Faulty Ford Focus

am3b1g

My OH bought a used 58 plate Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec 6 weeks ago from a Ford Franchised dealer which has developed a nasty intermittent fault.
The engine has twice in the last week cut out without warning whilst she is driving (luckily both times no other traffic around).

Returned car to dealer for them to look at and after much hassle they have agreed to look at the car (initially they wanted her to continue driving it for another 2 weeks until they could fit her in). Also advised her to take car to another independent garage!

They also eventually gave her a courtesy car to use (after I had to leave work to go to dealer). They appeared quite happy for her to make own way home.

The service dept dont seem confident that they will find the fault as it is intermittent (being an elec engineer I understand how difficult they are) but we know the fault is there and it is a safety issue. (I would not like this to occur with her and kids in car).

I believe that if they cannot find / repair fault then it is not fit for purpose under SOGA.

I have informed Ford UK of the situation and have got a reference number for the case.

Any advice on what time is reasonable for them to fix fault and what my next step should be if they cant find / repair it would be appreciated.

BenL

If the engine had cut out I would think there will be fault codes registered in the ECU.

It should be a 5 min job for them to plug the computer in and read them.

am3b1g

After they eventually plugged it in (allegedly) they say no fault in ECU. They are now going to 'Road Test' it to try and recreate fault.

Not convinced of their sincerity due to attitude from them.

Just feel its reasonable to expect a 1 year old car @ 10 grand to last more than 6 weeks.

Heliflyguy

A quick google shows Focus Zetec engine cut outs maybe due to speed sensor or camshaft sensor failures.
Reports suggest with the speed sensor problem the speedo will drop just before the engine cuts out.

am3b1g

Thanks,

Mentioned this to service rep at dealer but he said this was on older focus models. I'll be honest I have no faith in them after lengthy conversation yesterday. It seems like they feel if computer sees no fault there isn't one!
I feel that we wont see a repair on this and will have to go down the SOGA route with them.
(If you'd eavesdropped my talk with them you'd know why!!

Rolandtheroadie

If the computer isnt holding a fault code, and it isnt doing it when the garage has it, how do you expect them to fix it?
Would you rather they just changed random parts and hopefully eventually get it?

Just noticed your an electrical engineer and realise this.

vaio

I suspect the OP doesn't care whether the ecu is holding a code or how they fix it, she paid £10k for a car which doesn't work and just wants it fixed.

Not sure about changing random parts but speed sensor & cam sensor would be a good starting point as these seem to be troublsome.

engineer21

Hello, this was also a problem i had with my Ford Focus which was 99 T reg, the speedo would fall to zero and car would stall (sometimes) not always stall!, happened after buying 3 weeks from the big ford dealer we all know and well i hate!! a******d c******k after taking it too them i had a very unhelpful response and couldnt get a another car outta them! they had it 6 weeks but obvisoly didnt work on it all the time as it was a warrenty repair!!!

anyway i took it back from them as i got so annyod with there customer service, i will never use them again!

anyway long story short i found the problem to be the speed sensor on top of the gearbox (£10 part and 10mins to unscrew and refit) very easy and all worked fine problem never reoccured!

what i did to find out where to check was go on one of the ford focus owners club sites and check the forums, theres a lot of info and many helpful people there one i used was FFOC but you do have to subscrbe for a year but its pennys compard to garage fees.

well worth it esp if you have some other niggles that wanna get fixed.

thats my 2 pennys worth p.s ive also used audi forums for my car now and same very very helpful! well worth a shot.

Good Luck

engineer21

and also this isnt the op fault or problem it is the garages, they have access to all of fords info and will know common faults if they can be bothered or go to expense to fix under warrenty is another thing!! take a courtesy car from them and rag it too bits i say so at least you get your moneys worth!!!

goldspanners

a fault like this on a very popular car should be an easy fix, i dont understand why the garages dont try changing parts that could cause such a fault,if it works then great you have a happy customer, if it doesnt then at least the customer sees your trying.
surely the mechanics at the dealers have enough brain cells to remember same faults and the causes of them.
i mean its a ford focus a very popular car and any fault on it will surely have been in thier garage before,unless its a real freak fault thats never happened before.

jeannieblue

Dealerships often get bewildered with intermittent faults. They plug in their machines and it tells them nothing... Ask them to get a technical guy from Ford Motor Company to come and sort it out for them. Fords have a number of 'troubleshooters' that go round the dealerships to resolve problems and their diagnostic equipment is far superior.

Trust me, it happened to me with my Focus (different fault tho) and the guy came out to where I worked, which is not a Ford dealership and my car was nearly out of warranty and I was desperate... Luckily my company know him and called him. Either way, what we did, the dealership should do for you!

I ended up paying for the part concerned, I wrote to Ford Customer Care and they called me to offer to reimburse me - sadly they needed the old part, I'd thrown it away two days before they called..........

Seems to me that you have done pretty much the right things - you have already contacted Fords themselves - I would still give them a nudge tho!

Are you in the South East?