Hey Mike, thanks for the input on the dealer thing..yeah I picked up my car today and all seems good. thebad thingI was told was it would run me $80 to $120 to find out whats wrong with the suspension..soo yeah I was kinda thinking thats a big fat HELL NO! so i am probably going to have a local mechanic check it out for me when I come up withthe money.. Oh I was going to ask you, Is your focus a manuel or automatic?..cause Im now noticing some bogging out a bit (like loss of power or something) in every gear i put it in but its weird cause it does it at first then it shoots up the RPM fast once I get passed about 3000 or so...do you have any thoughts on what could be causing this chugging, bogging almost like Im flooding the engine thing?? Im also noticing that my gas mileage has not been too hot lately either...
Anywayanother thing I was going to mention to you was the previous owner of my car changed the oil out like a week before he sold it to me and I realize that he spilled oil on the enging and a couple of radiator hoses so I cleaned all that up the best I could, so now the odor I was smelling is not as strong anymore..I think it could have been the oil on the hoses I was smelling( burningoil and hoses) but still Im not too sure about it so who knows...Oh and if you go to a dealer home page you should be able to look under recalls and it will ask you for your VIN...or just search ford recalls on your browser..they should tell you if you also have a wiring recall but you knowI think this recall only affected the 2000 and 2001 focus.. but its still worth checking into..............Gregory

 

WOW what a thread...... I am sorry to hear about your issues with the noise in the front of the car. I hope the recall takes care of the wiring issues for you. Wiring issues can become nightmares. As far as you CV joint issue it is normal for a CV shaft to have up to a 1/2" play in the shaft. Try finding a curb and drive up and down on it a couple of times on the side where the noise is comming from. if you have a ratteling noise moust likely you need a new bearing plate on the top of the strut. Tour front strut has a plate that mounts to the body at the top of the strut tower. There isa bearing there to you can turn you wheel left and right. these bearings go bad all the time causing a ratteling noise going over bumps. Most shops try to tell you that you need to replace the strut, the spring bumper and also if you replace one you need to do the other. Dont listen to them just replace the bearing plate assembly from the spring up. This should solve your issue. Cost should be less than $250. part being about 75-120 and labot less than 2.0 hrs.

 

Did anyone ever find the source of the burning smell? My wife drives an 03 Focus ZX3, only about 6 miles a day to and from work. The trip home is about 3 miles, and by the time she pulls in the garage, it smells terrible. It's like burning rubber. I never see smoke, and her car only has 30k miles on it. She does have a bit of leaking around the valve cover, but I have never smelled anything this strong with a leaking valve cover. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!! I do plan to fix the valve cover gasket and check the fan since it has been mentioned here. I was kind a wondering if it could be burnt valves or something since she does very little driving and may not give the system sufficient time to heat up and burn off any deposits.