Speedometer falls to zero, 2001 Focus

#11

Sad to think they took up what Deming had to say and went to town with it.

Ivan wrote:

Quote:

|| Ford makes interesting products, but they don't know how to maintain
|| them. Build a million units, see where they fail, then come up with a
|| part that works...

Which is why a the Japanese are still the world's number one when it comes
down to a reputation, with the same attitude reflected in their electronics
industry.

When the rest of the world were making colour TV's which required a couple
of service visits a year, the Japanese started selling receivers which
worked without fail for 10 or 15 years and have never looked back (i.e.where
are the one time big-name US and European manufacturers now?) .. although
when it comes to rest of the worlds cheap mass produced car manufacturers,
IMO Ford could be considered the best of a bad bunch.

#12

Louis Ohland wrote:

Quote:

Chris Whelan wrote:
Difficult access plus difficult removal = snapped-off part.
it doesn't *have* to mean that...

From my experience with Fords (69 Fairlane, 78 Granada, 78 E150, 93
F150, 95 Escort) "it doesn't have to" equals wishful thinking. Better
safe than sorry.

If you regularly snap off parts when working on a variety of cars, perhaps
you are not ideally suited for such tasks?

Also, if you have such a low opinion of Ford, why do you keep buying their
products?

Quote:

Now we're
talking a tow plus removal of the stub, plus the parts we were going to
replace.

Why would you need a tow? You've been driving it with a failing sensor.
Why couldn't you drive it with a broken one?

FAIK, if the radio does not have the input from the VSS, then the car
won't run at all. Ford decided to prove the Chaos Principle, where ever
more complex systems interact in unforeseen ways.

WTF? What on earth would stop the car from running if the radio was missing

the VSS signal? In fact, what would stop the car from running if the
*radio* was missing?

I ran my Focus for about 12 months with the VSS slowly failing. Eventually,
it was not giving an output for about 10% of the time. At no time was it
likely that it was going to leave me stranded!

Quote:

With regard to your particular car, it's the bottom of the range in the
US and it's six years old. If the most trouble you have with it is
intermittent failure of a part that costs 25UKP, and doesn't prevent you
driving it, I'd say that's quite a result.

The only thing that stopped me cold was when the ignition cylinder
refused to turn at all. I must say it's been a little trooper, burning
through the mountains in Pennsylvania at 80MPH, averaging 32MPG. Out in
flatter land like Ohio, I was back up to 35MPG. And faster yet...

Motor mount (took the Ford Technicians three times to fix it)
Left rear door lock (corrosion)
Antenna (snapped off at bolt)
Belt tensioner (never failed totally)

If you have had the vehicle for any significant amount of time, that's still
a very low failure rate.

Chris

--
Remove prejudice to reply.

#13

Chris Whelan wrote:

Quote:

If you regularly snap off parts when working on a variety of cars, perhaps
you are not ideally suited for such tasks?

After 30 years, one has memories.

Quote:

Also, if you have such a low opinion of Ford, why do you keep buying their
products?

I've wondered about that, and can only think it's genetic.

Quote:

WTF? What on earth would stop the car from running if the radio was missing
the VSS signal? In fact, what would stop the car from running if the
*radio* was missing?

I ran my Focus for about 12 months with the VSS slowly failing. Eventually,
it was not giving an output for about 10% of the time. At no time was it
likely that it was going to leave me stranded!

After nine months of "technicians" trying to figure out why my HEGO
was showing an error on my F-150, they finally welded a baffle into the
exhaust to keep the backpressure high enough so the charge wasn't pulled
out too fast. They were lucky my 93 had the "flight recorder"
capabilities, so they were able to get a good shot of the signal from
the HEGO going straight up. Unfortunately, it didn't help them fix it
faster. It tended to buck at 45MPH in fourth gear...

If the Ford engineers took that long to work something out, I'd say that
my "feeling" that there could be unforeseen dependencies has some merit.
Besides, it's a good "laughter through tears" cheerfulness. Lighten up.

Quote:

I must say it's been a little trooper,
Motor mount (took the Ford Technicians three times to fix it)
Left rear door lock (corrosion)
Antenna (snapped off at bolt)
Belt tensioner (never failed totally)

If you have had the vehicle for any significant amount of time, that's still
a very low failure rate.

My largest aggravation with Ford has been their clueless (or rapacious?)
service personnel. Reminds me that one service rep told me I needed to
get the front rotors turned on my Focus to eliminate the brake pulsing,
but less than six months later, after the brake pulsing returned,
another service rep said that Focus rotors should not be turned.

It's been rare for a Ford to pack it up totally (both brakes on my
F-150, cylinder lock on my Focus). They usually get you back. Reminds me
of when the slave cylinder went out on my F-150. Shifted a bit touchy,
but it ran.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Speedometer falls to zero, 2001 Focus

Ford Focus Ford Focus (alt.autos.ford.focus)

Re: Speedometer falls to zero, 2001 Focus - 05-03-2007 , 10:46 AM

Re: Speedometer falls to zero, 2001 Focus - 05-03-2007 , 12:43 PM

Re: Speedometer falls to zero, 2001 Focus - 05-04-2007 , 09:08 AM