likewise if anyone knows anything about my few questions above please do say. Owning these things and being mechanically minded really messes with your head as you get to know them inside out!

I hope this is helpful to someone

Cheers!

My 2006 Mk2 had a leak in the AC system when I bought it. The orange LED on the AC button would light up when pressed, but the compressor clutch did not activate at all.

I assume that is normal. I have also seen the same on another car from the early 1990s which leak testing and re-gassing the system sorted.

As far as I know, the compressor clutch cannot engage at all if the refrigerant pressure is too low.

Have the system pressure tested. If it will hold pressure, have it refilled with gas, fresh compressor oil and UV dye. This dye glows under UV light and will show where even very minor leaks are. Neglected AC systems seem to be common. There are a lot of people out there who outright refuse to ever switch it on. This causes leaks in the system as the compressor oil is not circulated which in turn causes the o-rings to degrade.

As for the power steering pump, the system may well have been refilled with the incorrect fluid. The Mk2 pumps used a thinner green fluid rather than the older red type. Using the older type is said to cause the pump to be noisy as well as causing excessive wear. There is also no service interval published by Ford for this fluid, it was intended to last the useful life of the car. I have read that pump noise can go away when the correct fluid is used, but this is not certain. The correct fluid is Comma MVCHF and is available from Halfords for around £12 for a 1 litre bottle.

When I first got my Mk2 there was a small weeping leak from the power steering system which turned out to be a hairline crack at the low pressure return connection on the reservoir bottle. I replaced that with a used bottle from a breakers that I had bought and cleaned up inside and out before removing the original. I also cut the end of the return hose short and joined a short section of fresh hose onto it with a steel inline connector and two spring clips. The end of the original hose that connected to the bottle had started to crack and had taken a set to the shape of the plastic connector. It hasn't leaked a trace of fluid after that.

I then did a gradual steering fluid flush by emptying the reservoir bottle using a 60ml syringe, refilling with fresh fluid and driving as normal. I repeated this every two weeks until the litre bottle of fresh fluid was all gone. The reservoir contains around 160ml of fluid, so a 1 litre bottle of new fluid can refill the reservoir six full times and one final part refill. The first lots of fluid that came out were dark grey in colour, whereas the final drain was now clear yellowish. This could be repeated again with another bottle if needed.

As the high pressure lines on mine were not leaking I decided that it was best to leave them alone. Obviously my repair doesn't help with your high pressure lines. How much fluid does yours lose? Is it dripping badly or a weeping leak that can be lived with and topped up?

The washer fluid could be sludge inside the washer tank blocking the pump inlet filter gauze. It is possible to remove the washer pump from the bottle and clean out the inside of the tank.

Hopefully this is helpful.

6 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

My 2006 Mk2 had a leak in the AC system when I bought it. The orange LED on the AC button would light up when pressed, but the compressor clutch did not activate at all.

I assume that is normal. I have also seen the same on another car from the early 1990s which leak testing and re-gassing the system sorted.

As far as I know, the compressor clutch cannot engage at all if the refrigerant pressure is too low.

Have the system pressure tested. If it will hold pressure, have it refilled with gas, fresh compressor oil and UV dye. This dye glows under UV light and will show where even very minor leaks are. Neglected AC systems seem to be common. There are a lot of people out there who outright refuse to ever switch it on. This causes leaks in the system as the compressor oil is not circulated which in turn causes the o-rings to degrade.

As for the power steering pump, the system may well have been refilled with the incorrect fluid. The Mk2 pumps used a thinner green fluid rather than the older red type. Using the older type is said to cause the pump to be noisy as well as causing excessive wear. There is also no service interval published by Ford for this fluid, it was intended to last the useful life of the car. I have read that pump noise can go away when the correct fluid is used, but this is not certain. The correct fluid is Comma MVCHF and is available from Halfords for around £12 for a 1 litre bottle.

When I first got my Mk2 there was a small weeping leak from the power steering system which turned out to be a hairline crack at the low pressure return connection on the reservoir bottle. I replaced that with a used bottle from a breakers that I had bought and cleaned up inside and out before removing the original. I also cut the end of the return hose short and joined a short section of fresh hose onto it with a steel inline connector and two spring clips. The end of the original hose that connected to the bottle had started to crack and had taken a set to the shape of the plastic connector. It hasn't leaked a trace of fluid after that.

I then did a gradual steering fluid flush by emptying the reservoir bottle using a 60ml syringe, refilling with fresh fluid and driving as normal. I repeated this every two weeks until the litre bottle of fresh fluid was all gone. The reservoir contains around 160ml of fluid, so a 1 litre bottle of new fluid can refill the reservoir six full times and one final part refill. The first lots of fluid that came out were dark grey in colour, whereas the final drain was now clear yellowish. This could be repeated again with another bottle if needed.

As the high pressure lines on mine were not leaking I decided that it was best to leave them alone. Obviously my repair doesn't help with your high pressure lines. How much fluid does yours lose? Is it dripping badly or a weeping leak that can be lived with and topped up?

The washer fluid could be sludge inside the washer tank blocking the pump inlet filter gauze. It is possible to remove the washer pump from the bottle and clean out the inside of the tank.

Hopefully this is helpful.

Thank you so much, as much as a guru I thought I was this does help a lot 🙂

Next course of action is to get the AC pressure tested. I'll update when that's done. Since posting the thread I saw a YouTube video where the rubber hose from the compressor to the drier is a common culprit for leaking so I'll inspect that in particular

I compared it with my '08 reg one, the compressor kicks in when R11 clicks in the engine bay fusebox. The '06 one does not do this but the orange light and cooling fan comes on. This does lead me to believe its low refrigerant 👍

It's hard for me to tell what PAS fluid has been put in it as it's a metallic grey colour. I have been topping it up with the correct green CHF which I bought on eBay £12 for 2 litres 👍 Cheap as chips as it's only getting peed out on the ground lol

I know what you mean about the correct fluid possibly quitening the pump down, however the pump is making a bearing/pulley sort of rattle so probably too late in that regard. The whining sound may go away but I don't want to take the gamble as I'd need new pipes again if the pump failed later on down the line

My '06 reg one has standard red ATF/PAS fluid in it, I know it's wrong but I am going to leave it well alone as it's been fine for ages and mixing red and green (which would inevitably happen) could sludge things up, I am told. 

I'll be honest my way of changing PAS fluid is to disconnect the return line on the rack and pump new fluid through until it's a desirable colour, but your method works equally as well too

Having been under the car on the ramp, it is weeping out of the high pressure outlet on the pump where someone has reused the nut. On full lock, it trickles out steadily. 

It's getting gradually worse, it's gone from needing a top up every 8 weeks, then 6 weeks, then 4 weeks, then 2 weeks and now it's gone from Max to Min in 6 days this week. 

If you just leave the car idling for about 10 minutes it will leave a drop about the size of a £1 coin, if you start turning the steering lock to lock that puddle gets an awful lot bigger so I'd say it's a trickle rather than a seep unfortunately. After a journey and switching the engine off after parking up, again it'll leave about a £1 coin size puddle on the ground. Because it doesn't leak any more when not running that kind of confirms it's not leaking from the low pressure lines/bottle like in your case

I've seen them so bad they just spray fluid everywhere, mine isn't at that stage (yet!)

I think regarding the washer pump, I'll order one as they're only £8 so once I've got it all apart I may as well swap it, but will pay close attention to anything blocking the gauzes or pipes. 

I'll post back when I've got updates on the above 👍

Cheers!

My thinking behind gradually flushing the fluid is that the detergents in the fresh fluid would start to clean out the system. Some of the contamination is then removed each time the reservoir is emptied. It also means not having to remove any connections which could possibly leak when refitted.

I would think that yours would currently fail an MOT if it is leaking that much.

As far as I can see, it is not possible to disconnect only the low pressure return hose at the steering rack. Both the high pressure feed and low pressure return are connected to the rack by one bolt through the steel plate attached to the end of both pipes. That means that if the low pressure return hose crimped fitting leaks at the rack, you would also have to disconnect and replace the high pressure line. If the low pressure return hose itself split, I would cut if off and attach another length with an inline connector to save having to disturb the connection at the rack.

Another way of replacing the fluid would be to drain the reservoir bottle, then disconnect the low pressure return from the bottle connector. It is far easier to access the bottle connections if the passenger side headlight is removed first. For anyone reading this, it only applies to the earlier Mk2 engine driven pump, I do not have any experience with the later electric pump used on the Mk2.5, or any other Focus than a Mk2 1.6 Petrol.

The the return pipe would then need to be temporarily joined to a longer length of pipe running into a container to catch the waste fluid. If the temporary connection is kept above the height of the pump, enough fluid should stay in the system to stop any air entering.

It would also need a short length of plugged pipe attached to the bottle return connector to stop the fresh fluid draining from the bottle.

The next step would then be to raise both front wheels off the ground. With the engine off, fill the bottle with new fluid, then turn the steering wheel from full lock to full lock. This will apparently pump fresh fluid through the system. As long as the fresh fluid level is kept at the top of the pump feed pipe which can be seen through the top of the bottle, there shouldn't be any air drawn into the system. With no fresh fluid in the bottle itself, re-connect the return line and fill the bottle to the max line.

This should in theory prevent any air being drawn into the system. Hopefully it can also be done with minimal spilt fluid.

With the wheels still raised off the ground, start the engine and check for leaks. Turn the wheel from lock to lock to circulate the fluid and displace any air that may have found its way in. This could all be done with the car on the ground without any need to actually work underneath it.

2 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

My thinking behind gradually flushing the fluid is that the detergents in the fresh fluid would start to clean out the system. Some of the contamination is then removed each time the reservoir is emptied. It also means not having to remove any connections which could possibly leak when refitted.

I would think that yours would currently fail an MOT if it is leaking that much.

As far as I can see, it is not possible to disconnect only the low pressure return hose at the steering rack. Both the high pressure feed and low pressure return are connected to the rack by one bolt through the steel plate attached to the end of both pipes. That means that if the low pressure return hose crimped fitting leaks at the rack, you would also have to disconnect and replace the high pressure line. If the low pressure return hose itself split, I would cut if off and attach another length with an inline connector to save having to disturb the connection at the rack.

Another way of replacing the fluid would be to drain the reservoir bottle, then disconnect the low pressure return from the bottle connector. It is far easier to access the bottle connections if the passenger side headlight is removed first. For anyone reading this, it only applies to the earlier Mk2 engine driven pump, I do not have any experience with the later electric pump used on the Mk2.5, or any other Focus than a Mk2 1.6 Petrol.

The the return pipe would then need to be temporarily joined to a longer length of pipe running into a container to catch the waste fluid. If the temporary connection is kept above the height of the pump, enough fluid should stay in the system to stop any air entering.

It would also need a short length of plugged pipe attached to the bottle return connector to stop the fresh fluid draining from the bottle.

The next step would then be to raise both front wheels off the ground. With the engine off, fill the bottle with new fluid, then turn the steering wheel from full lock to full lock. This will apparently pump fresh fluid through the system. As long as the fresh fluid level is kept at the top of the pump feed pipe which can be seen through the top of the bottle, there shouldn't be any air drawn into the system. With no fresh fluid in the bottle itself, re-connect the return line and fill the bottle to the max line.

This should in theory prevent any air being drawn into the system. Hopefully it can also be done with minimal spilt fluid.

With the wheels still raised off the ground, start the engine and check for leaks. Turn the wheel from lock to lock to circulate the fluid and displace any air that may have found its way in. This could all be done with the car on the ground without any need to actually work underneath it.

Thank you, yes the MOT is a bit of a grey area with PAS leaks, it used to be an advisory, but now it's supposed to be fail or advise at testers discretion, I would rectify it anyway regardless of an MOT result as it's becoming a pain to be topping it up so frequently. 

The low pressure hose I was thinking of is the return to the bottle from the rack. But I will flush the fluid through when replacing the pump and pipes anyway. That's a good theory about the detergents in the fluid, I'll probably use your method a few weeks after replacing the pump and pipes to get as much fresh fluid in the system as possible. 

 

3 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

As far as I can see, it is not possible to disconnect only the low pressure return hose at the steering rack. Both the high pressure feed and low pressure return are connected to the rack by one bolt through the steel plate attached to the end of both pipes.

Quoting myself here to correct something in my last post as I can't edit it now.

Looking at photos it appears that what I said about the steel retainer plate is not quite correct. It is permanently attached to the high pressure pipe, but can be rotated away from the return pipe once the bolt is removed. See image for what I mean.

There are also many different versions of these hoses available depending if the car is a manual or auto, or if it has an oil cooler coil or not.

4 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

Quoting myself here to correct something in my last post as I can't edit it now.

Looking at photos it appears that what I said about the steel retainer plate is not quite correct. It is permanently attached to the high pressure pipe, but can be rotated away from the return pipe once the bolt is removed. See image for what I mean.

There are also many different versions of these hoses available depending if the car is a manual or auto, or if it has an oil cooler coil or not.

I see, however once that bracket is removed there is nothing to hold the high pressure pipe into the rack so you were correct originally. You could faff around taking the low pressure pipe out then bolting the H/pressure one back in but thats too much hassle really when it could be flushed with your syringe method.

There's a brilliant video I found on Youtube ("2011 FORD FOCUS POWER STEERING PIPES REPLACEMENT") that demonstrates the whole pipe replacement process very well. Apart from his air con "tips" which I don't condone lol 🙂