engine problem
7.9
pretty badTypical Repair Cost:
$643.00
Average Mileage:
87,375 miles
Number of complaints:
18 complaints
Most common solutions:
- not sure (12 reports)
- cylinders needed complete replacement (1 reports)
- jiggle cylinder connections or fill gas tank (1 reports)
- ran some addivites through it (1 reports)
- replace head of engine and valves (sticking from carbon) (1 reports)
- replace rubber cap over air intake valve (1 reports)
Helpful Websites About 2000 Ford Focus stalling
2008Jun 08
Focus 6.0L
- Automatic transmission
- 101,000 miles
My check engine light keeps coming on.The car keep stalling now. When I take it to the dealer they can't find the problem. Also I've had to replace a piece in the windows. Since the the car leaks really bad." This car has problems the dealer can't even fix."
This will be my last time ever purchasing a ford.
2007Oct 12
Focus ZTS 2.0L
- Manual transmission
- 108,740 miles
I have seen similar complaints to the one I'm having. I bought my used 2000 Ford Focus ZTS(2.0L DOHC) in September 2007. I paid $4800, and have spent approx. $2,500 in repairs. I'm pissed!!! I'm a student I dont have that kind of money. The main issue is when ever I stop, the car shakes like it is going to stall. This is one repair, on top of many, that I'm not sure about getting fixed. So far, I have had to replace motor mounts, all four brakes, wheel bearing and cylinders, timing belt, wiper motor, valve cover/gasket, coil pack.I know what people may think when they see my age, "oh he's just a stupid kid that drives the sh*t out of his car" I hate ford and will never buy another. Foreign is the way to go!
2008Jun 18
Focus ZTS
- Automatic transmission
- 91,505 miles
My 2000 Ford Focus ZTS has been nothing but problems since I bought it used 2 yrs ago. I've already almost put in $3000 of repairs. Definitely NOT worth it. The most recent issue I've been having with it- is it has been shaking (feeling like it's going to stall) when I come to a stop-light or when I am in traffic. The shaking is extensive and feels like the car might shut down. I have no idea what the problem might be- but after reading a couple other reviews on here...I'm only seeing how common it really is. FORD= Disaster.
2003Dec 16
(reported on)Focus Station Wagon
- 38,000 miles
Smoke comes out on the vents two days before stalling. I have the car towed to my Ford Dealer and I was told several days later that the head gasket has blown up and we might need a new engine. I gave my go ahead but later was told that the engine is in back order and will not be available two months later. I tried to get a loaner car both from the dealer and finally from Ford directly but I was told that since it is already out of warranty they could not help me. What I do not understand is why does the engine stall at only 38000 miles and why there is no available engine from Ford? Does this mean that they are not ready to support the cars the sell?
2008Feb 01
Focus
- Automatic transmission
- 110,000 miles
My Focus was bought used in 2002, it had about 25,000 miles on it. It was not a very good car, I had to have it fixed every 1-2 years for an average of $800 each time. I encountered several of the problems other people had described, hesitancy, unable to accelerate fast, and going up hills sometimes I would only be able to go 35 miles per hour on a freeway with the pedal to the floor (thinking I was going to get killed by a semi). But, my car was a survivor, until today, when I found out (at 110,000 miles, that the engine needed to be replaced). Now, I did not drive the car hard, or ignore maintenance issues. That just seems kind of a young age for the engine to go out. The worst part of it was, it cost me $275 just for the Ford mechanic to tell me this. That is $165 for a diagnostic workup and $110 for an hour of labor-----you have got to be kidding me, that is more than a lot of doctors and lawyers make. I will never buy a Ford again and will never recommend for someone else to. It wasn't just that the car was a dud and it fell apart really fast, it was that I felt like I was getting ripped off left and right with this car. And I probably did. It seems that conducting business this way will help Ford in the short run, but will burn a lot of bridges in the process. They have just burnt one with me, forever.
2007May 09
(reported on)Focus KX 1.8L
- Manual transmission
- 50,000 miles
I bought the Focus new in 2000. Car is an el cheapo, with no A/C, power anything & with manual trans. On the whole it has been quite a good car. I like handling & power (hey it's only a 4 cylinder). It has been quite reliable, even starting without being plugged in in F***ING cold Manitoba winter weather.
About 2 years ago, started dying intermittently when weather got hot. Runs perfect the rest of the year. As mileage increases, seems to be getting less intermittent. Today, happened twice on the way home from work. Last year I could drive all the way home without problem occurring. This seems to be a problem related to ambient temperature more than engine temperature.
I tried a number of things to restart the car, & one thing I found is that it will recover much quicker if the ignition is shut off. If I'm driving in traffic, I can usually push in the clutch, turn off the ignition, wait a few seconds, restart, re-engage the clutch & be on my merry way without ever coming to a stop. This technique does not work well in the middle of a curve, as steering locks when ignition is shut off. Ignition computer reset? I don't know.
Based on what I've seen to date, I don't expect Ford will be of any help. I'm capable of fixing the problem myself, but I don't want to start dropping hundreds of dollars replacing parts that may or may not be bad. I would like to be able to isolate the fault so that I know I've nailed it.
Hey Ford, are you reading this? I don't expect you to fix my car or pay for parts, I can do that. What I do expect is that you be able to tell me what is causing the problem. If you can't tell me, you can bet your ass my next car WILL NOT BE A FORD. I will also tell friends, relatives, co-workers & anyone else who will listen about this issue. Quality is job 1? Sure it is. You'd be better off spending some of your advertising budget on keeping existing customers happy. If your executives have any brains (which I doubt) they will be investing in Toyota & VW.
& Ford dealerships, I don't expect you to care, just do your *&^#$ jobs.
2007Sep 03
Focus SE 2.0L DOHC
- Manual transmission
- 147,000 miles
2000 Focus with the DOHC "ZETEC" engine, hand shaker, with 148K miles. I had to replace many components including the coil pack, vehicle speed sensor, throttle position sensor along with spark plugs, wires, fuel filter (including the recalled fuel pump), and other things not related to this problem. My car runs great and gets 30+ mpg (much better than when it was new) but it keeps stalling out on me. The first time I noticed it was when I was getting back from work (about a 20 minute drive, mostly highway) where I have a big down hill where I can idle for a while. At first it would only happen one time while getting back from work but then it started to repeat while getting to work too. Within a week the problem has spread at most times at idle once the engine has heated up a little bid. There are no codes stored in the ODB II.
I can usually keep the engine running by tapping the gas and letting the RPM's slowly back to normal. The biggest problem occurs when there is an unexpected stop that does not allow me to tap on the accelarator. This does not happen every time, but most times. You can almost tell when it will happen because the RPM's seem to dive instead of slowly decreasing to its notmal speed, when the clutch is depressed. I will try all of the things posted on-line (clean MAF, TPS, etc.) and if I they do not help I will have to take it to Ford so they can take a look at it. I will update soon.
2007Oct 09
(reported on)Focus LX
- Manual transmission
- 70,000 miles
My 2000 manual transmission would stall when the engine was idling...at a stoplight, in the driveway, or when I was driving with the clutch in. Took it to several mechanics who were stumped as to what the problem could be. Then took it to the best mechanic ever and he found a soft elbow joint that was part of the air intake system (I think that's the official name of the system it belonged to, but I may be wrong) in the back part of the car. He said that a vacuum was created when the car idled and it sucked closed the elbow joint, cutting off air to the engine, thus causing the stalling. He replaced it for about $200 and I haven't had the problem since!!!
2007Aug 15
(reported on)Focus LX 4 cyl
- Automatic transmission
- 41,000 miles
Car stalled at idle and would not run over 1800 rpms. Took to dealer and they wanted to replace numerous parts for about $1,000 and charge me $133.40 to put on computer and provide false report. Dealer wanted to replace front exhaust gas oxygen sensors, replace idle air control valve, replace fuel filter but refused to replace fuel pump on TSB service bulletin, flush trans, flush coolant system, and flush brake system.
I took it home, raised the hood, looked and listened.
Heard air sucking sound and felt vacuum at air intake on intake manifold. Plastic part had disintegrated probably due to vacuum and heat of engine. Part further disintegrated when touched as if it was made of sand. Temporarily sealed with duct tape. Purchased 3/8 ID rubber hose cap and placed over vacuum. Idle increased to normal and engine rpm was not limited by problem thereafter. The part cost me about 0.35 Cents. It has been running fine now for about two months. Just how dumb does Ford think we are? Pretty dumb I believe, and most people would have probably spent the $1000 or more believing it was necessary. It is my understanding that the mechanics get sales commissions on repairs on top of their base wage, so the incentive is there for them to recommend numerous unnecessary replacements.
2007Aug 01
(reported on)Focus LX
- Automatic transmission
- 140,000 miles
Wow, I thought I was the only one! However, my problems were solved pretty easily. Since they both involve stalling, I'll just tell all here...-Hope this can help a couple of people
We were on a road-trip when about 300 miles in the car started losing power/mph till it just stalled completely. We started it up again, made it a couple more miles then it would die again. Luckily, we were about 20 miles from the nearest town where we were able to limp to by start/stalling where we found a mechanic who plugged it into a computer. It said there was a problem with a cylinder. He checked all the cylinders out, said one looked like it was slightly loose, shoved it back in, poked around a bit more to make sure there wasn't anything else wrong and then we were on our way with no more problems. Same thing happened a few months later. We just jiggled the cylinder connections and then no more problems.
Stall #2 - Often when the car has less than a 1/4 tank of gas it will start happily then stall on idling. I wait anywhere from 10 mins to 2 hours start it again and then it's fine(I go put gas in it, of course). OR if I know it's low on gas and I don't want to play it's little game, I start it, without letting it 'warm up', I throw it into gear then take it to the nearest gas station (it's fine once it's in motion). There's obviously something 'wrong' with it (even though mechanics haven't found anything). However, it's done this consistently the 2 years I've owned it and as this is the most serious problem that I've encountered with it, I've accepted it as a little car-quirk in an otherwise really reliable car for it's 140,000 miles.
So! if you have had the same problems, look at the gas gage before you start dumping money in it or smashing windows. Hopefully it's just has the same quirk as mine.
2007Jul 30
(reported on)Focus
- Automatic transmission
- 115,000 miles
We bought this 2000 Ford Focus used. My daughter keeps encountering 'stalling' issues with it. We bring it back to used car dealer who takes it to Ford shop and, of course, they find nothing wrong with it. I searched under http://www-odi. nhtsa. dot. gov/cars/problems/recalls (bulletin section) and discovered there are numerous recalls for this vehicle. Wish I would have thought of doing this prior to purchasing it! We may have thought twice about it!!!!! My daughter complains about 2nd gear in the transmission though I haven't encountered what she has as she's driving it more often.
2007Jul 11
(reported on)Focus 2.0L V4
- Automatic transmission
- 85,000 miles
I bought my 2000 Ford Focus from a Ford dealer in 2003 with 34,000 miles on it. I absolutely loved the car until a couple of months ago. It began to chug and act like it was going to stall when I would slow down. It also gave me a problem if I tried to go faster than 40 mph. I took it to a mechanic who did a tune-up. Then, she had the same problem. A diagnostic was run and a service bulletin from the NTSB website showed up. It states the valves build carbon and have to be replaced. I was given an estimate of $1500+ to fix it. She offered to run it through a cleaning process to see if it would fix the problem. I did that twice since the engine light came back on within 9 miles of driving it after the first cleaning with the same exact problem happening. I would put the car in neutral to keep it from stalling in traffic.
I then decided to get a second opinion since the two cleanings ($300+ per time) hadn't worked along with engine fuel additive given to me by the mechanic. The next mechanic confirmed the same problem. The service bulletin from the NTSB website for the sticking valve from carbon build-up needing the head replaced for $1500-$2000. I was told by this mechanic it was NOTHING I DID WRONG AND IT WAS NOTHING I COULD HAVE PREVENTED. He told me it was a DESIGN DEFECT BY FORD WITH THE ENGINE. He also told me I should contact Ford and make them pay for it since it was their fault. I was told FORD RE-DESIGNED THE ENGINE BECAUSE OF ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THIS ENGINE DESIGN.
I was HOT!!!!!! I was just about to pay the car loan off in August and this is what was happening!! I contacted Ford Corporation through their website. I received an email asking me to call them. I called them on 6/22/07 at approximately 12:50 pm. I spoke with Joey about the problem. He said they (Ford) would look into the problem. I agreed to take the vehicle to a close Ford dealership in Fort Wayne, Indiana to be looked at for the problem.
The dealership looked at the car on 6/26/07. At 8:40 am they called to confirm the same problem as the other two mechanics-sticking valve-need head replaced at $2000-$2500. I called the Ford Customer Service line to tell them what I had found out from their own mechanic. The woman I spoke with told me Ford had made a decision already about my complaint. Ford had decided not to help me since my car had 85,000 miles on it with no warranty. Ford had made the decision BEFORE I paid THEIR mechanic $84.00 to tell me the same thing I already knew from two other mechanics!!!
I began research to see what I could do about the problem. I filed a complaint on the NTSB website also requesting a recall for the problem be considered. I filed a complaint with the BBB for the "Lemon Law" to see if I qualified. I don't know if I do or not.... we'll see.
I received a phone call from Ford on 7/09/07 at work. The customer service representative explained when a complaint is filed with the Better Business Bureau, it is their (Ford) policy to contact the individual to see if Ford can resolve the issue. I told him the problem and what I expected Ford to do was pay for the repair. I was told he would call me the next day 7/10/07 with an answer. I told him I would call him. I asked him to please not call me at work. He agreed.
At around 11:00 am I received a call at work from Joel with Ford about my car. I told him I couldn't talk until my break. We agreed he would call me back in fifteen minutes on my break. Joel called me and proceeded to tell me the following: Joel said he spoke with the Ford dealership that looked at my car. Joel said the mechanic said carbon was on the valve because the vehicle sat and I didn't drive it for a period of time. Joel also told me I didn't qualify for the NTSB service bulletin (the Ford mechanic stated the car had the same error as the other two mechanics which is the NTSB service bulletin); the car had 85,000 miles on it so they wouldn't help me because it was over 75,000 miles; the zone manager for the Ford dealership stated I didn't buy the car from them so they didn't have to help me and they decline to help me with the problem.
Simply put: I ended the conversation with Joel at Ford by saying I wasn't going to drop this and that I wasn't going to go away. I stated it isn't right for Ford to MAKE MONEY on repairs to an engine with THEIR DESIGN DEFECT. I told him the conversation was done and goodbye.
2007Feb 13
(reported on)Focus LX 2.0L V4
- Manual transmission
- 100,000 miles
I've seen this complaint noted in a few different areas here. When I accelerate I have no power. The car just slugs along. It's very dangerous when your turning and there's oncoming traffic. I dealt with it for a while because it would just come and go (which is actually more dangerous than relying on sluggish take offs). When I took it to the dealer I learned that the valves in the Focus aren't the right size, maybe not all the valves but enough to make a difference. Basically what happens it that the valves get all clogged and sticky, resulting in the no power then a blast of go, then back to slugging about. Not sure if it's a defect or what but the only way to get it fixed correctly is to replace the valves in the engine. Roughly $800 if I remember the estimate correctly. I went with the cheap way out and got the fluids flushed with some cleaning agents they had. They said it wasn't a for sure fix and I'd eventually have to replace the valves.
Well over a year later and that problem hasn't resurfaced to it's full annoyance. If I do feel it getting a bit clogged I take some jet fuel additive stuff and run it through a tank or maybe two until it clears. And don't be afraid to floor it ;)
Good luck! I know the Focus has problems but what car doesn't.
2007Feb 02
(reported on)Focus LE
- Automatic transmission
- 80,000 miles
I bought my first car with my money for college. I chose a Ford Focus, because it was cheap - not realizing what a pain it would be.
The first problem I noticed was at an intersection near my home. When the light turned green, I tried to cross the intersection, but the car would not accelerate past 15 mph. Finally, after about 10 seconds, there was a surge of power and the car got to the other side right before the light turned red.
I immediately took the car in to be inspected. (The car's Fuel Distributor had already been replaced by the recall). The dealership had the car for a week, but could not duplicate the problem. My dad experienced this hesitation problem as he drove it home from the dealership. Since then I have taken it in several times to no avail.
In case Ford ever reads these complaints, I'd like to state that this IS a SAFETY related DEFECT. It is not simply an undesired inconvenience.
BOTTOM LINE: Don't get a Ford. I have found their customer service to be terrible and their mechanics incompetent.
2007Jan 14
(reported on)Focus 2.0L V4
- Automatic transmission
- 61,500 miles
My 2000 Ford Focus has only 61,500 miles. First the springs broke. Then "check engine" kept showing and quits working at stops. I e-mailed Ford Company. they said I need to call to deal with the problem but the representative I talked to said I should take it to a mechanic (know that). Diagnosis said cylinder #2 & 3 are not working. Cost: $500. Can you believe a car with only 61,500 miles quits working already. I think Ford cars are terrible. years before I had a Mercury Tracer and it too quit working at 71,000 miles. No wonder Ford Motor Company is doing so bad in the market!!!!
2006Aug 24
(reported on)Focus
- 110,000 miles
My 2000 Ford Focus stalls all the time. It normally starts back up after setting for a few minutes. I have taken it to a mechanic so many times and they say that they do not know what is wrong with it. It is very annoying. The last time it stalled it started after setting for several hours. But once started is kept stalling. I have not fixed it yet, but I know that something is wrong with it hopefully someone can figure out why it stalls.
2003Nov 13
(reported on)Focus
- 57,000 miles
Anyone had problem with the 2000 ZX3 with stalling problems? Mine occurs about once a week and after sitting about an hour it is fine. Mechanics have no idea what is wrong. Any input will be helpful. Only 57K miles, regular maintanence....
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A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
2008Dec 26
Focus
Was leaving my neighborhood when car died on me twice.
Melody P.
Homestead, FL, USA
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