hi newbie here . I`am thinkin of buyin a Ford focus 1.8 tdci lx 06 plate what i`ve seen , but looking for any info what to look out for . The car has done 63 k , would the cambelt need doin , are the water pumps nornally ok and any other major things to look out for , suspension etc ? looking foward to any info wouldd be great .
ilsonlad
Edited by Pugugly on 01/11/2009 at 14:25
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If it has a dual mass flywheel make sure that the clutch is working smoothly and there is no engine vibration.
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thanks peter n. just been looking about the mass fly wheel and my goodness what a lot to take in . This looks very costly if it needs to be done . mmmmm might look at the astras instead , bit then again are most modern cars have this mass fly wheel ???
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/11/2009 at 18:18
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Avoid this car like the plague unless you are a millionairre. The engine is a common rail diesel engine. Made so complicated that as soon as it goes wrong it seems you have to replace just about every part of the car to get to the root of the problem. I have this car- so far in 8 months- new battery, starter motor, dual mass flywheel( £900), glow plugs all been replaced. Now it's gone wrong again, engine cuts out whilst driving along at various speeds, engine management light flashing, poor starting from hot and cold. Now being told problem may be injectors. Set of 4 £1000 plus vat plus labour. Or maybe fuel pump.
All in all, this is the most unreliable car i have ever owned. The best diesels in my opinion are peugeot. I've had 2 406 hdi diesels. Took them both to over 200,000 miles with no major problems at all, just the usual wear and tear that you would expect like brakes etc. VW are also pretty good. Just avoid ford, as it seems they haven't got their diesel engines right at all.
SQ
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 02/11/2009 at 00:24
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I'm afraid Neil is right. I think you have been lucky with your TDi engines as they are not as reliable as the old IDIs I run Citroen XMs with the 2.1 12 valve IDI engine and they are utterly reliable with a life in excess of 300,000 miles if looked after and almost as economical as the common rail engines, its almost certainly going to cost you more in maintenance than you will save on fuel.
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Neil says in his post that in his opinion Peugeot diesels are the best. Well the 1.6 and 2.0 Focus do have Peugeot engines (the 1.8 is Ford's own design). How about one of those instead? Although if you do a search on this forum you will probably find enough comments about the unreliability of these engines (and common rail diesel in general). However you have to think about how many HDI, TDCI, TDI etc etc. are out there and that in reality only a small proportion go badly wrong.
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Neil says in his post that in his opinion Peugeot diesels are the best. Well the 1.6 and 2.0 Focus do have Peugeot engines (the 1.8 is Ford's own design). How about one of those instead? Although if you do a search on this forum you will probably find enough comments about the unreliability of these engines (and common rail diesel in general). However you have to think about how many HDI TDCI TDI etc etc. are out there and that in reality only a small proportion go badly wrong.
I didn't realise that shara. Like you said, the 1.8 is fords own design. And a poor design it is too. I've been driving 25 years and have had many cars from most of the major manufacturers. Of course it's possible to be unlucky with cars and end up with a bad one, but this car is without doubt the most unreliable car i have ever owned. It appears this is a common problem with the 1.8tdci focus. Unfortunately the main dealers don't seem to have the integrity to admit they actually know exactly what the problem is. Instead they try to persuade you to throw parts at your car wiilly nilly, costing the customer loads of money until the car is fixed. It's only when you go to independant repairers that you find the real truth about the car. And they all say the same- the car is good when it's working, but an expensive nightmare to repair.
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In response to Neil 147, a lot of the problems I've read with common rail diesel appears to be just that. You take the car to a dealer when it goes wrong, they change something. The car is ok for a while then the original problem comes back and something else is changed all resulting in inconvenience and lots of money spent. As others on this forum have mentioned its not surprising that common rail engines fail, given the pressures they are working under. Apparently the injection pressure involved in common rail can be as high as 26,000 psi! I'm not an engineer or designer but to me that sounds like an amazingly high figure to get something to work at reliably and consistently in a family car.
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Neil,
You must have bought a right lemon.
I have been running a 1.8 tdci Titanium for 18 months, an '07.
Serviced on time and have not had any problems at all. Not had to pay for any mechanical extras whatsoever.
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My dad had bought a focus TDDi LX, but was appalled by the low fuel consumption. That was the only thing he could throw at it though: in one year not a single fault. Ride was exemplary, performance belied a 90 bhp diesel, interior comfort spot on. The consumption was more likely due to town driving / running in / bad habits rather thn a problem with the car itself. Trusting that common rail would consume less, he swapped it for a 1.8 TDCI 115 Zetec...and soon realized what a flop he had done...he paid 3.4k GBP more than he had paid for the other one, got a harsher ride, exactly the same fuel economy (although more performance) and a problem virtually no-one has yet managed to solve (see my other thread to try and solve it), along with the dreaded DMF after just 3 years (thankfully under warranty) and a dodgy fuel gauge quoted at some 300 GBP-ish to rectify!
I too say avoid this car like the plague. I have a clio dCi renowned for their faults, but so far the only major repair I encountered was just one injector...after no less than 88k miles...and it inly costed 60% of the focus!
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I've had a 54-plate 2L TDCi C-Max from new, with 81k on the clock, and have been following Focus-related threads on here and dedicated Focus forums for several years.
As others have said, the 1.8 is carried over from the old focus. The 1.6 & 2L are from the PSA joint venture. The 2L does not appear to be related to the engine from the old-shape mondeo. Both the 1.6 & 2L pop up all over the place and must be around in colossal numbers now, with some having done very high mileage, so there will definitely be some horror stories, but even a small percentage of a huge number is still a big number so they'll be easy to find online!
Mostly the problems relate to earlier engines up to around (I would say) 05/55-ish plates, but both units now seem to be pretty reliable - not seen any convincing evidence to the contrary. I personally believe that another cause of problems (afflicting many makes) is that dealers are often not very good at fault diagnosis.
I would therefore seek out a 1.6 110hp rather than the 1.8, even if there's a bit of a premium. The 1.6 is also apparently extremely frugal and more civilised than the 1.8. Check the LX spec has the toys you want too - some are meant to be quite Spartan.
I would apply general "good diesel owner" criteria to your lifestyle before writing a cheque - decent mileages (for economic reasons), a good number of longer trips to ensure EGR remains cack-free. Also don't balance the car on the clutch unless you need to- I have heard (on HJ I think) that heat build up is a major factor in DMF failure.
I've had one proper mechanical breakdown - crank position sensor was the cause, but does not seem to be particularly common to this car, and was quite a cheap fix.
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In short ilsonlad, stay away from the TDCi...but if you find a decent TDDi I'd give you the nod. It has been one of the best and most reliable cars we.ve ever owned...pity only for a short time. And stay away from Zetec trim...it just destroys the lovely ride and handling balance of the mainstream suspensions. Finding a TDDi will not only get you similar performance and much more reliability, but also similar fuel economy and a cheaper car. Engine noise is also remarkably similar although noticeably louder - just a touch. I miss that car like hell and the lucky owner who bought it still runs it after 5 years!
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