CarComplaints.com Notes: For the third year in a row, the 3rd generation Focus is experiencing massive transmission problems.
Most notably owners keep complaining about how there's bad hesitation and jerking when starting from a stop. This isn't the result of an old, worn out part. In fact, the average mileage it's reported to us is just over 15k miles.
I had issues with a ticking back in February at 17,5xx miles. I took it in and the #1 bearing wore down which caused the piston to tap on the valve. It did damage to the whole engine so they replaced it. The next week my electric steering went out, and that was caused from them missing something when they put the engine back together. In April, two months later, I had put an additional 5k on the car and the ticking came back so I took it in again. This time they tore the whole engine apart, but just replaced the bearings. Less than a week later I was driving on the freeway at 70mph in fifth gear roughly 3k RPM and something in the engine blew. I started blowing oil and smoke out the rear, "service engine soon" came on, and the oil light came on. I lost all power and power steering, so I made my way to the shoulder. I pulled the hood latch and stepped out of the vehicle. Upon exiting the vehicle I witnessed flames shooting out from underneath the hood in the engine bay. I backed up and watched the front of the car fully engulf into flames. I went to the tow yard the next day and found out I somehow blew a hole in the side of the block.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
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I had issues with a ticking back in February at 17,5xx miles. I took it in and the #1 bearing wore down which caused the piston to tap on the valve. It did damage to the whole engine so they replaced it. The next week my electric steering went out, and that was caused from them missing something when they put the engine back together. In April, two months later, I had put an additional 5k on the car and the ticking came back so I took it in again. This time they tore the whole engine apart, but just replaced the bearings. Less than a week later I was driving on the freeway at 70mph in fifth gear roughly 3k RPM and something in the engine blew. I started blowing oil and smoke out the rear, "service engine soon" came on, and the oil light came on. I lost all power and power steering, so I made my way to the shoulder. I pulled the hood latch and stepped out of the vehicle. Upon exiting the vehicle I witnessed flames shooting out from underneath the hood in the engine bay. I backed up and watched the front of the car fully engulf into flames. I went to the tow yard the next day and found out I somehow blew a hole in the side of the block.
- the93rddoctor, Fairfield, CA, US