CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2002 Ford Focus 2.0L SOHC engine has a defect where the intake valve seat fails. The valve then falls into the cylinder, destroying the engine & most owner relationships with Ford in the process.
As the spring got warm, the car began to overheat. Coolant levels were fine and all seemed in order, but it still was getting into the red. Googled and found out about the issue with the wiring plug into the fan relay houses in the middle of the front cooling fans. Unplugged the wiring harness from the relay and sure enough it was fried. This is a really well known issue. The Ford Focus chat boards made it sound really easy to get the parts, but I had to go to the dealer. I could not find them for elsewhere for whatever reason. Bought a new relay for $45 and a connector with a pigtail for $45 (as opposed to replaying the entire wiring harness). Took out the harness, cut out the fried connector, soldered in the new, replaced and the fans worked like a charm.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
As the spring got warm, the car began to overheat. Coolant levels were fine and all seemed in order, but it still was getting into the red. Googled and found out about the issue with the wiring plug into the fan relay houses in the middle of the front cooling fans. Unplugged the wiring harness from the relay and sure enough it was fried. This is a really well known issue. The Ford Focus chat boards made it sound really easy to get the parts, but I had to go to the dealer. I could not find them for elsewhere for whatever reason. Bought a new relay for $45 and a connector with a pigtail for $45 (as opposed to replaying the entire wiring harness). Took out the harness, cut out the fried connector, soldered in the new, replaced and the fans worked like a charm.
- Matt H., Philadelphia, PA, US