I then tried turning it over by hand, but couldn't budge it. Ok so fast forward now. Did all of the necessary maintenance, etc and then some to prevent this from happening. I have had fairly little trouble out of it for three years and then boom out of nowhere I am stranded in 90 degree heat at McDonald's drive through. I left work, went to check it out and it sounds just like the dropped valve seat. I bought the car when it had 70,000 miles and it only last until 96,000 miles! Carfax said the car was clean, and after I owned it I was diligent in changing the oil regularly every 3000 miles or so, high mileage oil and took very good care of this car. Ran tests on it and said the valve seats broke in cylinder 4 and ruined the piston and head.
Now think, Ford has made cars since the early 1900's. I decided to take the car to the local Ford dealership only for them to tell me that these models suffer from a design defect in their engines. She drove that morning to a local burger king, went inside, came back out and the engine started shaking and wouldn't start. There are several types of records included in the report including: The mileage of a vehicle is crucial for it's value. He was at a stop light and it died. It looked just like the website but we had a couple of concerns so they addressed them and we ended up buying the car. After I ordered and started to move to next window the Focus shut off.
And one of the most common forms of automotive fraud in the second hand car market relates to odometer manipulation. Excellent care of the vehicle to this date. My daughter bought this car one year ago used at a 100k miles and put on only 10k miles with the usual maintenance. We are looking at having it repaired, trying to figure out if it will be worth the cost. The valve seat had dropped out and the piston had crunched it into hundreds of pieces. Just within the first few months of having the car, its radiator failed and had to replace it.
He said it would cost more to replace the engine than the car is worth. I did some research and found out it was the Valve seat that dropped on cylinder 4! Dont buy American cars they suck! I am also done with Ford. Mine has the same explodo-motor as the rest of you. Never crashed it and always did maintenance on it regularly. I would suggest to anyone looking for a car to stay away from the Focus and if you have one to get rid of it or have the valve seats replaced every 50,000 miles - Randy P.
I kept it well maintained and in excellent shape. Ford decided a few years back to design a valve seat that is not directly attached to the motor so after some wear, these valve seat just fall off and destroy the engine. Now he looking for a new engine and the same problem might happen again so kind of a waste since it seems to be a common problem in this ford car. If ur gonna get a car stick with Japanese cars! Valves and valve seats are very old technology. Just a couple weeks ago, we went out to start it and the engine was banging badly. And finally to add the icing on the cake. I'll try to update later.
. Car was in excellent shape for a 2003. Of course the solution was to replace the engine, but rather than do so, I just junked it. We had it towed to a reputable shop, and they said probably the valve seat dropped and the engine was shot. . Thank God He takes care of us. When we removed the cylinder head we found the intake valve of 1 cylinder recessed deep within the intake chamber.
It did start to run correctly and then would do it again a few days later. They told me the only solution they offer is that I buy a brand new car with them and I told them. Valve seat of intake valve 1 cylinder dropped out and destroyed the engine while we were driving 300 miles from home. I hope it works out well for him. However, the car has not been good to me. Almost three weeks later they contacted me so I could talk about the vehicle which i know they no longer have. I can not afford to drop another engine into this piece of crap so am going to just have a salvage come pick it up for a piddly few hundred bucks.
I asked if they would work with me on pricing as i am 5 hours away. Rebuild won't help, only another engine will work. The day it broke down I drove about 15 miles parked it, and when I got back in and tried starting it, it made a really hard knocking noise! After removing the front of the engine and finding the timing belt in good condition we are stumped. We have been the market leader for Vehicle History in the U. At 109,000 miles the 4 intake valve seat falls out causing exhaust valve to break off which further caused catastrophic engine failure. Update from Aug 20, 2011 : Pricey, but we had the car repaired by getting the engine replaced with a rebuilt one. I bought the car with 102k on it and it only had 142k when it went.
When he eventually got it started, it ran really rough, white smoke appeared from under the hood and then it went to automobile heaven never to be started again. I towed the car home and at first thought it was the starter. The engine feels like it is running on 3 cylinders. I turn off the engine immediately and think for sure the timing belt is the problem. If you own one of these engines, this situation could happen to you at any time, anywhere, stranding you. As a used car buyer you would like to be informed if the vehicles has been inspected regularly. Anybody got any suggestions on how to enforce Ford to make a correct executive decision for once? Hope this warns others about this potential problem of this Ford product and if they had any pride that their commercials talk about, they would recall these vehicles and fix them now! I have read several complaints on this Ford Focus car.