[ErinP]

We bought Focus1 in '08 with 50,000 miles on it.
This summer, she was up to 210k and still running like a top with minimal maintenance. Everything was sound except for the dead pixels in the radio.

This fall, however, in town for groceries one day, I cranked it to head home and something clattered. Kind of sounded like poking a screwdriver into a fan's rotation. Not that fast, but a really obvious clatter. It fired once, and then died and stayed dead.

In the 3 months since, we towed it home, parked it in the shop and bought Focus3.
But Junior turns 15 next month and will actually be legal to drive on a school/work permit, so we need to get his car figured out.
My better half, the family mechanic, hasn't had a chance to even pull the head off yet to see what's going on, so I thought I'd start doing some research.

Thoughts?
If it's the valve seat, what are we looking for? What's the repair process? Anyone have a fix-it tutorial link handy?

 

[SPIinDisguise]

Ahh that stinks...I have an SPI as well...Seems the going price to get it fixed..as long as nothing else was damaged will be around 700-800 dollars. HeadsOnly makes these, you just send the core back I think is how it works.http://www.headsonly.com.

Though knowing a mechanic as you do it could be done cheaper if labor doesnt count, just pay for material, maybe he can get that cheaper as well. Hope this helps.

 

[SPIinDisguise]

There will be scratches inside the cylinder wall..rods could be bent. Just depends how fast you caught it.

Here are some links.
http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259112

Just look around the site, search SPI dropped seat, things like that. Will come up with many results.

 

[sailor]

Description sounds typical for the problem, pulling spark plugs should confirm.

Don't want to crank it over, that just increases damage.

Once confirmed by plug damage & maybe a peek down the holes only disassembly will confirm the extent of damage & whether it's fixable at reasonable cost.

 

[amc49]

The shorter you ran it the more the likelihood of lesser damage, insisting on trying to drive like that is what puts them down for the count permanently.

 

[ErinP]

On trying to drive like what?
My second paragraph; the clatter, failure to start, etc. happened in the course of 20 minutes! lol I couldn't drive it even if I wanted. It wouldn't start...

 

[Garyshome]

Well maybe there won't be much damage then. But if the cyl is scratched it will have to be cleaned up and new rings installed, so your talking re build for the whole thing or find a used engine.

 

[DRAGONFIRE_Sr]

If you ran the engine for 20 min with that clatter, odds are high that the piston and rod will need to be replaced in the affected cylinder.
You will also need to pull the intake and exhaust manifolds off and clean them thoroughly!
They have a bad habit of collecting bits of the busted valve seat and sharing it with the rest of the cylinders!
You can see what mine looked like here: http://s218.photobucket.com/user/dragonfire_sr/library/2000 FOCUS Unless this method of sharing pics is frowned upon by the mods.