Used Ford Focus - Question about the FSH

[Carn00b]

Looking at buying a run around Focus and seen one I like from a dealer. They've recently just got it MOT'd until October 2013 and have provided the below for the service history they have.

I know naff all about cars but is there anything there that I should be concerned about? It also looks like it may be due a service but I'm not sure. Also, shouldn't all this be in a service history log book also?



Cheers.

[KingNothing]

If There's an image there I can't see it because I'm on my phone, all the services should be in the book. Ford work on a year or mileage based service schedule, whichever comes first, you can look up the service schedule and what happens on each service on the ford etis site;

http://www.etis.ford.com/fordservice/serviceSchedu...

[TTmonkey]

Carn00b said:

Looking at buying a run around Focus and seen one I like from a dealer. They've recently just got it MOT'd until October 2013 and have provided the below for the service history they have.

I know naff all about cars but is there anything there that I should be concerned about? It also looks like it may be due a service but I'm not sure. Also, shouldn't all this be in a service history log book also?


Cheers.

Fixed that for you Carnoob

[Carn00b]

Odd, the following link should work: http://s7.postimage.org/mkniwfw5l/photo.png

[Carn00b]

Thanks mate.

TTmonkey said:

Fixed that for you Carnoob

[Bill]

Is that all you have? There's no mention of the 25k or 50k services and it's been through a lot of tyres for a diesel Focus

Unless it's cheap I'd find something else tbh, it's not like they're rare.

[Carn00b]

Yep that's all there is unfortunately.

Price is about 3.6k for 1.6 2005 55 plate TDCI with 70k miles on clock.

Bill said:

Is that all you have? There's no mention of the 25k or 50k services and it's been through a lot of tyres for a diesel Focus

Unless it's cheap I'd find something else tbh, it's not like they're rare.

[CYMR0]

And it's had fuel contamination... no idea if that *will* shorten the life of the car, but if the first owner dodged that bullet, that doesn't mean that there won't be any issues.

Plus it's deep navy, a.k.a. doom blue... worst colour for resale.

Advert is here: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

[Carn00b]

Yep that fuel contamination did catch my eye. Also, had absolutely no idea about the deep navy colour for re-sale. Very interesting! Is there any reason why that is?

CYMR0 said:

And it's had fuel contamination... no idea if that *will* shorten the life of the car, but if the first owner dodged that bullet, that doesn't mean that there won't be any issues.

Plus it's deep navy, a.k.a. doom blue... worst colour for resale.

[Bill]

If it's on 70k then it's overdue two services... TBH it's ex-lease so it's probably been done but it's not a gamble I'd take unless it was very cheap.

And are you sure you do the miles to justify a diesel?

Eta and didn't that era have a weak gearbox?

[Riknos]

Am I the only one who has spotted the "Other Unspecified Repair" - repeated a few times? Once for each part - sounds like it's been crashed and fixed to me?

[Carn00b]

I reckon I'll do over 10,000 miles every year with it being a run around around car and all. A lot of that will be motorway driving also.

I'm going to go look at this one later which does have FSH:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

Bill said:

If it's on 70k then it's overdue two services... TBH it's ex-lease so it's probably been done but it's not a gamble I'd take unless it was very cheap.

And are you sure you do the miles to justify a diesel?

[CYMR0]

Riknos said:

Am I the only one who has spotted the "Other Unspecified Repair" - repeated a few times? Once for each part - sounds like it's been crashed and fixed to me?

Could be but it could also be suspension bushes, brake discs ... anything that doesn't fit Lex's recording system.

The latest on there is from 2010, when the car was already five years old. I'd be surprised if it was kept on fleet much longer than that, so it's probably been with a second owner for 2 years - and I wouldn't assume any maintenance at all in that time.

[Carn00b]

Riknos said:

Am I the only one who has spotted the "Other Unspecified Repair" - repeated a few times? Once for each part - sounds like it's been crashed and fixed to me?

I asked about those, they are all repairs for brake pads, wipers, etc. but again, there's nothing to really prove that.

I don't think I'll be going ahead with that one.

[Carn00b]

Just while I have your attention guys. This is the one I am going to see in an hour:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

There is full service history on that, last done in July this year. There's not been any problems on it apart from the standard servicing. He said the one significant thing they did do recently was to replace the Diesel Particular Filter (whatever that is) and he said I probably wouldn't need to do this again. Said if I did motorway runs then this should be kept fairly clear and shouldn't block up.

Does that sound OK and is there anything elseI should be asking / looking out for?

[Krikkit]

Sounds good to me - are you going to be going on a motorway once in a while? The DPF needs sustained running over a fair number of miles to clean itself, so short urban trips won't do it and it'll need replacing when it gets too gummed up.

[Carn00b]

Yep mate will do the odd motorway trip (London - Leeds), even my route to work is A roads so I'll be able to put my foot down. The guy gave the same advise that you have and said most garages will replace them but most of the time they just need cleaning out.

Krikkit said:

Sounds good to me - are you going to be going on a motorway once in a while? The DPF needs sustained running over a fair number of miles to clean itself, so short urban trips won't do it and it'll need replacing when it gets too gummed up.

[Krikkit]

Carn00b said:

Yep mate will do the odd motorway trip (London - Leeds), even my route to work is A roads so I'll be able to put my foot down. The guy gave the same advise that you have and said most garages will replace them but most of the time they just need cleaning out.

Often said that they can be cleaned, but I'm not sure how effective that is, and when you've gone to the expense of paying someone to remove it, the cost of cleaning vs. replacement would probably be quite similar.

[Carn00b]

I see, well hopefully it won't need either. Any idea on how often they need cleaning/replacing?

Krikkit said:

Often said that they can be cleaned, but I'm not sure how effective that is, and when you've gone to the expense of paying someone to remove it, the cost of cleaning vs. replacement would probably be quite similar.