Sounds to me like corrosion or solidified grease or dirt in the mechanism somewhere..

Just an update for you; today I had the clutch master cylinder replaced under warranty and this seems to have solved the problem (fingers crossed).

It's the first time the Ford dealer had seen this fault on a new Focus but the second in a week after a similar fault on a Ford C-Max. Anyway, many thanks to Sandicliffe of Stapleford, Nottingham for investigating the fault fully with an open mind rather than fobbing me off like other dealers have done.

This is a well known problem with the new Ford Focus. If you have any more trouble I would suggest going to a different Ford dealership and if you get no satisfaction there contact BBC watchdog because this is a dangerous fault and Ford should be doing a recall.

I had a similar experience when driving a Ford Focus Econetic 1.6 TDCi, the clutch pedal would engage almost on the floor which made driving it rather difficult, the sales guy stalled in their car park it and still claimed it was ok. The sales guy insisted there was nothing wrong with it and they were all like that, staggering considering it was a Ford Direct car. Like I've only driven loads of Fiesta's and no they are not all like that, only this one is like that and it's faulty. Seems like Ford have an issue to resolve on more than one of their models.

Check if they fitted a reconditioned master cylinder instead of a new one, although they should have fitted a new one under warranty.

Also it's not unknown for the same issue or a different issue to occur when a component has been fitted due to a similar fault in the replacement component, it's happened with my Focus.

Ask them why is there air in the clutch and brake systems and how is it getting there ?
Something is seriously amiss for that to happen.

I wonder why the first owner got rid of it, any chance of contacting them?

If Lombard is on the V5 then you've probably bought an ex AA driving school car. The Ford Direct dealerships are awash with them. The tell tale sign are the 2 gromits on the passenger side footwell where the dual controls where.Lombard are the company that supplies the AA and when six months are up they are taken back and sold to Ford dealerships. Mainly at the moment new shape Focuses, but also new shape Fiestas.

Yup-I can vouch for that, I used be an AA instructor in the early 2000's, and we used to abuse the f*** out of the clutch on practising hill starts, we were paying £200 a week for the kudos of driving around advertising their brand and if we or the pupil broke it we rang up and another one was delivered the next day. The rule was 6 months or 16000 miles and then you got a new one. I wasn't aware that the AA were using estates though, and we couldn't have diesels then, the reason given was that "there wouldn't be a market for secondhand diesels" Yeah-right. I have never put so much petrol in a 1.6 litre car in my life-the fuel gauge always moved faster than the speedo.

CDJPB - they must provide you with another car whilst your car is being sorted out, it's part of the warranty agreement. Remind them of their obligations and if they fail to provide you with a car then tell them you'll be hiring one from elsewhere and you will bill them in full upon return of your own car.

Also did you notice the occasional squeak when declutching prior to the developement of the issues you described ?

One thing that comes to mind, have there updated the engine management software at any time and if/when they did did the fault either disappear or improve ? I've known Ford Focus issues with software corruption causing a host of issues and the only cure is to replace the offending electronic circuit board that's behind the corruption and then blow in new software.

Hi,

I'm having the same problem with a 2011 Ford Focus. I started having trouble with the clutch getting stuck about 2 months ago after long journeys, it was due a service at the time and they checked it out and said there was nothing wrong. The problem got worse, (still happening after long journeys) and then it started to cut out at traffic lights when trying to put it into gear, took it back last week to garage and they said it was the master cylinder was leaking, so they replaced it. I drove it on a long journey this week and the problem was completely worse than before, it gets stuck now everytime I change gear. Rang Ford Assistance and took it to nearest garage, they have it at the moment, but they called me this evening to say that the master cylinder & slave cylinder were fine and that they couldn't see anything wrong with it. They said they test drove it a few times and couldn't replicate the issue. I am going mad now this evening as thought that it would be sorted this time.

Have you anymore information on the TSB or even the number of it ?

Up until this happed I loved the car, but now just want to get rid of it and never go near Ford again.

Thanks for the update, most helpful.

Did you swap/trade the Focus Estate mk2 for a Focus Estate mk3 and if so how do they compare ? Is it a 1.6 TDCi you have now ?

Thanks for the TSB info.

The issue with my car seems to be resolved now (touch wood!!). The second garage that I took it to said that when the master cylinder was replaced it wasn't bled properly as the new focus has a different system for the clutch and bleeding it is a bigger job than before.

I don't know if thats true but since they did that it has been fine. Starting to get confidence back when driving it again, but will keep the TSB info on hand just incase!

Hope that you get it all sorted soon.