Hi!

I've joined the forum and only recently become a Ford owner.

My missus drives a 2003 focus Mk1 Ghia with just over 60k on the clock - great car, and a dream to service.

I hadn't owned my own motor for 4 years, due to working in The Netherlands, where one wasn't needed, and then Eire, and then back in England working close-to-home on a bus route. Finally I gave in and got myself a 2005 Focus Zetec 1.6 petrol with just 37k and a service history.

It's good but nowhere as near good as the wife's. With the cold mornings I notice the engine is pretty clanky, sounding like a diesel. Once it warms up it sounds fine, and performance is just the same as the Ghia. No engine lights, and the oil is nice-and-clear. Plenty of power, but there's a knocking sound on acceleration, nothing on a feathered throttle. It had a timing belt change at 25k and I wonder if what I'm hearing is a timing issue, or tappets need adjusting (the sound comes from the rocker box) or if its piston slap. Either way as soon as the car is warm is sounds far better, the knocking goes completely and it sounds like a petrol car.

What it really needs are a few good runs on the motorway, as looking through the service history I can see some years it didn't do 1k! In the first 18 months of its life it accumulated 16k and then a few 5k's and then pretty dormant most of the time, I think in the hands of a pensioner who just took it to the shops.

I strugged getting the date to change and stay changed on the 6000 CD and then finally found a combination that 'took'.

Before the Focus I have to go back a long way to my last Ford, which was a Sierra 2.3 in the 1980s. Great car but water kept on getting into the auto gearbox from the radiator. I started off on Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1's and a Magnum! In those days having a Ford was posh!

Hi welcome :)

Welcome to FOC does the car seem to judder untill its warmed up?

No it's fine. It has a consistent idle too. If I run the engine on the drive the ticking goes. I'm guessing tappets and the sound goes when the oil gets to them.

The car otherwise is fine, though the lack of RDS on the radio and no rear passenger ceiling coutesy light or lumber support on the drivers seat are a bit of a giggle for a car manufactured in 2005 - my VW Passat had them and it was a basic spec in 1997! Did Ford UK go to sleep in the early years of the century?

Hi and welcome to the forums