kishy's 2005 Focus

[Tiggie]

I really like the original Focus (not sure if North American spec is required, but that's the one I'm referring to). I think they aged very well for being 20+ years old, especially for being the bottom of the barrel economy car for Ford at the time. Plus you could get a stick, the wagon, or an SVT version.
Is the drivetrain pretty durable in these?

[kishy]

I really like the original Focus (not sure if North American spec is required, but that's the one I'm referring to). I think they aged very well for being 20+ years old, especially for being the bottom of the barrel economy car for Ford at the time. Plus you could get a stick, the wagon, or an SVT version.
Is the drivetrain pretty durable in these?

As far as lineage goes:
Mk1 was fundamentally the same car between NA/rest of world. It lasted longer in NA though, as the rest of the world got a new Mk2 which we never got.
In 05 (the year of this car) there were a few cosmetic changes to the Mk1 in NA, which the rest of the world didn't get.
When NA got its own kinda-sorta Mk2 (08-11), it was mechanically more similar to the late Mk1s, and was a car the rest of the world didn't get, while they continued to have the "more evolved" Mk2.
All of the Focuses up to 2011 are quite good cars, but in the early years they were available with a surprising number of engines. You have to watch out for the Split Port 2.0L SOHC engine (early years only, not sure exactly when but gone by 2005) which has a reputation for dropping valve seats.

This car has the 2.0L Duratec engine which is a design originating from Mazda (see Mazda L engine), and is the basis of a good number of Ford's 4-cylinder engines since then (I'm fairly sure my work van has the same engine, just with direct injection added to it). I think it's the one to have, and is considered quite robust, obviously with a short list of gotchas like every car has that the nerdy owners know about (like Panthers with the TV cable). The car is reasonably quick and very responsive. And the thing the early Focus was praised for endlessly was its handling, which even this car with tired struts still does very well. You can really push these in curves and they do a great job keeping the tires connected with the pavement.

[Tiggie]

Thanks for the info. I would not be opposed to owning one, especially if a career change puts me in a long commute situation. The 2012 Escape the wife pilots has the 2.5 Duratec and it's been very trouble free.

[kishy]

I had mom drop by today with the Focus so I could address the oil change, belt replacement, check the transmission fluid level, and poke around with the reverse lights.

Oil: 2023-12-27, 121,074km, changed oil with full synthetic 5W30 (5W20 is called for, but this will do fine) and a Motorcraft filter.
Trans fluid: checked with ziptie in the fill hole, level is correct, no changes made.
Topped up the washer fluid.
Brake and p/s fluid levels acceptable.
Coolant acceptable but could use a little top-up but I'm not sure exactly what's in it, so I'm sort of tempted to change it at some point in the next year.

Changed the belt, from below as designed. Put the old belt (still quite fine looking really) in the spare tire well as a roadside spare, but realistically, it's not a roadside-changeable belt. Topped up the air pressure on the spare tire.



Studied the wiring diagram book. Found a connector in the trunk which the rear lighting goes through. Verified that I get a dim test light and almost-kinda-sorta battery voltage on the reverse light pin with the bulbs disconnected and trans in reverse, but it drops to about zero if the bulbs are attached. I used long test leads to insert 12V at that connector and the lights work fine. My new belief is that the switch on the transmission has dirty or corroded contacts. The switch does switch, but I'm not getting enough juice through the circuit. The disassembly to get to the switch is a little extensive so I didn't diagnose it more thoroughly today, and will wait until I've got the switch on-hand before I do. That will also be a good opportunity to retrofit the new air cleaner assembly with serviceable filter. These cars were built with a lifetime air cleaner with a giant filter element you can't change and the aftermarket builds ones that take a standard filter.

Edit: I've been freakin' bamboozled. The air filter that fits the aftermarket housing is a Fram CA7098 or Wix 46107, and they're both not available on RockAuto (where I bought the housing to begin with). It looks like they cross to the early Saturn 1.9 SOHC application, and there are none available in stock for those. eBay has a few options but this is definitely a minor setback.

So, to-do:
Buy the reverse light switch.
Verify I have a filter on-hand to fit the retrofit air cleaner assembly, and if not, buy the filter.





I am also considering retrofitting the cabin air filter option, which stopped existing in 2005 but the parts from 2004 and prior fit, and I took them off the parts car before I scrapped it.

[GM_Guy]

I just went poking around air filters, talk about orphan air filter, I gotta wonder if this is a Canada-Only air filter housing (or focus for that matter) because no where, not even Crappy tire lists it as fitting the focus, just the saturn (and there is a BMW i3 hybrid 2014-2021 that takes the air filter--funny thing, while I was using rock auto looking up filters, the focus entry I was popping back to check other filter numbers and apps suddently updated to show only one filter, also not in stock, down from 5 separate entries). What I find curious is that replacement air filter housings are popping up at places like Napa and Carquest (Canada and the US) ($166us detroit carquest. $860cdn (!!!) at Napa)

You might be ahead to look for something next time you are in the US and look for something with a different filter number. Unless that BMW filter is available at blue collar prices.

[kishy]

I just went poking around air filters, talk about orphan air filter, I gotta wonder if this is a Canada-Only air filter housing (or focus for that matter) because no where, not even Crappy tire lists it as fitting the focus, just the saturn (and there is a BMW i3 hybrid 2014-2021 that takes the air filter--funny thing, while I was using rock auto looking up filters, the focus entry I was popping back to check other filter numbers and apps suddently updated to show only one filter, also not in stock, down from 5 separate entries). What I find curious is that replacement air filter housings are popping up at places like Napa and Carquest (Canada and the US) ($166us detroit carquest. $860cdn (!!!) at Napa)

You might be ahead to look for something next time you are in the US and look for something with a different filter number. Unless that BMW filter is available at blue collar prices.

See, the problem is that I already have the aftermarket housing new in its box, but I didn't think to grab a filter at the time I bought it (or maybe I ran into this issue back then and forgot about it).

The aftermarket housing just uses some random filter that its manufacturer settled on, which happens to be this odd Saturn filter. Local PartSource said the nearest store with the filter is London but it would only be 10 bucks and can be transferred between stores, so it's available and within reach, but it's really odd that a consumable part for a mass-produced car as recent as the mid-90s would be in short supply.

Regardless, I think I'll leave the air filter alone for now unless I can get some indication the current lifetime unit is actually restricted. It has a flow meter on it so that should be possible to figure out easily if I actually think to look at it. The other to-do item I've forgotten about, which also involves removing the air cleaner in the course of doing it, is removing the intake manifold flap system. Some sort of positionable vane airflow dealie that the Focus people all say must be deleted or it'll eventually lunch the engine. Not the type of community wisdom I'm inclined to challenge.

The other popular option for the air cleaner is junkyard harvesting the air cleaner assembly off a year that has a factory-designed serviceable filter, but I didn't do that because it wasn't clear to me that it was a truly plug-n-play swap. I had looked at some junkyard cars in the 08-11 generation and it just didn't look like it was a direct fit, and it also looked like a huge pain to remove.

[GM_Guy]

And here I thought the replacement housing used a different filter because of this unobtanium 46107. Can you retrofit a box or whale filter housing in the focus? =-) At least from pictures, looks like the cvgm housing is a lot smaller than the fuckus one.

[gadget73]

I could only wish I had such an available air filter. I might possibly have the last 2 on the planet for the Continental. Both are nearly 30 years old at this point.

[GM_Guy]

Ford & BMW sure like their unicorn filter. Where those filters more expensive initially from ford than the common ones? The only reason I can think of is to milk customers out of a couple extra bucks by having a nearly one-off filter. (Conti diesel filter to save others from looking; ford 84 & 85 on two models. bmw 85, 87 & 88 on three models).

[gadget73]

trouble is the air filter doesn't also fit the BMW. That would make my life a lot easier. It says it does, but whats actually in the car isn't what comes up on the crossovers. There is a Fram number and an STP one that work but both are out of production. The original is some Purolator number but if you look it up that filter is completely different. The STP number also crosses to some round air filter thats nowhere near right either. I figure eventually I'll either be stuck with a generic cone filter, or I'll figure a way to modify it to take the same air cleaner a Mustang does.

[GM_Guy]

What a mess that all is.

[kishy]

Mom is on the mend from a hip replacement this past Monday. She's asked me to look at a couple things on the Focus while she's recovering, so it's at my place.

Current list of priorities:

• Brake pedal is "squishy". Test drive with hard braking leads me to believe the rear brakes are not doing much, or maybe anything. I believe the self-adjust mechanism is not working and has not worked the whole time we've had it, as I never felt like I got them to adjust quite right from day one. Additionally, the parking brake has been getting steadily less effective over time.
• Reverse lights not working. This is a previously-know, and previously-diagnosed fault. I just need to install the switch on top of the transmission, and I do have the part now.
• License plate lights not working. This is a recurring problem and usually traces back to corrosion on the light bulb contacts.
• Idle is very "buzzy". A lot of engine harmonics transmitting into the cabin. Most likely, the cheap passenger engine mount is bad. It is within warranty and a RockAuto warranty replacement order has now been made. Installed 2022-05-27 (or thereabouts) at 113k km. Today the car sits at 122,088km. I do think short trips are probably unkind to this part in a manual transmission car. Perhaps a fresh one will do better now that she (mom, primary driver) is more experienced driving this car.

[kishy]

It's so small!



Tackled the issues at the front end of the car tonight:

• Reverse lights not working. This is a previously-know, and previously-diagnosed fault. I just need to install the switch on top of the transmission, and I do have the part now.
• Idle is very "buzzy". A lot of engine harmonics transmitting into the cabin. Most likely, the cheap passenger engine mount is bad. It is within warranty and a RockAuto warranty replacement order has now been made. Installed 2022-05-27 (or thereabouts) at 113k km. Today the car sits at 122,088km. I do think short trips are probably unkind to this part in a manual transmission car. Perhaps a fresh one will do better now that she (mom, primary driver) is more experienced driving this car.

Swapped the mount out. Test drive confirms the buzzy engine harmonics are no longer coming into the car at any RPM, especially idle where it was quite obnoxious.





Moved on to the reverse lights. I had previously diagnosed the entire circuit back to the lights and found it to be intact. The issue was either the switch, or upstream of the switch in the engine bay, so either way, I had to disassemble down to the top of the transmission to proceed.

Removed the battery, battery tray, transmission mount (the opposite mount of the one newly replaced), then repositioned the metal bracket below the battery tray to get access to the switch. Removed old, installed new, connected it, tested, verified working. Put it back together and done.







Considering some ludicrously bright LEDs for those, but for now, they work as they should.

Next up: the non-adjusting rear brakes, and the license plate lights.

[DerekTheGreat]

License plate lights.. I remember my first car, a 1994 Grand Am. They were non-op on that car too. Investigated the problem and found someone cut the harness right where it went into the light fixture. Guess "gas & go" was a thing in the 90's.

[kishy]

Noted that the oil leak off the bottom of the transmission housing seems to be pretty significant.
Verified engine oil level is correct.
Opened the transmission fill plug and checked for oil presence and approximate level using a zip tie.
Content with the result.
Leak source appears to be the driver side output shaft (CV axle) seal.

Reviewing the thread, I did change both seals when I did the initial batch of work on this car.
The then-new passenger seal showed leakage very early-on, and I changed it again. That one is dry currently.
The driver one didn't concern me at the time, so the seal that's still there now is identical to the one that leaked on the other side.

Looks like I'm replacing that seal.

The driver side is brutal to get apart, so I'm not super enthusiastic about that.

Next up: the non-adjusting rear brakes,

Might have taken care of this.

I took the brakes apart and stared at the adjusters for a while. I think I understand the functional premise:

• apply brake pedal
• wheel cylinder pushes shoes apart, in doing so, pushing the front shoe towards the front of the car
• as the front shoe pushes forward, a tab on the shoe pulls the adjuster camwheel out of its 'locked' position, and simultaneously rotates it. the amount of rotation is proportionate to the amount of shoe travel, so the more unadjusted the brake is, the more it tries to adjust.
• release pedal, wheel cylinder contracts
• shoes retract and adjuster camwheel is pulled back into the stud behind it by its spring, which locks it in position

I found the mechanism had been anti-seized (99% sure this wasn't me, and was the guy who owned these brakes before me - they came off the 04 parts car). It did not work freely by hand. I took them down to bare metal, then used caliper slide lube to just barely wet the surfaces and made sure it all moved smoothly. Also lubed the pads on the backing plate where the shoes slide, put it back together, and test drive showed a good firm brake pedal and even brake feel. The parking brake now works much firmer than it did before, but I still feel like it's probably a little weak. It will bring the car to a full stop, and it will hold it at a stop even on a mild hill, but you can overpower it (without skidding the tires) with only light engine use, and applying it at speed will not lock either wheel.

Better than it was, and that's a fair goal to have aimed for.

and the license plate lights.

Corrosion was, indeed, to blame. Looks like there's a water ingress issue around the plastic which forms the trunklid handle, and is also the housing for these lights.

I cleaned up the corrosion, installed new cheap garbage LEDs (had bought 4, the 2 in the car seem to be water damaged, so the other 2 have now gone on), coated the terminals in grease, then applied some black gasket maker at the joint where the water would be getting behind this assembly. No idea if it will help, but the lights work again now.

Also changed one of the 5 bulbs in the middle brake light, which had burned out. Would like to explore retrofitting an LED panel out of another car (such as a newer Focus) to go behind the existing lens.





Tested white 3156 Sylvania Zevo LEDs in the reverse lights. Found them completely useless, as seems to be the case for the white Zevos in general, unfortunately. Incandescent is fine for now.