Just bought a 2005 Focus Ghia II 1.6 (100) with 59k on clock. All previous service history was perfect before last owner, but last owner had the car just over 2 years (14k miles driven), but never changed the oil or serviced it, just drove it. It was fully serviced just before he bought it. The car was very clean throughout, but I noticed the oil was low, so I got it changed as soon as I bought it. I really don't think the car has been abused, just the previous owner was clueless regarding regular servicing. The car drives lovely, no power loss etc, but I am a little concerned about the sound of the engine from cold. When revved, especially noticeable when the engine loses revs, it sounds like there is a lot of what sounds like tappet/cam noise. This goes completely when warm, but it just bugs me that the lack of oil change may have caused some starvation at the top end and caused premature wear. The video is from a cold start, taken from my smartphone, so not ideal. Can anyone tell from this what this could be? Thanks.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108562491/focus.mp4

My 2010 focus 1.6 petrol 100 bhp was making the same noise when cold for ages I changed the oil to castrol magnatec to see if it would quieten down which it didn't and tried all sorts, super unleaded new plugs and leads. Eventually I solved my issue, I believe it was a clogged catalytic converter. I did a hundred mile round trip to Crewe and had a car full of people. I drove relatively hard a bit like an Italian tune up, nothing extreme to damage my car. Since then the noise has gone and the car feels loads smoother. The one thing I did notice was driving to Crewe was my car had a real strong smell of rotten eggs. Promise is was no one in the car. I have read up on this and the egg smell can be the catalytic converter cleaning itself out. I mainly do town driving so I am 100 percent sure mine was cat related.

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Was yours noisy like mine from cold, but ok when warm? I have changed the oil and give it a good thrash, but no difference...

Cold noise is common its the hydraulic tappets when the engines cold the oils thicker as it warms up and the oil thins the noise dissapears its common on many cars

Yeah mine was noisy when cold, no distinctive noise at idle but when pulling off in low gears it did sound a bit rough for around 5mins or a couple of miles then it quietened down to normal once warmed up.

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