Focus 2.0 TDCi

Thinking of getting myself a ford focus 2.0 tdci zetec. Around 05/06.

Firstly, is there anything i need to look out for when i'm veiwing (the cars in my price range have around 90-100k on the clock.

Secondly, what can i do to mod the car. I want to keep it as my daily drive so i need to keep the drivability and economy. I'm unsure about what suspension mods i can do to it, anyone have any knowledge of this? After i've bought the car i'm going for a remap. Got a good price from Celtic (recommended by Paul) Are there any other engine mods that will give some decent power and torque gains?
 
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Jakeymd said:
Thinking of getting myself a ford focus 2.0 tdci zetec. Around 05/06.

Firstly, is there anything i need to look out for when i'm veiwing (the cars in my price range have around 90-100k on the clock.

Secondly, what can i do to mod the car. I want to keep it as my daily drive so i need to keep the drivability and economy. I'm unsure about what suspension mods i can do to it, anyone have any knowledge of this? After i've bought the car i'm going for a remap. Got a good price from Celtic (recommended by Paul) Are there any other engine mods that will give some decent power and torque gains?
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With it being a Zetec it will have uprated sports suspension as standard so there won't be a need for any upgrades.
The best thing for you to do is remap it.


On higher mileage cars make sure it comes with a full service history.
 
^^^ What he said! ^^^

That's a great car Jake, I have a friend who has that model and he thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread :amuse:
 
Just been to look at one and it has put me off altogether. This particular example was terrible. Switches were held on with blutac, laqeur was coming off. The dash had been melted somehow. The switched had all got scratches around them where it looked like someone had tried to pull them off with a screw driver. And it stank of smoke. And they wanted £4200 for it. NO CHANCE!!! walked away from it. Looking at going german now. Maybe an A3 or a Golf. Or even a 3 series if i get a good ins quote.
 
Yeah, there's so many out there you don't need to buy a dog. You'll get more for your money if you buy a focus, four grand is only going to get you an 01 or 02 audi, old tech compared to a mk 2 focus. Plus dynamically it's the better car.
 
Going to the ford dealership in derby afterwork today just to go and sit in a few, just so i know what they're like. Will i be able to test drive one at 20?
 
Just been to view one with 100k on the clock, forgot to check for a cambelt change so got hold of the seller over the phone and he said he beleived it was chain driven. After looking this up i'm not so sure it is chain driven, and it is actually belt driven. Could someone confirm this?? And also how often should it be changed?
 
Hello Jake
As guys said, don't be put off by one bad example. This cars are really worth money spend, very good runners, and lots of you can do to make it even better performer and better looking.
Go to any 'Big Boys' dealer, carcraft or cargiant, there should be no reason why you could not have a test drive, you are on the market for new car, you have the money and thats it, but you should be able to test drive it any way, if not ask for manager and ask him to employ better sale people and then ask him to serve you in more professional manner them guy who said no as it is not a good reputation for his business ;)

Chain Driven ????? Check that mate, because it sounds a bit not right. My second car is Mondeo 2.5 V6 and yes it is a chain not belt, but from what I remember only big ford engines such as V6 2.5 and 3.0 were equipped with chain.

Checks, you can do many, ramp would be beneficial if you want to get it completely right.
Check the color of the engine oil.
Check if the power steering pump liquid is clear, if is black the power steering pump need changing, common thing with fords I've been told, but never done research about that my self, just had this problem on mondeo.
Check for any knocks on wheel bearings.
Take car somewhere where you can reach 60-70 mph (JUST MAKE SURE NO ONE DRIVES BEHIND YOU) and press the break as hard as you can, if you get any vibrations on the steering wheel then there is obviously something wrong, wheels out of balance or break discs need changing or some other stuff.
Common things with ford's are as well steering racks together with power steering wheels, so check for any knocks.
Check if tyres are worn out equally, if not then again that needs to be looked.
Rev the engine, look for any grey/white smoke.


Jake, guys, don't take this advice as a professional advice as it is not ;) this is just my common sense base on my little knowledge which I always use when going with someone to buy a used car.

Also service books are very easy to make up, so check if all the stamps are not on the same ink, exactly same tone/color, like stamped one by one.

ALSO
For remap, check the banner on the top of the page on the right, www.jfautomotive.co.uk , great guy, great prices, very good Viezu remap files, had it done on my Audi and it works straight away and you can feel the difference, also quickly checked the website and you can get 30more BHP and 60Nm of torque as well.

All the best mate
 
Just bought myself one :) after my crash last week i needed a new car so went to look at one i saw on ebay. It was a great example. Only done 37k miles. A few marks in the paintwork but i'm not too worried about them. Only cost me £4100 and it's absolutly brilliant to drive. I'll upload some photos when i collect it tonight :)
 
Jake i've been following up on your story and more than pleased with your decision mate -

One of my cars is also a Ford focus TDCI 2009 which I am very fond of .It took me almost 2 years to upload
over 500 vdo clips onto youtube, mostly about what my friends and I did to our cars (Ford Focus TDCI ...) so here it is - let me share it with you and all the Hosts & members here..alike..feel free to make any comments...but remember I had no teacher I did not go to any automobile class all is done because it
makes me happy and love to share with people who feel same way
After all this time fiddling with cars I now have found out that I love driving hey hey.

Til next one mate... Cheers to you all Yeah

e21cjn Tham

d1fd7819.jpg


Removed URL link as per our T&C's, you need to have made 10 posts first before allowed to do this.
T9 man
 
Jake the car you are about to see belongs to a girl who just graduated she came to me and asked if I could point out to her who she could talk to and below is her first Dyno Test run about a fortnight ago..

Removed URL link as per our T&C's, you need to have made 10 posts first before allowed to do this.
T9 man


not sure if I could put an embeded command here but there you go above link
is just as good mate.

e21cjn
 
Okay, so hear are a few little plans. Attending the TC remap and dyno day on 17th March at JFA. I'm thinking of getting myself an Airtec Intercooler for the 2.5ST, i know it's a different model but the intercooler is exactly the same on both so it'll fit brilliantly. Also Thinking of getting a DPF replacement pipe (if my car has one, not been underneath to check) but the software will need to be removed at the same time to prevent limp home mode. JFA said they will delete the software with my remap but dont offer to remove the filter itself or fit a replacement pipe. Does anyone know whether i'll need a replacement pipe or whether i can just remove the filter element from it? I cant find any off the shelf replacement pipes so if anyone has any idea how to get one please help. (This is all if it DOES have a dpf)
Someone told me that my gearbox has a maximum rating of 400NM (about 300lbft) does anyone know whether this is true as i was hoping to get more. If the limit is 400 what do you guys (and gals) think is the best option? Stick to 400, go a little lower? Anything else? What else could I do to compliment these modifications? Air filter? Exhaust?
Thankyou guys, i appreciate any input or advice.

Plus could a Mod move this to the 'projects' bit, as this is what it's becoming :)

Edit: Just found another site that says the gearbox is rated at 450NM (330lbft) which i think is enough :)
 
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Okay, so the first modification went on on friday. Don't get too excited though...
2012-01-13 16.12.27.jpg
A few more of them
2012-01-13 16.11.52.jpg

2012-01-13 16.13.20.jpg

And in case anyone wants to know what the car looks like, well it's just a focus with stainless steel sill protectors. But here's a few more photos...
2012-01-13 16.18.28.jpg

2012-01-13 16.23.18.jpg

Let me know what you think.
 
I like that Jake, wheels look good on the car although if you plan to lower the car 30mm or so later on then it will look much better imo. ;)
 
Black Focus! I like it...a lot!
As T9 said, little closer to the ground will look much better.
In two ocassions I had a chance to drive an Focus TDCI - very, very good from the factory! Much better then factory Ibiza IMHO.
 
I agree, and I will probably lower in the future but I'm not sure what option to go for. Just lowering springs? Springs and shocks? or Coilovers? What's the difference between springs & shocks and coilovers? I don't want the ride too firm, and i'm happy with the way it corners, and it would be nice for it to be about 30mm lower like you said. Adjustable height and damping would be advantageous. Ideas?
 
Unless you intend to go all out for handling then I would suggest just changing the springs for a lowered and stiffer set.
 
T9 man said:
Unless you intend to go all out for handling then I would suggest just changing the springs for a lowered and stiffer set.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind i would ad an small hint onto what T9 sugested. You are to expect for changing your dumpers also 'cause OEM dumpers (or is it schocks more correct to say???) is likely to be mismatched with stifer springs. At least after a while they will show traces of weakness after paired with stiffer springs.

But don't be afraid! That way you can do it one thing at a time.
 
Re intercooler most dont make much difference on diesels unless changing from SM to FM unless your doing alot of work.

springs and dampners / coilovers.
coils are adjustable and as one unit
spings dampners arent.

coilovers are normally classed as better but cheap coilovers against a good spring dampner setup the springs combo would be better.
also remember setting it on the deck insnt going to make the handling great.
 
Technical speaking, I believe the spring is actually the shock absorber and the other thing is the damper. Someone correct me if i'm wrong
 
Having a problem with my car. It struggles to start sometimes and its a rough shuddery start. Today it took a few seconds before It began to fire. Wassup?
 
Undertook the first PERFORMANCE modification today. Blocked of the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) valve. The valve does just as it is called, it recirculates some exhaust gases for a "double burn" to reduce emissions. So blocking it off stops all that nasty horrible hot oxygen-free air going to the inlet manifold, therefore the air going into the engine is much cleaner and full of happy oxygens :) and so we can burn more fuel and produce more POWWWEERRR. Not alot granted, but for £4 something and 2 minutes work it is a bargain. Not had any warning lights come on yet which can be the case in some cars. Startups seem to be a little smoother and it seems to pull better right across the rev range. But the startups still seem a lot less smooth than other diesels. I fired up my mums Kia today and that barely juddered at all. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to advise.
 
best thing about blocking of the EGR isnt the fact that the exhaust gas is going back into the intake. its the oily crud that goes back in and starts to block up the pipes and intake itself
 
WARNING LIGHT!!! My engine warning light has come on, fault code reader says the EGR control circuit too high. I presumed this was because i blocked of the EGR so i unblocked it but it is still on. I tried clearing the code before and after but it's still on. Do i have to go for a good run for it to clear?? No difference in the engine, but just before the light came on the engine struggled to start. The code was logged on the ECU before this but the light never came on. Any help would be really appreciated.
 
More car woes. Took the car into the garage to inspect this bad starting. They said they though it was the fuel injecter pump. £600 for parts.
But since taking it to the garage the starting is worse. Tickover doesnt sound right. And its now got an electrical fault with the body control module which it cant communicate with. Left it there overnight. :(
 
Blimey Jake, all this does not sound good at all :blink: Reference your tickover, starting and communication error problems! Do you have the car steam cleaned at all and if so was this recently? I ask because I had your symptoms once on the Beast and it was tracked down to water getting into the many multiplugs under the bonnet. They were all opened up and blasted with an air line before being sprayed with a contact cleaner then a special electrical contact lube. everything was reconnected and so far (Looks for a bit of wood to touch for luck!) not had any more issues. Worth a try buddy ;)
 
Car is all sorted. All it needed was a new battery. So relieved!!!!!! But they did notice the idler could be on its way out.
 
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