Ford Focus GHIA 03 - Speedometre Problem

apprentice2012

Hi there,
I am a complete novice with cars, before contacting the dealer i would like to ask something here to get some piece of mind.

I bought a used ford focus 2003 last week, The speedometre has recently started to act strange and is staying at 0mph when i am driving. Sometimes it works normally but i cannot be driving when its not working not knowing what speed i am going.
Is it anything serious? How much would it cost as my guarantee says it is not covered speedo / rev metres.

Zeitgeist

It sounds like the speed sensor that has gone. The part isn't that expensive but a little awkward to fit I understand, but it's not a gearbox out job or anything.

marlot

Did you buy it from a dealer? If so, go back and ask them to fix it. It doesn't matter whether its in your warranty or not - the car has to be fit for purpose under the sale of goods act, and one without a working speedo is not ok.

apprentice2012

Yes i did buy it from a dealer, wasnt sure but if you say sale of goods act covers it then im getting myself to the dealer. Thanks.

benham3160

These regularly fail on the Focus, I've known many with intermittent speedo faults, normally it starts off as the odd blip, sometimes it never gets any worse, sometimes the whole lot just fails one day.

The fault is highly unlikely to be with the clockset itself (don't let them feed you this line without having first tested the speed sensor wiring and the sensor itself) and this sensor forms part of the engine management system, with a secondary role to providing roadspeed data to the driver.

Fitting them is awkward, but perfectly do-able, make sure the wiring is checked over too, don't let them "plug and play" to find the fault re-occurs in six months.

Regards,
Andy