My girl friend drives a 2000 Ford Focus manual 5 speed but she is hearing a rattle after she lets off the accelerator even in neutral with the parking brake on ?
View 5 RepliesFriday morning my brakes went out on me. I was pulling out of a parking space and my car was puttering (as if it was going to turn off) then I was pulling out of the parking lot, but when I stepped on the brake pedal, it wouldn't go down! So i put it in reverse ( i was going about 5mph)and circled around and just put in park and turned it off. I didn't even think to use the Ebrake. My son was in the back seat so I just tried to stop it automatically.I've been reading that doing that might have ruined my transmission.
It's a 2001 ford focus SE....
My car makes a grinding/popping noise when driving that worsens when I go over bumps and that completely stops if I even touch the brakes. When I accelerate, the noise speeds up as well. I took it to a mechanic about three months ago and he said it was a loose bumper and that he secured it. After leaving, the noise got louder and happened more often. Sometimes the noise doesn't happen, while other times it does. My dad changed my front brake pads about a month ago so it can't be those. Is it possible that it is still my bumper making the noise? If so, I don't understand why it would stop when I brake.
View 1 RepliesI have a 2000 F350 4X4 with a V10 under the hood and a 5 speed manual transmission. It has a heavy western hauler bed, and a dual tired rearend. The truck has disc brakes all the way around that work great. I bought the truck used and immediately replaced all the disc brake pads as well as the seperate parking brake shoes and I had the parking brake drums turned. My problem is the parking brake shoes won't hold the truck at all and never have even when they were new. The parking brake shoes seem very small to me for a truck this size and weight. I have adjusted them as tight as I can with out causing them to drag when they are released. Is this a common problem for this type of parking brake on this type of truck? Is there something I am over looking or need to do to perhaps improve the parking brake? Would it be possible to splice some sort of "locking" valve into the brake lines going to the disc brakes to perhaps hold them engaged when I park the truck? I have a good idea how air brakes work, so I suppose this "locking" valve would work like that except basically opposite of a locking air brake valve, if that makes any sense.
View 14 Repliesmy 2000 focus se, 2.0L SPI, with 82k began to recently run rough at idle then progressed to stalling at longer lengths of idle. The condition starts once the engine warms after 2-5 minutes. I 1st tried gas treatment. I replaced the ignition coil as suggested in the other threads, but it has not improved the problem. I had the fuel pump recall-replaced 2 years ago. I would guess that a bad fuel pump would exhibit loss of power at all engine speeds? Before I proceed to replace plug wires and plugs.
View 14 RepliesBefore I get started... My truck is a 2006 F-250 Super Duty XLT 6-speed 4x4 with a Limited Slip.
I just got finished with a big job on my truck. New pads all the way around, turned rotors, new emergency brake shoes, hardware, and backing plate as well as replaced the rear wheel bearings both inner and outer as well as the axle o-ring and inner seal. Also, took off the rear pumpkin cover painted it and put fresh fluid in, went with Mobil 1 75W140 LS.
Took it for a drive and the brakes work great. Followed the directions for breaking in the emergency brake which worked fine.
Now the problem is I'm getting rattling from possibly all of the wheels. Definitely from the front driver and at least one of the rear wheels. It was so dark I didn't get a chance to look at it I just pulled it back in driveway.
I'll start looking at things tomorrow but, any common mistakes or things I should check first?
2007 Ford Focus - 70,000 miles
The ABS light went on two weeks after we had the brakes done at Ford. We have not yet had the chance to return there, and I am wondering if the recent brake job played a role in the ABS light issue... there is a youtube video claiming that debris from a brake job could dirty the "tone wheel/ring" and make it difficult for the ABS sensor to read the wheel. True or not?... And is this something I have a chance of dealing with myself?... I prefer to work on vintage cars that have no high tech add-ons... but for the time being, this is the car we have ...
I have a 2007 Ford Focus and 'bout a month ago, the brakes lost compression when applied. The mechanic replaced the master cylinder and we thought everything was ok. After driving it around we noticed the brakes are less sensitive then before. Prior to this, lightly taping/pressing the brakes would slow the car. Now you must press more firmly and with a bigger stopping distance. Additionally, if you press very hard or very suddenly, it feels like the roughness of the road is transmitted to the foot. It's a bit choppy too and the car won't stop for several seconds. After 2-3 seconds it does stop. This happened three times in two weeks. It's never occurred before. When this happens to my husband, he pumps the brakes to correct it, and when this happens to me, I keep pressing down 'till it works. Could the anti-lock brakes be acting up? We brought it to the mechanic and so far he hasn't found a problem.
View 2 RepliesLast night pulling into a parking lot, I caught something on the lip of the entrance and there was a loud clunk. Naturally I looked for a different exit from the parking lot, but there wasn't one and on the way out I hit it again. Since then, I've had a loud scraping/rubbing/rattling noise whenever I'm off the accelerator. I haven't been able to get under the car to check things out, but my suspicion is that the resonator is rubbing on the driveshaft, and when I push the gas, the resonator moves down out of the way.
View 1 RepliesIn the winter, driving around downtown in Minneapolis can be very... interesting, to say the least. The usual 5 minute trip from the highway exit ramp to the parking garage can take an hour. But hey, it's a job. There's enough stop and go that I can't just put it in park, so I'm riding the brake for most of this hour.
It only happens a couple times a year, but every time we get weather, after about 45 minutes of this, my abs warning light comes on and my abs system stops working. (Finding that out was... unpleasant.)
I pull into the garage, leave my car for the shift, and it's fine on the drive home. Is this normal? What's happening?
I have a 2009 Ford Focus and have been having a problem with the brakes. When I hit the brakes at any speed there is a feeling of pulsing as I slow down. It is proportional to the speed I am going. It feels like there is an unevenness to the rotor or brake drum that makes one spot on either of those hit the brake pad/shoe more severely than the rest of the pad/shoe and thus I slow down more during that one spot. Maybe the best way to describe the feeling is like this: While the brake pedal is pressed down it feels like I am slowly pulsing the pedal even though the pedal is steadily pressed down. This pulsing feeling slows down as I slow down until I stop. What might cause this?
View 3 RepliesWell, not an escape, it is a mazda tribute. but it is the same thing as an escape. My sister just called. as she is driving down the road, if she lets off the throttle the engine will randomly die. it did it 2 times sunday, once yesterday, and once today, as she was talking to me. It will not die at traffic lights, just as you let off the throttle sometimes. today it did it at 45 mph. When it dies she just pops it in neutral, restarts it, puts it back in drive, and it is fine. No check engine light after restarting. What I should look at when she brings it over this weekend?
View 3 RepliesI got into our car (2013 RX 450h) and the seat was completely pushed back. I had been the last (and only ) driver of our car and had not adjusted the seat. I managed to reach the brake pedal, started the car, pushed the L1 seating position and my seat re-adjusted. I then put the car into Drive and when I stepped on the accelerator, it would not move.
The parking brake was not on, there was nothing obstructing the car. I turned it off, turned it on again and it was then fine. I had last driven it 3 days prior, the battery was fine, the outside temperature was registered as 30 degrees, so not excessively cold. We park in a garage although it is not entirely closed off from the outside air.
Experienced this with the car no moving despite being in drive and stepping on accelerator?
I have a 2000 Ford Focus that vibrates more at idle. The previous owner replaced the top passenger side motor mount when I bought it in Nov. I just replaced the bottom and then the other top drivers side mount two days later. 75% improvement but I wonder if there is some thing in the engine like an adjustment of some kind. I have only had it a couple months so I don't know when the last time it had a tune up. I can replace the spark plugs my self but would need a computer diagnosis to determine if there is something else that needs some adjustment of replacement.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2000 Ford Focus Wagon with 114,00o miles on it. I'm having a problem determining why it is stalling in reverse and also sometimes while it is idling. I've had the idle speed motor replaced, hoses checked, etc. After we had these things done the car seemed a little better but I could still feel the car hinting at wanting to stall.
I also noticed it usually stalls in reverse when I'm turning the steering wheel but not if I'm backing up in a straight line. It also feels like it wants to stall when it sits at a long traffic light. Before I had the idle speed motor replaced it stalled more often - several times a week. However, now it stalls a little less.
On another note, the car seems to idle a little rough. It almost sounds like a diesel engine. It seems to simmer down some once the engine is warm. I had a new water pump installed and a timing belt put in and now I can hear a squeaking sound coming from that area of the engine. I'm not sure if any of these symptoms are related.
My heat shield was loose and my dealer said it should be fine, but then it stormed and driving home I ran over a branch and when I got home I noticed the heat shield was ripped and dragging on the ground. It is pretty torn up and I'm thinking of just taking it off. Am I allowed to take it off? If so how should I go about taking it off?
View 1 RepliesAs I'm driving my ford focus I hear a growling noise from the right front. It goes away while turning left.I jacked it up and feel no play in the wheel. I'm thinking it is either the wheel bearing or the drive axle. How could I tell which one?
View 2 RepliesI bought my girlfriend a 2000 Ford Focus with 150k Miles on it to drive for the summer in Oregon. The car is physically in great condition with no noticeable leaks on it. After a week or so of driving, my girlfriend complained that a couple of times she would be driving the car and while going up a hill "nothing would happen" sometimes when she punched the accelerator. I asked her if the engine revolutions were going up and if the engine made a "vroom" sound (to try to see if the transmission was slipping) and she said it did not.
On a long trip driving from Seattle to Portland, she was driving again and we were climbing a long hill and she suddenly complained that "nothing was happening" when she punched the accelerator. She panicked and pulled off to the side of the road quickly. There was no shaking or vibration. I did not hear the engine wind up when this happened... so I am assuming the tach was not going up when she depressed the gas pedal. I opened the hood and looked inside and seeing nothing obvious, I switched to the drivers' side. No codes were thrown. I drove the car up the rest of the hill and to a flat area and we let the car cool off for a few minutes. I drove the car for the next 75 miles to Portland without event. When we got to her grandparents house, I changed the spark plugs (which were pretty fouled up), and changed the fuel filter (which actually looked pretty new.) and it seemed to satisfy her for awhile. Being that I havent experienced the issue, I just assumed she is not used to driving a small hatchback with a fairly wimpy engine.
In the meantime I had the entire front end redone, control arms, etc and alignment because she had had a slight shake...which is unrelated here but i figured I'd mention it. So, the other night she calls me on the side of the road, slightly shaken. Her latest incident was as such: at the bottom of an on-ramp to the highway, she punched the accelerator and "nothing happened" when she hit the pedal. This time the check engine light briefly came on, and the "OIL" light came on. She was able to pull off to the side of the road somehow and then pull to an exit. She turned the car off and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Here's the weird part: She started it up and claims she put it in "Drive" and pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened and the car actually started creeping backwards. She hit the brake and turned the car off. She started the car and drove away 5 minutes later without incident and drove it 20 minutes home. She said her gas was very low when this happened, close to the gas light coming on.
She took the car to a reliable mechanic in seattle the next day, and they said there was no issues and they thought the car was actually in great shape. Unfortunately no codes were logged and no codes have been logged at all! My only other weird observation about the car is that the tach seems to fall kind of quickly after acceleration... almost comically compared to my volkswagen 1.8 which has a gentle rise and fall to it. It kind of bounces up and down but the ride is smooth. Random, but i figured i'd mention it
Should she just make sure to keep the gas level above low/empty?Should a fuel pressure check be on the docket? The previous owner claimed the timing belt only had 25k on it, but he could have been lying.
About a year and a half ago I moved from Chicago (500 feet above sea level) to Morelia, Mexico (6,200 feet above sea level). My gas mileage on my 2000 Ford Focus has plummeted, I used to get anywhere from 22 to 26 miles to the gallon around town in Chicago but I am lucky to get 14 or 15 here. Is it simply a function of altitude? I have a good mechanic, keep everything tuned up and in good shape.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2000 Ford Focus with about 145,000 miles on it. When I'm driving I can hear a drumming noise. The faster I go the louder and more fast paced the drumming noise becomes. When I hit about 50 I can hear it, and the faster I go the louder it is. At about 60 the car starts to shake a little bit. When I'm going like 20 or 30 or so, it sounds like I can almost hear my tires turning if that makes sense. The noise is really loud and is starting to concern me. A friend said my CV boots are ripped, but before I take it into a mechanic I would like some non biased opinions.
View 5 RepliesCoworker's 2000 Focus's heater core started leaking on his 50m commute this morning. He is ready to donate the car at this point. Any stop leak product (i.e. Bars) that would stop the leak without clogging the cooling system.
View 5 Replies