My son in law did not come home when expected as I sat with the babies. Turns out that he was stuck at store with his Focus which broke. He is too busy with family and work for do this complaint so I'm going to do it for him.

As soon as he returned to the car from shopping and started the car, there was a very loud buzz or ratcheting sound from the engine and then it got very loud and several loud hammering sounds and then it stalled. It would not crank. He had it towed home and a neihbor who is a certified mechanic pulled plugs and inspected it it. First, he suspected a timing belt since we understand that this is a interference engine (belt was changed at 60+thousand and this has 80k + plus miles).

The mechanic found one spark plug which was smashed and electrode and porcelain was missing. Also found water in oil. With a wrench he could crank in backward direction for about a turn before it would jam again. He also noted that the piston in the smash plug cylinder was not moving. From this he has deduced that the piston rod has broken or the piston has separated from the wrist pin. We don't know really such details at this point.

After reading this complaint line I suspect that a valve seat dropped out and rattled around for a while until it broke and fell down on top of the piston and smashed the plug and piston and the piston broke free. He is very unhappy and is probably going to scrap this beautiful focus. Not a dent or scratch of this well maintained car with fairly new tires battery etc. Sad. I dont share sentiments about Ford being junk. I've had good/bad experences with several brands over the years (I'm 72). I understand how such systemic problems can affect one when they fill that ford has turned their back on them.

Would not be suprised that there is not some kind of class action pending. However maybe I would consider a ford today if it had right features and price..

Purchased this Ford Focus SE Wagon (160,000 miles) as a last resort from a "reputable-ha ha " dealer on 05/18/2009; yeah, it's been a pain in the butt ever since. The check engine light came on about two weeks later; took it in for a diagnostic in which I was told it had a manifold and CO2 sensor issue and needed a major tune-up- -had it all repaired. Long story short -the checked engine light has been OFF & ON ever since -mainly on with everyone telling me they don't know why it keeps coming on:-(

Well, yesterday January 9, 2011 I almost died in this piece of sh*t. Driving on a busy freeway doing 70mp as everyone else and without ANY warning whatsoever, the car starts slowing down in traffic --WTF??? Pressing on the gas pedal did nothing, all I could do was steer myself off the road barely avoiding other cars that were fast approaching behind me. So here I am on the side of the road trying to start the damn car and nothing. Checked all of the fluids and battery -all fine. Got towed to the repair shop and was told I had a compression problem with two of the pistons completely shot and that the engine needed to be replaced --W T F???? Even the mechanics were surprised because there were NO telltale signs or any kind of obvious neglect.

Ok, so today, January 10, 2011 (carless) and I just found out the total for the rebuilt engine will be "about" $1800. After getting advice from the repair shop, family, and friends -I think I'm going to pass on the repair because it's just not worth it. With this car's track record, I'm sure if I were to fork out the cash for engine repair, something else would come up very shortly that would send me WAY beyond the pissed-off zone. {1st Ford - last Ford, R.I.P @ 173,600 miles}. Any class action lawsuits(?) -please sign me up! Thanks for letting me vent:-]

This blown engine is from my step daughter's 2000 Ford Focus, 2.0L SOHC w/ 151K miles. As w/ many of the similar stories here, the car started making an awful knocking noise and then stalled. After it was towed home there was no compression in cylinder #3. I tore the head and the oil pan off to find this problem. As you can see in the attached pictures, there is hardly anything left of piston #3.

After reading everybody's similar complaints and IDENTICAL blown engine break downs, I am simply outraged at this problem by Ford Motor Co. I will never buy another Ford product as long as I live! It is obvious that this problem IS COMMON among this engine line and obviously Ford knows about it and will refuse to do anything. You think Ford would have learned from the Pinto and Escort fiascoes, but no.

Not only will I not EVER buy another Ford product, I will make sure to spread the word. This is the thanks we get for bailing these LOSERS out.

Well--I wish I had seen this site prior to purchasing my P.O.S focus. Bought it at about 80,000miles and ran awesome the first couple of weeks, 35mpg!!!! After a couple weeks the check engine light came on and I had a clogged catalytic converter so got that fixed. Also started to have some intermittent rough running and almost stalling on occasion especially when hitting the brakes coming to a stop light or when first starting but was always able to feather the gas and get it through it. Tried numerous repairs to fix that issue to no avail. Then on Saturday I was driving to work when I came to a stoplight, hit my brakes, the car sputtered and died. This was the first time it actually died so I was a bit worried. I tried to start it but when I turned the key the electrical all came on but the starter did not engage. I managed to get it pushed to a parking lot with the help of a cop who happened to be in the lane next to me when the car died. When I got it to the parking lot I tried to start it again and was rewarded by a large bang and a noise that sounded like someone had dropped a jar full of bolts into the engine and then it died again. Of course the cop made the comment "that doesn't sound cheap"--yea, thanks for that input. Also there was a strong odor of burnt antifreeze. I opened the hood and all the antifreeze was missing from the reservoir and when I checked the oil it was green and running off the end of the dipstick. Towed it to the mechanic and found out the engine is hashed and needs to be replaced. Of course the SOHC is very difficult to find and very expensive (about $1100-1300). Paid off the loan and now I am a proud owner of a useless focus that will be going to the junkyard as soon as I get the title in hand. Funny thing about it, my mechanic has another of the same year and engine at his shop also with a blown engine and I live in a small town so it is not a very big mechanic shop. DO NOT BUY THIS MODEL OF CAR UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!!!!!! THEY HAVE JUNK ENGINES. Just spend a few minutes reading all the comments on this site if you don't believe me. All I know is that it will be a cold day in the bowels of hell before another ford graces my driveway.

I have the worst car luck of any human on the planet. Without getting into all the reasons that i am now about to purchase my FIFTH car in two years. I'll just tell you about this little gem. I bought my daughter a 2000 ford focus with only 88k miles on it. Beautiful car inside and out. This was her first car and I am stillllll paying on it. I bought this car from a individual for 3300. Everything worked, carfax was perfect. July 15th i brought it home to her for her 16th bday. We checked everything, oil was just fine. The starter went out in August. No problem things happen. Then yesterday my daughter calls me stranded. I go to see what the problem is and try to start it and BAM BAM BAM the sound of death. This was my breaking point. After buying four cars already to keep my kids on the road, this fn piece of crap blew a rod!!!! the engine is gone. I still owe 2 grand on it and have to pay it or suffer from the credit wrath. How does this happen?????? Ford should be ashamed of themselves and this product. I am LIVID!

My wife an i bought a ford focus lx not even a month ago an the engine blew do to the valve seat falling an messing the hole thing up,its gonna cost atleast $700 bc it needs a new head this one is worthless plus gaskets not including my time to fix it, im gonna rebuild it myself but thats not the point this is the 3 engine in this car an its done the same thing everytime, ford needs to step up an admit they built a piece of sh*t engine bc thats all it is is a piece of sh*t.this is the first time i had to rebuild it, but the owner b4 me had to do the same.

WORD OF ADVISE DONTTTTTTTTT BUY A FORD BC I WONT EVER AGAIN, this is the only time im gonna fix it bc my wife loves the car but next time an there will be a next time im sure bc there junk engines i wont be fixing it it will be scrap

We just moved my daughter to the city 150 miles away to ready herself for school in the fall, she had purchased a nice little 2000 Focus and is making payments on it, which is tough on a students means, the thing ran like a clock and had been well maintained , I got a phone call yesterday that she was stranded and that there was a problem with it staring, luckily my x wife has family there and they rescued her and the car by taking it to their mechanic who informed her that the motor had blown and with no hint that it was going, no rattles hums, etc., I have good connections in the salvage yard business and will try to find an engine for her but I wonder how long even a low miler will last her, she is heartbroken and is making a payment on a piece of sh*t that is causing all of us headaches, wish we had kept her 20 year old Mercury Topaz , at least it always ran.

Ok, I stumble on this site by accident via a Google search. I typed in my 2000 Ford Focus and to my surprise blown engines problems. In June of 2007 I called Ford directly and said that nothing was wrong with the Focus Engines and it was probably just a quirk happening. I have all the maintenance records from the Ford dealer servicing so they can't say I did not service the car properly. Also, was 70 years old when this happened, so I was not hot rodding in a 4 cyl car. I feel Ford should stand behind the blown engine replacement, which the Pompano Ford Dealer wanted $4368.78 to replace, the car was worth less than that, I guess, had 102,239 miles on the engine.

I looked at my maintenance expenditures and they totaled in the $1000' s from all of the other repairs I had to make over the years, brakes, bearing, fuel pumps, electrical problems and so on, etc. There should be a class action suit against Ford for the blown engines, any car quality built should and could go to 200,000 easily. I still can't believe the car's engine failed. And like another complaint I read, I just went out to start the car to go to 7-11 grocery store, and boom the cracking noise, no compression, I could not drive it. I am still furious about this, Any body with a blown engine have any ideas. And now Ford gets the JD Powers Award for Quality Cars, bull sh*t. thanks for reading. I am going to contact Ford again.

i LOVE MY FORD FOCUS IT WAS EASY ON GAS AND MY FIRST REAL CAR. I HAVE HAD TO FIX THE TIMING BELT AND THE FUEL PUMP WHICH THE FUEL PUMP WAS LUCKILY UNDER WARRANTY. I ALSO WAS ANNOYED BY HOW CLOSE THE SEAT BELTS ARE IN THE BACK SEAT WITH A TODDLER SEAT AND A BABY CAR SEAT THAT'S ALL U COULD GET IN THE BACK EVEN THOUGH IT SUPPOSE TO SIT 3. ANYWAYS I GOT THROUGH ALL THAT THEN I WAS AT THE SCHOOL PICKING UP MY SON WITH NO PROBLEMS TURNED IT OFF AND GOT BACK IN IT TO LEAVE AND WOULDN'T START JUST A HORRIBLE CLATTERING. I KNEW FOR SURE IT WAS THE ENGINE AND IT WAS I JUST DON'T KNOW IF ITS WORTH PUTTING ANOTHER IN BECAUSE WHO KNOWS WHAT U HAVE TO GO THROUGH WITH THE NEXT ENGINE. IT SEEMS LIKE ONCE I FINALLY GOT MY CAR PAID FOR IT BLOWS UP.

Ok well I went to pick a friend up at college to head to the liquor store, I parked and BAM my engine felt like it was running on 3 cylinders. I went in and got what I needed and came out. I tried to start my car, nothing but click click. I left it there for a day, and I came back the next and drove it to a mechanic, slowly like 10 mph slow. He said its nothing, and can be fixed for $600-$1,200 dollars. I left and took it to another mechanic (a friend he ended up being) he said I blew the engine and it was going to be around $2,500 including labor. That there was no way it was going to be less then that. He said "if you can see the piston ring your done" he told me he could fix it or take it to the scape yard. I said scape yard cuz it isn't worth it hearing the stories from here, but it is my FIRST car and now I'm sad. WHY? I'LL NEVER BUY A FORD AGAIN. My next car is a HONDA CIVIC SI.

I bought my focus used with 100000 miles & put 44000 more on it. I know it sounds like I had alot of miles on this car but this has had 2 engines already. My daughter was driving the car when she heard a clunk and then the car died. 4th cylinder threw a rod. I know Im not the only one that has had ths problem. My husband who is a mechanic of 30+ years found out through a friend that Jasper Motors has redesigned this engine, SOHC 2.0 L to eliminate the defect and they guarantee it. I would not be replacing this motor if Jasper had not done what they have done. I would be stuck with a 2000lb paper weight. It does not excuse Ford & when this car finally dies it will be the last Ford I buy.

This car is a hunk of junk. I was driving this car in town, heard a loud clunk and the car surged forward. I stopped at a store got what I needed, went back out to start and nothing. Had car towed home. Took the head off and the head was all dented up on #4 cylinder. The valve seat shot craps. When this happened it also broke the piston and bent the connecting rod. Ford has known about this problem for a long time!!!! I am thinking about a class action lawsuit. Ford needs to step up to the plate and fix this problem that they have known about for years. I found all the parts I need except for the valve seats. I will never ever buy another Ford product, unless they fess up to this problem and fix it free of charge. This happens to every single ford focus 2.0L sohc.

Update from Jun 22, 2011: I got this piece of crap 2000 Ford Focus from my sister when she could not get it to start. I towed to my house, drained the oil and took the oil pan off. There were metal chunks in the oil pan. Took the head off and found that the piston on the #3 cylinder was destoyed. After further investigation, found that the valve seats dropped and not only broke the piston, but it also bent the connecting rod, and destroyed the head. After some substancial time trying to find the piston, connecting rod, and another head I was able to rebuild everything myself for about $1,400.

This car is the biggest hunk of junk I have ever owned. I will never buy another Ford product. Iwarn everyone not to buy a Ford Focus with the sohc, unless you want to spend a lot of time trying to hunt down the parts and a lot of money. Shame on Ford for not standing behind there cars.

I bought my Focus with 40000 miles on it. It ran great for a few years. This car had some various issues (Vacuum Leak, Spark Plugs, Broken Motor Mount) But none of them were too major. This car always made strange sounds. One day I stopped into a hardware store, and when I came out the engine wouldn't start. It just made this terrible grinding noise. I knew it was a bad sounds so I had it towed to the shop. They told me they could put a used engine with 75000 on it into my car for about $2000. I didn't want to spend the money for an engine that would probably have the same problem in a year or two. The focus now sits in my driveway.

I was at a bank ATM drive through, and the car started clicking. I moved it out of the way and turned it off to look for obvious issues, but couldn't see any. I took the valve cover off and still couldn't see any issues. I started to back up and the engine made a loud bang and went "clang clang clankety clang BOOOM".... or something to that effect; quite impressive actually. Anyway I bought this piece for $1,500 and had to replace a lot in the 20,000 miles I put on it. I now have a $200 car that no one wants to fix with the engines valve seat issues which are expensive to replace/repair.

My 1985 Honda Accord by way of comparison for you folks out there, has 438,000 miles and has been rebuilt once and has never dropped a valve seat or anything silly like that. It's really no wonder that Detroit has issues. These cars and engines are thrown together and not properly engineered. This is evident when they break and parts are impossible to get to, or just engineered to fit after the fact as they are taken from a common parts bin and shared among many vehicles.

Honda, Subaru and Toyota to name a few do the same thing but somehow their designs work and are easy as pie to repair and work on.

The cylinder head in the Ford is aluminum, the block is iron and the material the valve seats are made of all cool and heat at different rates and eventually can cause the valve seat to come loose, which was the ticking sound described earlier... and then get pushed back into head by the moving valve until it explodes and impacts the engine with shrapnel.

Anyway I now have a pretty shiny worthless piece of "ap cray" sitting in my driveway for the Honda's to laugh at. RIP Detroit!

Well, my Focus problem began at the Wendy's drive through. I had just placed my order and was idling to the pickup window when I heard a "thump, thump, thump, thump - clunk - dead..." The motor would not turn over and a couple of guys pushed me out of the way. I figured the timing belt broke or maybe the head gasket went. I spent 4 hours tearing it apart and I was shocked, the number 4 cylinder was completely chewed up and metal particle about the size of a small pebble were sprinkled throughout the head. I put a wrench on the crank to turn the motor over and the #4 piston did not rise or descend with the others, this is bad...

With a couple of tugs I yanked the destroyed piston out to reveal a 1.5 X 1inch hole in the inner cylinder wall.

I am repairing the car for about $1600. I really like my Focus but am concerned I will face this again. The only symptom I had was a rough idle when cold on some days, other than that nothing.