Help me fix my Mother in Law's LS Focus...

[prydey]

Hi guys,

Rather than start multiple threads, I thought I'd just list the few problems she is having in one thread and get all the advice in one place.

car is a LS focus CL auto.

firstly, the auto. I've driven it, and its extremely sensitive on take off. almost like the torque converter is grabbing straight away or something. she complains that it on occasion lurches forward, and so now when stopped, has to have quite a bit of pressure on the brake to stop it if it has a 'moment'.

i'm thinking maybe its a bit slow to change back to 1st sometimes, and does so after coming to a stop, which would create a kind of lurch. otherwise i'm not too sure on auto's. checked oil when warm and its not a bad colour and plenty in there.

2nd, the handbrake is ineffective. i tried taking up the slack with the adjusting bolt in the cabin under the lever, but that didn't really achieve much. i think the problem may lie under the car somewhere. i believe these work by winding the piston out in the caliper. some advice here would be good too.

3rd, the front shocks/struts are cactus. this car is used very little and only short trips, so i don't need any sort of performance orientated part here. just after recommendations on a good value strut. monroe are fairly readily available. gabriel are at supercheap - any good? both inlaws are pensioners and so funds are scarce, which is why i'm trying to fix it on a tight budget.

4th, front left d/shaft is rooted also. outer boot was split which i noticed when i bought it about 4 years ago and nothing has been done about it. cv doesn't really knock at all, just groans on low speed turns (in and out of car parks etc). changeover d/shafts are pretty pricey, and do i need a puller or any specific tools to get it out of the gearbox?

its a great little car, just needs these little things tidying up.

thanks in advance for any advice, suggestions, help etc.

[fiestaz]

I can only comment on the auto issue. My mother has a 2007 LT i think, same as the LS but facelift. it recently after 60000kms had its auto replaced as it was cactus. It did similar things to yours from new. As you came to a stop at traffic lights it would grab first can try take off. However the new box does not do this.

These gearboxes arent very good, and commonly get replaced (including in the mazda 3's) no matter how nicely you treat them.

Probably best taking it to a european transmission specialist, or even ford to comment on.
If it starts to hunt around for gears, and seems unsure about what gear it should be in, it will need replacement. Thats what our's did, started to act like a dog.

A reconditioned gearbox installed through ford costs $3000+. We were lucky as the car had been serviced through ford from new, they came to the party and covered the cost of the parts and gearbox, we just paid the labour (about $1000). All this happened last year.

[DZFord]

I can comment on a couple of these issues:

1. Not sure about the sensitive take off, but will say that the slow change and lurch from 2nd to 1st is common with these autos. Apparently at one stage there was a software update which (sort of) fixed the issue. You might be able to dig up some old threads on this.

2. You are correct, the handbrake does work by winding the piston out in the caliper. Have you checked rear pad and disc thickness?

[Franco Cozzo]

Handbrake on my LV sucks too, i don't think there is much we can do about it.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by DZFord

2. You are correct, the handbrake does work by winding the piston out in the caliper. Have you checked rear pad and disc thickness?

yeah, pads are newish. replaced about a year ago. car does very little work so should still be pretty new.

[prydey]

had a chance to pull the rear wheels off today and discovered handbrake is totally ineffective on the drivers side. cable actuates the mechanism but i can still spin the wheel quite easily. brakes work well. bled them again just in case. left side works fine. handbrake holds the wheel solid on that side.

any ideas on what is wrong with the right side? is it just cable stretch. i'd imagine there is some sort of equaliser under the car but it seems to be above the exhaust heat shield or something and in the too hard basket.

i have ramps, so if its something to do with that, then i can put it on ramps and get under there.

thanks. any ideas?

[marg99]

The adjusting nut for the cable is inside the car at the base of the handbrake.
Theory has it you adjust that nut until a 7mm gap between the handbrake lever (got a spring on it)at the rear caliper and the caliper abutment appears. ensure wheels still rotate freely and hand brake has 3-5 clicks to tight

[prydey]

Originally Posted by marg99

The adjusting nut for the cable is inside the car at the base of the handbrake.
Theory has it you adjust that nut until a 7mm gap between the handbrake lever (got a spring on it)at the rear caliper and the caliper abutment appears. ensure wheels still rotate freely and hand brake has 3-5 clicks to tight

yes, i'm aware of that but the cable must have an equaliser where it splits in to 2 so that each rear wheel pulls up the same. i have adjusted the nut in the cabin, left wheel pulls up solid with handbrake on, right wheel still spins free. they aren't pulling up even for some reason. possibly an issue with the caliper itself even? not sure.

[marg99]

The manual says there is an equalizer bracket namely the cable from the handbrake goes to its center and each side has a cable from each rear wheels but does not show those cables as adjustable. ( LH cable is black sleeve and RH cable a white sleeve)