Low Miles  Low Maintenance 

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit) 07/24/2017 at 17:43 • Filed to: car repair, ford focus, focus zx3, zetec

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My wife’s grandma noticed a puddle of coolant under her ‘03 Focus ZX3 (auto) the other day.

Not that puddle, that was me cleaning up the mess I made

Unable to look at it right away, I told her to take it to the garage down the street from her house and see what it was, and how detrimental it could be.

Apparently Zetec motors are notorious for eating the thermostat housing. YAY PLASTIC PARTS.

After a $600 quote to replace this $50 hunk of plastic, and do the front brakes which they noted as “bad”, she drove it home to their detest and I stopped by last week to look it over, and order correcting parts for about a quarter of what they quoted (my labor is cheap... she watches my kids and feeds them/me).

Sunday, yesterday, I stopped by with tools and parts in hand to make it right.

First thing I noticed is that the thermostat housing, while easy to get to with only three 10mm bolts holding it in, has FOUR hoses going to it of various sizes, with original POS spring type clamps on them. After wrestling them out of the way, I was greeted by the destruction inside the housing that caused the leak.

The sealing o-ring was no longer an O, nor was it sealing

Bits of broken plastic where the o-ring (bottom of pic) is supposed to reside

I threw the old part aside and with some new worm clamps, attached the new t-stat housing with much improved sealing surface.

That done, and coolant topped off, while he engine reached temperature I tackled the brakes, which were worse than “bad”

EEK!

The driver’s side inner pad was metal on metal, and the backside of the rotor was rust pitted with whole chunks missing. Also missing is the pictures I took of the pile of bad parts....

The outer pad was about half worn, but the worst part of it all was the passenger side... the pads looked like new!

I replaced them anyways, and the rotors, for even smooth braking all around. And, because of the wonderful job Ford did designing the brakes, there was no caliper saddle to remove to swap rotors. Once the caliper was clear they popped right off. And new shiny ones slid right on.

I may have overdone it on the lube, but no one complains about too much lube, right?

All tidied up, I took her for a spin, and while she has some clunks and bumps from worn bushings and struts, it rides well and still has some decent power from the engine. Now, if only I could find a matching door to replace this rusted one...

So given the state of the car, and that it was handed down to my grandma-in-law from her daughter (my aunt-in-law if anyone is counting) more than 10 years ago when she got a then-new 2006 Focus 5-door, and is only used to run to the store and church and back, you’d be surprised to learn that it ONLY has...

82,065 miles. Yep. Doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get driven (though that might have added to the problems), if you neglect a car and leave it out in the driveway to rust and rot, it too will have failures.

Now, about that funny vibration and noise in gear.....

cluelessk > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 17:50

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They were terrible cars from new. You just don’t see them around anymore. If you do they’re rusted right out.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 17:51

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This is the issue my Grandmother has with her cars. She has never driven very much and only short distances so she always has issues with rubber lines degrading and exhausts rusting. Her current 2012 Impreza only has 17k on it and she just had to have a bunch of transmission lines replaced because they had rotted from lack of use.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 17:53

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My cousin’s 04 ZTS blew a head gasket and was rusting out at barely over 100k miles. I think the original Focus was a bit... Not great.

benjrblant > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 17:55

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Ooh, is it a “ONE OWNER!!” too?

garagemonkee > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 18:07

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Stuck caliper on the passenger side?

PS9 > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 18:08

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82k is not really “low mileage” though.

Gerry197 > cluelessk 07/24/2017 at 18:20

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That platform was the most popular car in the UK when it was in production, it rains a lot there, I wonder if the ones made for that market was better rust proofed?

I live in California now, people here have no idea what rust is. They think rust is surface rust, not holes in the body. I see plenty of 10 - 30 year old cars that have zero rust out here.

Steve in Manhattan > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 18:47

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My mom faces the same issues - ‘98 Malibu with 79K careful grandma miles on it, and of course it doesn’t get driven for weeks at a time. The exhaust system will likely rust away despite my efforts and those of her grandchildren to drive the thing and get it heated up - but I’m in NYC and mom’s in MD so it doesn’t happen as often as it should.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > Takuro Spirit 07/24/2017 at 19:28

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Well my mom is the opposite. She bought a Range Rover sport in December and it already has 14,000 miles. Her previous car (Audi q7) was a car she bought from new in 2013 and it had 100,000 miles before she bought the Rangie

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > PS9 07/24/2017 at 19:29

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Well low for that car

My X-type is too a real Jaguar > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 07/24/2017 at 19:31

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My grandmother bought a “lifetime” muffler from Midas, she drove so little it rusted out every year. Midas lost money on that car, I mean who would have thought a 1980 Chevy Citation would last 15 years.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > My X-type is too a real Jaguar 07/24/2017 at 19:37

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My grandmother lives in a small town in Vermont and doesn’t have to drive very far for anything so the car never really gets warm enough. The current plan is that my Dad is going to lease her an XV and my sister is going to get her Impreza to replace my sisters current 2001 Outback which is slowly dying of old age and lack of care. Leasing is going to be perfect for my grandmother because she drives very little and can get the low lease payments by doing so. It also works out that when the lack of use issues start to pop up it will be time to give it back and lease another.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Takuro Spirit 07/25/2017 at 08:18

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yet my car has 650k km and only bit of rust is on the bonnet.

Takuro Spirit > garagemonkee 07/25/2017 at 10:40

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Driver’s, I’m assuming.

Takuro Spirit > cluelessk 07/25/2017 at 10:41

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I fancied myself a manual ZTW years back, but finding a rust-free one was nigh impossible up here in the ‘Belt, and I’m too lazy to find one out of state and do a fly in drive home deal.

Slant6 > PS9 07/25/2017 at 16:09

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Anything under 200k is low millage.

jonny11quest > Takuro Spirit 07/25/2017 at 16:53

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I had so many coolant issues on my ZX3. I think it probably needed new hoses throughout, but that wasn’t happening on a $1000 car. Absolutely loved the car though. Beast in rallycross. I’ll probably buy another in a year or so for next to nothing.

cluelessk > Takuro Spirit 07/25/2017 at 16:57

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There’s one or two SVT’s locally.

The only model you can find in decent shape because no one Winter drove them.

PS9 > Slant6 07/25/2017 at 17:20

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For a diesel pickup or a tractor trailer, maybe. But for a car, 200k is approaching the end of it’s life, and will be at the bottom of the market in terms of value. A car with six digits on its odo - no mattet what they are, but ESPECIALLY if they are 150k+ - would get loud guffaws from me to the seller if he tried to tell me it has ‘low miles’.