This Focus was acquired on Feb. 12, 2004 and has accumulated 186,000 miles. I figured it was maybe time to do its first-ever brake job and serpentine belt change.
The car, as pictured, still looks the same going into it’s 19th year. The only repairs the car has had in that time was replacing one PSM around 145,000 miles and the PCV hose hidden behind the intake manifold. PCM easy, PCV hose not so easy. Other than that just basic oil changes, coolant changes, transmission gear lube change and one spark plug change and now into the fourth round of tires recently. Not many 18 year old cars can beat that.
So first thing on the menu is the original serpentine belt. I go to my local parts store and get a belt. Next draw a diagram as this belt goes around numerous pulleys. Ease the first one out by releasing tension on the tensioner. Put the new belt in and start to have a hard time getting it around the last pulley. I lay there thinking what am I doing wrong? Why does the belt seem short? It seems short because it is short! I was given the wrong belt for my application. Nuts! That is not actually what I said but moving on I put the old one back on. A day later I returned the new one for my money back as I ordered the correct Motorcraft belt and now a new Motorcraft tensioner from Rockauto. Just a little more than the original belt. Good deal!
Old tensioner
New tensioner
New belt
Simple. like it should be now time to move to the brakes. I have had a new set of Ford rotors for years along with Ford pads but not needed them. Supposedly, the first Gen Focus had a black mark because of brakes. Well I never saw a problem. Maybe my climate? Probably a little help due to a stick.
There is what I get to look at after removing my front tire. Pretty clean, huh. I am lucky rust isn’t an issue. Rotors do need to go.
The calipers are held in place by two hex head bolts. Remove the little cap, unclip the brake hose, unscrew the two bolts, lift off the caliper and place it on top. Piece of cake. Now you just flip the metal clip up and then slide the pad out of the caliper and then grab the back one.
Bare look.
Here is the comparison of the old pads vs. the new pads. The new measure 1/2″ thick while the old measure at 1/4″ thick. Try beating that for 186,000 miles and they could have gone 200,000 easily. However, the rotor wasn’t so smooth when running your fingertips over it so might as well do everything.
The new parts and the FSM.
Now place in the back pad, I used the handle of my screwdriver to push the piston back, slip the front pad onto the caliper, then onto the new rotor and I snapped the wire retainer then as it was easier being firmly held in place by the rotor now.
That was it. Went smoothly and quickly as it should. Next week I will take on the rear drums. I already had Ford shoes in stock along with a new spring kit so it should be straight forward. Did I actually say straight forward. Who am I kidding nothing goes smoothly an entire job. There has to be something that goes wrong for one. The second known issue is job creep. Remember I had new tires put on some months ago where I supplied the tires and then watched the installation like a hawk. Well even with hawk eyes some things are faster than the eye it seems and I will never allow that again. So I’ll leave you with two pictures which should give you a good idea of those two points I mentioned and continue in part 2.
To be continued…
Very impressive.
My 20 year old Crown Vic has not been that maintenance or trouble free, but I really love it and keep it as clean as possible. My mom had that generation of Focus for ten years, and traded it in for a new one, ten years ago. She has had zero problems with either of them.
It’s great to get such detailed pics and info about the work you did. Nice job.
I too had a Focus just like this one but with the auto. Same color. In fact, not only did I have that one, but another brand new one (2003) that I purchased new and ordered from my dealer. At that time, it was the most expensive Focus they had ever sold. I wanted that light green color, the tan leather, heated seats, traction control, etc. I also ordered from parts the auto dimming mirror (inside) and the (fake) wood trim that went on the dash and door pull handles. I was afraid it may look tacky, but it really looked nice with that tan leather. Well, that was then and years later I picked up a well used but clean 2007 in the same color but with gray cloth. That car had over 180K when I got it for a second car. I liked them both and would buy another!
My “02” Focus had to have a new serpentine in 2011, at 53k miles.
I see in one of the pictures another important tool … the Ford factory service manual for this particular car. I recently downloaded a factory service manual for my 1965 Chrysler Newport.
Uh Oh. Don’t like the look of that busted stud.
I miss my Gen1 Focus, as I’ve said before I would have bought a new 2001 Focus if one had been available in 2017.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/coal-2001-ford-focus-a-daily-dose-of-joy/
Front brakes are a snap on these, although sometimes that wire clip did not want to stay hooked under the caliper and needed some bending adjustment.
When I did my rear brakes it turned into a bigger job than I thought, I needed drums, hubs, hardware, shoes, dust caps and emergency brake cables. As I recall the nut that holds the hub on is a single use deal and should be replaced. Also if you’re replacing the drum the wheel bearings are pressed into the drum assembly so you may as well get new bearings rather than knock them out of the old drum.
Excellent service life for those front pads. Good for Ford. At 145K the front and rear brake pads were factory when I bought my Sienna with 145K miles. The fronts are still the originals and have plenty of pad left, although I get a slight pulsation in the front with very light braking. When I took the rear rotor/drum combo off though I had a surprise. The rear pads were close to completely gone; maybe 1/32″ left on the the two outside pads. Installed new pads, cleaned and lubed the calipers and drum brake hardware, and it still brakes fine @175K.
The rear emergency drum brake shoes are supposed to automatically adjust when braking in reverse. But when I bought the van the e-brake pedal would almost bottom out, so I adjusted them manually via the little slots on the backing plates. Much better now and still with very little or no drag.
I had a 2000 Focus and also a 2007 Focus. The 2000 Focus had about 70K on it when In traded it in. The car was the 2.0 engine and ran very well. Like a lot of other Focuses in Maine, the rocker panels rusted out. I traded that car in on a 2007 Focus I drove until 2016. That car had a 125K on it when I traded it in and ran well. It used no oil. The automatic transmission went on the car. So I traded it. Loved driving both of the Focuses I had. They handled and road well. I don’t like the changes they made to the 2008-2011 models of the first generation cars. They were cheapened up. The 2012-18 models I also didn’t like either. Their automatic transmissions and cars themselves were troublesome. Also i hated their new dashboards. My two cars were both very dependable. Loved them both! I had 4 Escorts and a 1997 Mercury Tracer before that. All were good cars and were dependable.
As mentioned by Downeaster, the transmissions were trouble from 2012 on. My daughter sold the 2007 and bought a full load ’14 model, and is currently waiting on a Transmission module which should arrive from Ford in the next 7-10 years (?)
It is covered by an extended warranty, and is fortunately still driveable.
The PowerShift transmission was a disaster and a big black mark on Ford. I’ve dealt with it (not as an owner, as a driver and friend of owners) and it’s a shame.
I always tell people, get a Fusion if you’re going that new. My brother has a ’14 Fusion S and it’s been absolutely amazing, he has a very long commute and it’s holding up well. It uses the reliable 6AT that Ford should have put in the Focus and Fiesta. But the PowerShift promised 10% better fuel economy, along with 100% worse reliability, as it turns out.
Absolutely fantastic cars TBM3Fan and a good write up. Yours looks to be extremely well looked after. My older daughter had a 2007 model, purchased at 140,000 miles and she kept it another 25K or so. Her car was very similar to the one described by Dan B.
Doug D brought up an excellent point about the rear bearings. Having replaced the bearings myself, we were first off surprised how much quieter the car was. Secondly, I was shocked at what a miserable job that was and would have much sooner just bought new drums. I think I broke a hammer trying to pound them out when the press wouldn’t do it.
Good call on changing the tensioner as well, my daughter’s failed in service at 160,000 miles or so. Both kid’s cars (2003 and 2007) needed front lower A- Arms as well due to failed bushings. Cheap and easy enough to change out and much easier than doing bushings.
Thanks for the memories. I’d buy another and am trying to talk the youngest into getting one too!
Agree – the first Focus was a superb car. In 2002, I bought a a 2001 1.6 litre petrol hatch in LX trim. 120,000 miles in 5 years, and still have fond memories of the driving experience, comfort and sheer everyday appeal of the car.
And very reliable too.
Nice writeup and great pictures. Putting new rotors and pads on a car is a very satisfying experience, something you can actually see and feel!
How annoying that you got the wrong belt from the local store. It’s as if they don’t realize they have one shot at the business and then it’s gone online, likely forever beyond the stuff you have to have right now and can’t wait a day or two (or often even less) for. I’m all for supporting the local vendors but they do have to get it right. Just like restaurants, if it’s not a great experience there isn’t much reason to not just cook something yourself…
Although replacing pads is usually easy, compared to messing around with removing drums, dealing with brake springs and adjusters, etc, I’m always surprised at the variation in difficulty removing the rotors on some modern cars. So my theory is that as long as they’re not warped, they’re fine. A few mm of thickness shouldn’t compromise integrity. And those grooves increase surface area for better cooling 😀 I’ve replaced far more distributor rotors in my life than brake rotors. Now bicycle rotors are different story; my seven year old mountain bike is on its third front and second rear rotors. They start thin and just get thinner. Brake pads are an annual or twice annually event.
I will play devil’s advocate (ok tire changer’s advocate) and remind you that the wonderful two-piece lug nuts such as yours are infamous across all brands of letting water in, holding that water so that it causes rust, and becoming an issue. Usually, especially in rust country, that leads to swolen lug nuts that aren’t the original size or hex shape. A 19 will grow to 19.5, 20.5, 21, etc. And the tin cap at that point is not only rounded but far less rigid. Ford dodged a class action lawsuit 4 or 5 years ago over them. Chrysler, GM, and Toyota all use the same style, saving some percentage of a cent per lug nut by not casting a solid nut, but press-fitting a thin tin garnish over a basic open lug nut. In many cases, this also holds water inside the cap against your stud, which means one or two removals/installations later, the stud snaps due to rust intrusion weakening it and making it rough, catching the nut. It’s not reall possible to positively tell whether it was that or good old fashioned cross threading (the rust on the stud can also cause the most careful reinstallation of a lug nut to cross thread). But chances are, whether you had done the last installation or they had, it was coming soon. Force and speed raise the risk (i.e. air tools or electric tools) and it’s not really feasible for even most home mechanics to hand tighten every lug nut every time. Life happens.
As far as the second picture, I’m guessing that’s the rear trailing arm bushing that is simply a wear part on Focuses. Ford called the design Control Blade and it got shared with the mechanicall similar second gen EU Focus, Mazda3, and Volvo 30/40 series. It’s a multidirectional pivot point and even rust free areas are gonna wear that down in 186k. I remember the arm being a huge pain to press the bushings in and out of due to a low quality stamping that ends up rusty and weak. A new arm was never that expensive and came with a bushing preinstalled.
Good luck!
The car has 16 of those chrome clad lug nuts as I call them. Only one of them has separated out of the 16 and that was five years ago. So there are 15 originals still left on the car. As for that one pictured well I’ll leave that to Part 2.
Your car looks in fantastic condition! I loved the first Focus – it was so far ahead of anything on the market as a driver’s car – I put a lot of miles on a pool 2.0 Zetec in the UK (Zetec was a trim level as well as the engine type) and for several years I’d always choose one as a rental car in the US where possible even if my company had booked a higher category since it was just so much better to drive than other rental fodder. My only complaint about the 2.0 was it needed more power (my own car was a Subaru Legacy Turbo estate at the time) and when I came to get my first company car in 2002 I seriously looked at an ST160 estate until I discovered that the UK’s CO2 based company car tax meant that I would save money by choosing the much more expensive (list price) BMW 320d Touring. End of Focus fetish. But I recommended the Mk 1 as used cars to many people in the years after and no one ever complained – as Roger Carr says they were very reliable.
Im waiting for new rotors and pads to arrive for my Citroen the rears have to come in from Aussie, then I’ll hit my mate up for his piston wind back kit and get that job out of the way I think this will be its second set since new 390,000 kms the OEMs wouldnt last that long would they
This is a good looking car. Styling still looks modern and purposeful.
Your car is in excellent condition, very nice job! And a great write up!
I had a 2002 Focus SVT, and I didn’t have it long. I bought it from an adult, but he had modified the car and I grew to dislike it. It would have cost too much to return to a state I could live with, so I sold it. That is the short story.
Really, it was more car than I really wanted or needed. It was always raring to go, like a dog you can barely keep from jumping on everyone or everything. I’m not a fan of those dogs. I guess my personality would have melded better with a plainer version.
But, I’m kinda over the Focus in general. While it was a fantastic car in its own right, it didn’t charm me the way I expected it to. I didn’t really like the seating position as much as I do in other Ford cars with elevated seating (my mom’s 2012 Taurus is very comfortable, for example). I don’t know if that was it, or what, but it never grew on me.
I almost bought a base 2012 Ford Fiesta stubby Sedan with a 5 speed a few weeks prior. I drove the car and I did like it. It was cheap but cheerful, the manual wasn’t as precise as the one I’d later end up with in the Focus SVT, but I liked how it shifted. It fell easily to hand and I enjoyed tossing the car around city streets.
I only declined the purchase due to the title being in someone else’s name, and the guy getting fishy thereafter, so I walked. I think I would have probably kept the plain little Stubby Sedan Fiesta 5 speed.
I see my pic didn’t make it. Trying again.
*edit-
holy crap how did it flip? I apologize. I have no clue how to fix it.
High-five. Someone else who thinks “with the $$$ I’m saving by doing it myself, WHY NOT just replace the rotors instead of futzing with turning them?”
Also how I learned the front rotors on a NC Miata were the rears on a Fusion. Thanks, Ford parts bin!