Dan's MK2 Focus woes

[dtulip8]

So here it is, my 2006 Focus 1.6 petrol. This is my first car, I chose it literally because the insurance was cheaper than an equivalent 1.25 or 1.4 Fiesta and with me being eleventy billion feet tall was more comfrotable too. Over the two and a half years I've had it, I've really grown to love it. Its not quick at all, a rip-snorting* 99bhp propelling a really very heavy car doesn't exactly make a recipe for thrills. However, it's mostly been very reliable, is nice to drive and as I'm at uni with not much money, cheap to run as well and I can do basic maintenance and servicing myself . I've given it one major mod, which was some Focus ST recaro's I got off a car that had been written off. as  I found the standard Zetec seats to not be terribly comfortable. 

Unfortunately, the heater diverter flap is stuck in the closed position. This means I have no hot air at all! To fix it requires taking the doors off, the steering wheel and the entire dashboard as its located right on the bulkhead of the car. So I'm faced with a choice of either sticking with it (which I'm tempted to do tbh) or scrapping it and getting likely another Focus of similar vintage, though probably a 1.8 or 2.0 petrol. 

Anyway, I'll keep this updated periodically but for now have some pictures:

 

[Eyersey1234]

I like that shade of blue, yours must be one of the first in that colour as it came out in October/November 2006, I only know this as I wanted a Jeans Blue Fiesta when I got my old one but the colour had been discontinued and replaced by that one and I couldn't stretch to metallic paint. Shame about the heater on yours. 

[sierraman]

I don’t know if it’s the same as a Mk1 but if you can find the selector you can manually manipulate it to Hot with some pliers

[Snipes]

My old Fiesta heater (With the mixer motor valve thing) failed in the cold position over winter and it was MISERABLE. 

The replacement failed in the hot position almost exactly 6 months later.....

[sierraman]

Incidentally I’d avoid the 1.8. Prone to the oil control rings going. 

[mrbenn]

If you're thinking of scrapping the car over the heater problem then I'd be going in with a "shit or bust" approach and just trying to get the thing manually moved to hot as sierraman says.

Can you remove any trim panels either side of the radio/transmission tunnel area and see the relevant bits?

[Dan302]

Threads about people called Dan having Focus troubles are the best! 

[sierraman]

I had a similar quandary with the heater matrix, on the early Mk2 they are a 2 piece affair with a union above the drivers foot. Eventually they end up leaking from the union, managed to solve it by using some plumbing sealant packed into the joint and a dose of K seal which has worked. I’ve absolutely no appetite for taking dashboards out of cars. 

[twosmoke300]

Dash work is miserable. Always seem to gain a creak or rattle some how . 
 

[sierraman]

Never goes back properly. Plus it’s absolute murder on your back. 

[Isaac Hunt]

Heater behind dash can be a shite job for sure.  Scrapping an otherwise good  car seems a bit ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water’

have you got one of the old skool scrapies near you.  The ones that let you get to the car and dismantle yourself.  These can be great for getting to stuff as you can destroy stuff getting to the bit you want.  You also then get to see how the bits you’be just ripped off actually fit/clip into place.  Most of the scrapped car dash will be going in the crusher anyway, so it isn’t like your ‘vandalism’ is of any great shakes.   

I remember being after a gearbox once, asked the guys if they would drag it forward and lift the front so I could shove a couple of wheel under it and get to the gearbox.  ‘Sure he said, comes across with one of them big JCB type forklift, drags it into the open, then promptly tips it on its side. The OS doors and wing were mint, at least until it was on its side.  The cars only stay in he yard for a few weeks so  it’s ‘wots sold is sold’ and what isn’t gets cubed.

once you know where the fittings are and what type, Torx size etc, it maybe you can just about get to it if you are prepared for some ‘dash rash’ on your hands and arms

[junkyarddog]

Good cars these,

My sister had a 1.6 petrol one for 8 years and it never let her down,a few niggles over that time of course,but nothing that caused a FTP.

Get it fixed.

[sierraman]

Before we go off down the deep end, take the radio out and make sure the operating cables haven’t, as I suspect, snagged. 

[dtulip8]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the interest in the car. Sadly the heater flap is stuck closed, and the mechanic man reckons the cable has snapped somewhere deep down in the bowels of the car as it can't be manually adjusted. However, the car is not being scrapped. I'm punting it on to a more hardy family member who will use it as a work van for £600, so hopefully it'll live on for a bit longer. Sadly, there will be no autoshiteesque replacement, as my Mum's lending me her nearly new Fiesta for the next 6 months as she's now got a Mondeo which is better for her due to its size

[dtulip8]

8 hours ago, mrbenn said:

If you're thinking of scrapping the car over the heater problem then I'd be going in with a "shit or bust" approach and just trying to get the thing manually moved to hot as sierraman says.

Can you remove any trim panels either side of the radio/transmission tunnel area and see the relevant bits?

Yeah I've had most of the footwell panels out and its completly buried/inaccesible even from there.

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

Before we go off down the deep end, take the radio out and make sure the operating cables haven’t, as I suspect, snagged. 

I did that a few weeks back, cable turns freely. Was really hoping it would just be snagged.

[Crackers]

On 11/8/2019 at 1:19 PM, dtulip8 said:

Its not quick at all, a rip-snorting* 99bhp propelling a really very heavy car

I've the same 1.6 in a Mk1, which is a lighter and smaller car in all directions. It's not exactly a pulse-raiser* in mine either, so in a Mk2 it must be decidedly beige.

 

*read: Trying to get to 70 on the A31 westbound out of Ropley feels like absolute torture on the hill into Four Marks. Could make a brew in the time between 50 and 70.

[mrbenn]

I find mine can pick its feet up fairly well but you have to rev it hard, which isn't really my style.

O/T but I preferred the low end torque of the 1.6 8v engine in a friends' mk4 Astra tbh. Could really keep the revs low on that yet still turn decent enough speed.

[MikeR]

Not the fastest car but a fairly good all rounder .  the mk2 was a disaster and i have been warned off them .

[sierraman]

No, the Mk2 is a much better car, rusts less, better on the motorway, safer. As much as I like a Mk1, the Mk2 is streets ahead. The TiVct is usefully more powerful than that standard 1.6.