[CD03SVT]

I have a few problems/questions with my 03 SVT Focus, i hope someone can help. First off does anyone know the phone# to SVT? I would like to give them a call. Also my SVT is giving me some problems, it has under 8k miles and i just doesn't want to start. I have to keep trying and trying to start it, its almost like its not getting gas. I have to push on the gas pedal to get it going. I was pretty sure my car was fuel injected....but anyway it just upsetting me. It jerks back and forth when I am going a steady speed; almost like its rocking the car. I don't know whats causing that either. My trac. control grines sometimes too. I bought my car 2ed hand, can i go to any Ford dealer or do i have to go to an SVT dealer? Well, thats it, no funny battery lights or mest up clutch. (YET) Thank you for your time I hope some one can help me out.
Ps Once its started its the coolest little car to drive i will tell you that!

 

[03focusvt]

The hard to start and the surging complaint has a tsb for a ecu update. The noise from the traction control is most likely the abs kicking in.

 

[Seb656]

Hmmm I would bring it to an SVT Certified dealer im sure there is one near your location I see why my dad would never buy 2nd hand never wanted problems to show up

 

[focuzdSVT]

Phone # is 1800 try google

 

[infaSVTfocus]

Don't Worry about it CD03SVT, I have had the same problems in the past few days. I think its just the fact that the motor is aluminum, and the oil needs to heat up before you drive. It could have been that you reved the motor right before you shut the motor and there was to much oil sent to the motor. It got cold, and the oil stayed in place. To get rid of this problem, just don't rev the motor before you shut it off, and on cold nights plug the block heater in on cold nights. When you come out in the morning, the oil should have gone back into the oil pan.

 

[BumbleBee]

what am I missing here?

Seb656 wrote:

Hmmm I would bring it to an SVT Certified dealer im sure there is one near your location I see why my dad would never buy 2nd hand never wanted problems to show up

I don't get it. For one thing, problems can and do show up on brand new cars. A new car offers no guarantees that it will be problem-free. And for another, when one buys a late model used car with low milage on it, the new owner is still entitled to the bumper-to-bumper warranty. (However, I do concede that in many cases, if not most, only the original owner gets the powertrain warranty.)
And finally, there is no value whatsoever in buying new! The minute you drive a new car off the lot, it just depreciated a couple of grand -- at minimum!

Let's look for a moment at the practical value of buying late model used cars with low milage on them. Yours truly bought two such vehicles last year. In August of 2003 I bought a 2000 Ranger from Carmax that had only 22K miles on it -- well below the national annual average. Carmax even offeres an "extended warranty" program, which I turned down -- 'cause it's not cheap, plus there's still co-pays involved, etc. Now...last month I took the Ranger into a Ford dealer because its idiot lights were going bunker on us, and it cost us $400. to get two different sensor systems back to normal. While I certainly didn't welcome that expense, I happen to know that the kind of problems we were having were somewhat indigineous to that particular model. Coincidentally, I bumped into a '99 Ranger owner at the gas station that I was filling up at, and asked him if he ever experienced the kinds of problems I was at the time. Sure 'nough -- he had very similar problems on his truck when it was out of warranty!

Then I bought an '03 used SVT in December with slightly more than 5K miles on it, but didn't take delivery on it early January. And...I've already had a "problem" with it. One of the small lights in the HID cluster wouldn't come on, so I just rolled it right into the dealership and they fixed it in no time flat -- at no charge of course, as I still have about 2-1/2 years or 30K miles left on the warranty. And if I told you what I paid on Ebay Motors for that SVT (with the European Package yet), you'd swear I was telling fibs out of school. []

Moral to these true stories: There just isn't any value to buying new. The best buy possible are late model vehicles with low miles on them --an unbeatable combination.

BumbleBee

 

[essveetee]

Don't Worry about it CD03SVT, I have had the same problems in the past few days. I think its just the fact that the motor is aluminum, and the oil needs to heat up before you drive. It could have been that you reved the motor right before you shut the motor and there was to much oil sent to the motor. It got cold, and the oil stayed in place. To get rid of this problem, just don't rev the motor before you shut it off, and on cold nights plug the block heater in on cold nights. When you come out in the morning, the oil should have gone back into the oil pan.

Short answer: no.

Longer answer: the block is cast iron, head is aluminum. Oil should heat up before you beat the car, but the oil will flow back to the oil pan when you shut the engine off...sorta like how electricity always flows to ground. The time required for oil to return to the pan will vary based on oil temperature, oil pressure, and amount of oil in your engine, but its nothing to be worried about..

 

[Seb656]

Im simply saying id rather Have the full warranty from the car company cause if you buy a car and it doesn't have a warranty and screws up and its lemon sucks to be you

 

[essveetee]

Im simply saying id rather Have the full warranty from the car company cause if you buy a car and it doesn't have a warranty and screws up and its lemon sucks to be you

yep

 

[R&DSVTZX5]

Go to your local dealer tell them you want the YRF0 ECU reflash, call SVT for more information if you like, and then you will notice most if not all your problems will fad away.

 

[BumbleBee]

'scuse my ignorance, please but...

R&DSVTZX5 wrote:

Go to your local dealer tell them you want the YRF0 ECU reflash...

I've been following this thread, but don't have a clue what you're talking about here. Just what do you mean by "YRFO ECU reflash"? And no, I'm not an alien -- illegal or otherwise. []

Thanks,
BumbleBee

 

[essveetee]

bumblebee...that YRFO flash is just the latest and greatest computer program from ford to fix the problems.

 

[FociKing]

I have a few problems/questions with my 03 SVT Focus, i hope someone can help. First off does anyone know the phone# to SVT? I would like to give them a call. Also my SVT is giving me some problems, it has under 8k miles and i just doesn't want to start. I have to keep trying and trying to start it, its almost like its not getting gas. I have to push on the gas pedal to get it going. I was pretty sure my car was fuel injected....but anyway it just upsetting me. It jerks back and forth when I am going a steady speed; almost like its rocking the car. I don't know whats causing that either. My trac. control grines sometimes too. I bought my car 2ed hand, can i go to any Ford dealer or do i have to go to an SVT dealer? Well, thats it, no funny battery lights or mest up clutch. (YET) Thank you for your time I hope some one can help me out.
Ps Once its started its the coolest little car to drive i will tell you that!

I also have the 03 model agree great to drive, but have also experienced the starting problem, and also the jerking when ur goin steady feels like ur tappin the gas almost, but also another thing have u had any problems with your shift linkage, there was a small recall on the 03 model?

 

[schrader]

YRFO!!! all the way!

 

[CD03SVT]

BumbleBee, i with you on the low milage used cars. mine had 4k when i bought it.

FociKing, i was told there was no recall on my car. if you know were to find out about it let me know please.

Seb656, well just so you know i have a 5 year 100k mile warranty, so your right it does suck to be me.

YRFO reflash, i told them about the reflash they said it didn't need a reflash. they didn't see anything wrong with the car. when i told them to call svt there was no answer to that.