Hi there,

Iv just had my 12 plate focus in the garage to be fixed when the master cylinder rod had broken. My mechanic charged me £380 as he said it was a nightmare of a job. does this sound right?

He showed me the part that had snapped and it was made of plastic?? He replaced it with a metal rod.

i suppose my question is, was this model ever recalled for this? (my mechanic suggested that it should have been)

Thank you for any information you can give and please no nasty comments as I am no car buff.

To add to this now my start/stop is constantly showing its off and (cant remember before) however I used to only have to press in the clutch and push button to start the car now i have to press the brake too?

Never heard of anyone needing to press the brake in a FOcus to get it to start 

Wait, someone else posted recently about the exact same thing though they didn't say they'd been to the garage. 

Perhaps a broken clutch sensor? If your mechanic thought it was a difficult job he might have damaged something in close proximity...

 

Edit: this is the post I meant.. no replies yet though.

 

I've seen that mentioned on a few forums for the mk3, randomly the car will ask to press the brake with the clutch...it's even in the handbook so not a fault as such.  But no-one seems to know why it happens.   Some have suggested maybe the handbrake isn't applied enough, or if you're starting the car in gear, but nothing confirmed.

 

On my Mk3 I can start in gear with the handbrake off as long as the clutch is down.

I wonder if it'll show a clutch sensor fault on diagnostic? If the car "knows" the clutch sensor has crapped out, it won't be able to s/s.

Holly, can you try starting the engine with just your foot on the brake, no clutch, but car in neutral?

on my fiesta stop start it usually says on the display that I need to press the clutch to start it (if I have turned the key without my foot on the clutch first ) but sometimes it says press the clutch or the brake pedal.  I can't remember what the different scenario is to cause this. I think it might be depending on the handbrake position. 

It sounds to me like the clutch pedal switch might be missing/not connected/broken. 

I would see if i can get my head down by the pedals and look up to see if anything adrift (switch / wires) - I am guessing a bit that the switch is up by pedal and not in the clutch bellhousing