RE: Focus RS owners offered 'free repair'

[RacerMike]

liner33 said:

I had one of these engines in a Fabia VRS, was fine for the 3 years I owned it , no issues at all it was an awesome car and I miss it, my mum has a 2011 one still and thats never had any engine issues and doesnt burn oil, however they have a terrible reputation

Skoda/VW did rebuild the engines on those cars affected and revised the engine in 2013

Still plenty who did have problems though. Someone I know, who's literally the slowest driver ever, got through 3 on a Fabia vRS estate. Someone else I know bought one second hand that had already had the engine replaced, and had the turbo go a year later.

There are plenty of RS owners out there who's cars have been faultless....

[liner33]

RacerMike said:

Still plenty who did have problems though. Someone I know, who's literally the slowest driver ever, got through 3 on a Fabia vRS estate. Someone else I know bought one second hand that had already had the engine replaced, and had the turbo go a year later.

.

Yep thats the problem, they need a bit of beasting to maintain a good ring seal

The fact that many Focus owners have not had problems makes me think this whole "wrong gasket" idea cant be the real issue

[InitialDave]

liner33 said:

The fact that many Focus owners have not had problems makes me think this whole "wrong gasket" idea cant be the real issue

Only needs one wrong batch in the supply to cause a lot of hassle, if that's the case, I doubt their traceability is to the point of being able to identify it at a level greater than "quantity X of cars built between these two dates may have one".

[IanJ9375]

liner33 said:

Yep thats the problem, they need a bit of beasting to maintain a good ring seal

The fact that many Focus owners have not had problems makes me think this whole "wrong gasket" idea cant be the real issue

Conspiracy theorist I see - why would they bother to go through the bad press and the expense of checking 5000-6000 cars in the Uk alone (probably 30-35k globally unless you believe in the flat earth theory as well lol)

If as most reports point to an incorrect gasket being used at some point then you can understand why not all cars have the issue, the only problem is that due to whatever supplier or Ford mess up they don't know which cars are affected hence the recall up to July 6th 2017.

[blade7]

lord trumpton said:

Has there been any other major engine fk ups of this nature by a manufacturer in recent times?

I can think of the BMW Nikasil liner issue that was a biggie

It seems like a real major issue to me

BMW did have an issue with Nikasil plating in alloy blocks, though back then they were fitting iron blocks to the M3.

Edited by blade7 on Friday 26th January 13:50

[liner33]

IanJ9375 said:

Conspiracy theorist I see - why would they bother to go through the bad press and the expense of checking 5000-6000 cars in the Uk alone (probably 30-35k globally unless you believe in the flat earth theory as well lol)

If as most reports point to an incorrect gasket being used at some point then you can understand why not all cars have the issue, the only problem is that due to whatever supplier or Ford mess up they don't know which cars are affected hence the recall up to July 6th 2017.

No not at all, but many owners with the "wrong" gasket have had no issues whatever wheras others have had warped engine blocks.

[Ultrafunkula]

If it is the gasket, there are a number of videos on YT showing how you can check if it's the correct one or not by looking under the injector with a mirror /phone/go pro. I've not heard of an engine going with the correct gasket though.

[hothatchery7]

LaurasOtherHalf said:

I wasn't aware of a problem with the Type-R gearboxes, again I'd love to hear more about this.

Now, regardless of the Jeff bloke being a troll he has an absolute point. I bought my Type-R two years ago and I'm still absolutely loving it. I know the looks get a lot of stick but I like it and that's all that matters to me.

The fact about reliability is important though, I'm under no pretences these cars are stretching themselves to achieve the figures that they do. I bought the 5 year serving pack with mine when new and I can extend the manufacturers warranty from 3 to 5 years for £850.

The fact is the car suits me so well I think I may even keep it 5 years (it only depreciates when you sell it eh?!) but there is no way I'd run it without a warranty.

I'll get you some pics an info on the focus recce cars! went without hitch in Monte this week! We have 3 but soon to be 5

[Escort Si-130]

KarlMac said:

So, ok the previous ST/RS ford took the bomb proof Volvo 2.3t lump, pissed about with it and managed to make the cylinder liners paper thin and subject to cracking.

They then take a reasonably reliable Mazda engine, make a big song and dance about a new cylinder head, which them promptly becomes the weak point of the whole car.

Fix Or Repair Daily indeed, remind me why people bang on about these things again?

You got that one from back of the cereal box? You deserve a medal for an ancient recycled joke.

[Escort Si-130]

I see the PH editorial a little bit on the dunce side. How on earth is this a British Car???
Ford no longer manufactures cars in the UK, even when they did they should not have been regarded as British as it is an American company. Would PH regard Nissan as British as they manufacture cars in Sunderland. I am sure they would still call them Japanese.

[Escort Si-130]

liner33 said:

Itsallicanafford said:

Buy French, buy once

and then never ever again

Never say never again

[Escort Si-130]

lee_erm said:

Porsche, VW, BMW and Subaru never got this kicking on the forums and media in general with the (in some cases) inherent and catastrophic design flaws in their engines.

It's cool to hate Ford though. Can't understand it myself, they've brought more to motoring than most.

Definitely true

[vikingaero]

Escort Si-130 said:

lee_erm said:

Porsche, VW, BMW and Subaru never got this kicking on the forums and media in general with the (in some cases) inherent and catastrophic design flaws in their engines.

It's cool to hate Ford though. Can't understand it myself, they've brought more to motoring than most.

Definitely true

I don't think it's hating Ford, it's hating all these manufacturers that have stty designs. What we need are decent Consumer Laws. Compare us to America where companies bend over backwards to repair flaws or face class action and the same company will shaft UK consumers by refusing to cover the same fault.

[blade7]

vikingaero said:

I don't think it's hating Ford, it's hating all these manufacturers that have stty designs. What we need are decent Consumer Laws. Compare us to America where companies bend over backwards to repair flaws or face class action and the same company will shaft UK consumers by refusing to cover the same fault.

I'd be surprised if this block isn't already being quietly redesigned.

[anonymous-user]

fido said:

And both running far less BHP per litre than the Focus RS - if the RS was a V8 then it would be putting out 700bhp! Closed or semi-closed deck is standard practice for engine putting out >150PS/litre .. there's only so much cylinder pressure that squishy gasket can hold back.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 25th January 21:26

Isn’t the Honda B series open deck?

[HedgeyGedgey]

fido said:

And both running far less BHP per litre than the Focus RS - if the RS was a V8 then it would be putting out 700bhp! Closed or semi-closed deck is standard practice for engine putting out >150PS/litre .. there's only so much cylinder pressure that squishy gasket can hold back.

Edited by fido on Thursday 25th January 21:26

The 4g63 on the evo is closed, the fq400 had just over 200bhp/ltr. You can get them to just over 500bhp with a simple map as they were turned down for customers. The 4b11t in the evo x is semi open design, the highest power they had from factory is 440bhp. Thats 220bhp/ltr on a semi closed block

[Escort Si-130]

Jeff_Enthused said:

Robert-lhcbq said:

Have honda issued a recall on their chocolate civic Type R gearboxes yet?

I learned one thing buying my RS - don't do it. Don't buy any of these hatches designed to make J. Clarkson achieve orgasm on the test drive, get good press, sell to morons (me included lol) then break within three yards of driving it off the chuffin' forecourt, by which point theyve closed the gates behind you and claim its not their fault lol.

How many cars that he has reviewed had faults over the years, loads. Especially within the first year or so of release. Even the ones he doesn't review.

[Escort Si-130]

Good to know someone here put the facts out than the usual keyboard drivers that PH has so many of.

caterham2 said:

As an owner of one of these "dodgy" RS Focus I can report that the head gasket problem was caused by an error in the supply chain by the gasket supplier. The motor as you will know is based on the Mustang Ecoboost engine, also used in the now deceased Falcon
in Australia, neither of which apparently have had an issue. There are 3 versions of the head gasket, first one was dropped almost immediately and 2 other versions used. In the supply chain the supplier gave Ford a batch of gaskets meant for the Mustang head not the distinctly but subtlety different RS version . There is a difference in the coolant transfer passages in the head, thus a different gasket. Most of "the sky is falling" hysteria on the forums is just that. No reputable manufacturer would not address an issue in the appropriate manner.

[Escort Si-130]

liner33 said:

culpz said:

So exactly where is your pessimistic attitude to future engine issues with this car coming from then? Ford are covering all cars, whether inside or outside of the warranty period, on any/all year models of the MK3 RS.

The engine issues, as far as i'm aware, all have the same symptoms so it should be the same problem that's cropping up. Once it's fixed and resolved, i don't see why it should happen again or any other issues.

Have you actually read the whole article in full, as apposed to repeating stuff you've heard elsewhere and other comments on here before posting? It's not just the early batches that are suffering, as previously thought.

I've read quite a lot on it (Mainly US as the cars are more popular there) and watched a few videos, PH is not a font of knowledge on them in my experience, I'm in the market for a new car and seriously considering the Focus so have a genuine interest

It seems to me that the issue is likely overheating, Ford think that this is due to the head gasket design, others as mentioned in that article think that the block itself is prone to warping, I have heard of one block so out of true that you could fit a penny under a straight edge across it , there isnt a gasket made that could cope with that kind of warp.

I really don't want to spend £30k plus and then have to have repeated visits to Ford to sort out engine issues, that would become tiresome.

What Ford say in 2018 regarding covering cars even out of warranty might not be the same once when the cars get to 3 or more years old , there are plenty of precedents where manufacturers have washed their hands on issues like this.

Seriously!!! If you believe that you would believe any old st someone tells you. How the 4k would an engine even run if it had a gap of a penny between block and head. If any of the heads did warp, it is more than likely due to the faulty gasket or head gasket failure.

[Escort Si-130]

vikingaero said:

Escort Si-130 said:

lee_erm said:

Porsche, VW, BMW and Subaru never got this kicking on the forums and media in general with the (in some cases) inherent and catastrophic design flaws in their engines.

It's cool to hate Ford though. Can't understand it myself, they've brought more to motoring than most.

Definitely true

I don't think it's hating Ford, it's hating all these manufacturers that have stty designs. What we need are decent Consumer Laws. Compare us to America where companies bend over backwards to repair flaws or face class action and the same company will shaft UK consumers by refusing to cover the same fault.

Just UK law as usual, backwards in terms of consumers.