Ford Focus Bonnet lock

[carboy2017]

Im planning to see a 05 reg Ford Focus however the owner says the bonnet lock is broken

any ideas as to how much it will cost to repair it? btw the car is at 88k and is advertised for £900,what do you reckon,the MOT history seems good and its a Ghia spec

[_Hoppers]

My mate had a similar problem on his ST and he managed to fix it himself. It's quite common apparently! If no luck from someone here maybe try a Ford forum?

[Andy 308GTB]

The lock itself is about £20 on eBay IIRC

Replacing it involves prising out the front grill in order to open the bonnet. This is quite fiddly and risks snapping some of the lugs which means that it may not fit back perfectly, so take it easy.

Some instructions suggest accessing it from underneath, but you need to remove under trays and have hands & arms of an 8 year old to release the bonnet. Being powerfully built this didn't work for me.

I had to carefully modify some of the nylon bracket to get the new lock to fit. When I say 'carefully', I do of course mean 'with a junior hacksaw on the tarmac drive'

The new lock will have a separate key.

[carboy2017]

Thank you for the detailed reply

I decided to skip that car look out for another MK2

I would like one with all 4 electric windows as such do I only look for the Ghia spec ones as the few Titaniums I saw didn't have all all 4

also what are the areas to look for in a MK2 Focus apart from Rust?

Andy 308GTB said:

The lock itself is about £20 on eBay IIRC

Replacing it involves prising out the front grill in order to open the bonnet. This is quite fiddly and risks snapping some of the lugs which means that it may not fit back perfectly, so take it easy.

Some instructions suggest accessing it from underneath, but you need to remove under trays and have hands & arms of an 8 year old to release the bonnet. Being powerfully built this didn't work for me.

I had to carefully modify some of the nylon bracket to get the new lock to fit. When I say 'carefully', I do of course mean 'with a junior hacksaw on the tarmac drive'

The new lock will have a separate key.

[_Hoppers]

My mate has a problem with water ingress into the boot, that's quite common too, apparently.

[robdcfc]

_Hoppers said:

My mate has a problem with water ingress into the boot, that's quite common too, apparently.

Thats caused by a small hairline crack in the sealer top right hand side of the boot apperture

[Andy 308GTB]

The fuel pick up in the tank, on my 2002 estate, presumably split. Once the tank got below about 1/4 full it would splutter to a halt. This was more irritating than anything else.

The solid plastic 'hose' that connects a number of coolant hoses developed a hair line crack along a seam that was quite difficult to diagnose but once found was a £15 fix.

An exhaust sensor packed up, that was another £15 fix using bits off Ebay

But as you mention, rust is what really finished my car off. The sills adjoining the drivers side rear wheel arch disintegrated.

I did like the car and had I not taken on another of my wife's cast offs, I would have bought another one.