2003 Ford Focus. New Motor Mounts at 80K miles. A SECOND set of front stabilizer links also at 80K. I never heard of motor mounts breaking down that soon and what is wrong with these stabilizer links that they wear out so quickly? The P.O of this car pampered it and drove it gently.... I don't understand.
Got one too 2014 mustang Last week engine light comes on Codes pulled Crankcase position sensor And a o2 sensor Just turned 20 k miles
Any rubber nowadays breaks down. Not sure if it is driven by costs or intentional. I have some nos mounts and hoses from the 60s that have been out of uv exposure and are fine.
People don’t want NVH so the mounts are soft and less durable (including some filled with liquid, some had air chambers and vacuum lines, some electronic). Buzzy four bangers vibrate and shake. Big V8s with mild cams don’t. Patrick
on the 13 Focus as well as the 15 Fusion. Stabilizer links went bad under 50K miles. Asked the service adviser why and his answer was its because we travel down a mile long dirt road to get to the house. Really? the 50 yr old Riv has some of the factory parts in the suspension and they are not bad......
The only modern Ford (and GM and Chrysler) with a chassis as sturdy as that Riv is the full size truck. Maybe. Patrick
The o2 sensor probably went out of whack (ohms) trying to adjust for the bad crankcase sensor reading. More than likely fine.
There's a service bulletin out for the crank sensors on those cars. I almost had to Lemon law my 2013 GT for a random misfire code that two different dealerships couldn't figure out and Ford finally sent out an engineer who discovered that crank sensors managed to become loose in their mountng point and caused the issue
The title of this thread is RIGHT ON !! Here is a true story- My cousin, upon graduation as an engineer, back in the '60's, was hired by John Deere. His first project was to design a manure spreader. Being born and raised on a farm, this project was dear to his heart. He designed this new spreader. He the presented it to an evaluation team. They informed him that Deere will not produce this thing. Why he asks. Answer - because it would last too long and not break down for many years! Planned obsolescence! They could not make any money!!
Our company work cars are Tauruses and we have had several crank case sensor, washer fluid motor, and stabilizer bar issues. All just outside of warranty.
I had a friend with a Focus. In the two years that I worked with him, he had the motor mounts replaced twice! And idling in gear, it still shook like a three-legged washing machine!
Our 01 focus was the same way. Went thru 3 motor mounts (the large one), countless endlinks because they clunked after a while and 3 thermostat housings (plastic and bolts to the head). We sold the car with just over 100k miles. Went from that to an 06 civic and that thing has been rock solid. Only issue it had was wheel bearings up front but were covered under warranty.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009359107048 If you have facebook this is the guy to talk to about anything Focus related. He has been driving them forever and sells Ford performance and stock parts for Tasca Motors. Plus he is a good friend and a great guy. He goes by Tasca Steve on Facebook Cliff
My daily is a 2004 SVT Focus, in a crash of any sort vs a Riviera of any age I'd MUCH rather be in the Focus. This from a guy that owned several '63-'69 Rivieras.
The issue with motor mounts tends to be with the passenger side mount which is a hydraulic mount, they work incredibly well at controlling NVH but they do have a shorter lifespan than old fashioned rubber mounts. The other common one to fail is the lower "dog bone" mount which is simply a torque restrictor, cheap and easy to replace and also does an admirable job of controlling NVH. As for end links wearing out? Not just a Ford issue, it's pretty much industry wide with any end link that has a ball stud type end link. OEM actually seem to last longer than even greasable aftermarket though so there's not much point using anything else.
I did get the ones with zerk fittings on them. Oh well, the best laid plans... Other than the maintenance complaint, it's a great little wagon.
I first replaced that one with an aftermarket one from advance, they would fail within a year and I’d replace under warranty. Got sick of that so just got a Ford oem replacement and it was fine for a few years. The thermostat housing it didn’t matter if it was a ford part or an aftermarket one. Same goes for the coolant pipe made of plastic on top of the radiator.
