Ford Focus Engine Rebuild 2.0L SOHC SPI - Part 1

[@SharonBoo0305]

this happened to my 2001 SOHC 2.0 SPI right before 143K! i just got the engine rebuilt....the same one at 80K. Apparently I threw a rod and the car just STOPPED as I was turning into a parking lot. Would try to start but it did not turn over. A few days later, I had to put it on a hitch to get it to the mechanic. It did start but made this terrible noise as I drove it onto the hitch. I was told it was running on three cylinders and that was why. Disgusting smell too....I was told it was gas not being properly burned. Anyway, it is back and running! Thanks for posting, I love watching this heart transplant series... :)

[@SoftwareDevJason]

+Sharon Boo Sorry to hear about your car. Never a dull moment with these 2.0 SOHC engines. Always something to learn how to fix :) Thanks for watching!

[@WoWEmuMarket]

How much did the rebuild cost? My 2000 SOHC Wagon died a few months ago, I believe the valve seat dropped

[@jreuter60]

Hmm...not sure which video in the series to post these comments, so I'll just do the first one.First, thanks very very much for doing this. My '02 dropped the #1 intake seat, so I'm part way through my rebuild (putting things back together now). The videos have been extremely helpful.My rebuild will cost somewhere around $450. $200 for the rebuilt head, $140 for the rebuild kit. The kit I picked didn't have the head bolts, so another $18 for that. A torn rubber elbow on a PVC hose, another $15. $60 to have a machine shop press the new pistons and pins onto the rods. Turns out the #1 connecting rod was also bent, so another $45 have the shop get a new rod and press the cylinder and pin onto it again.I'm not counting oil, filter, some new plugs, since that would've been a normal maintenance anyway.Some helpful hints:First, Harbor Freight is your friend. There I got the ring compressor for $10 and the honing tool for about $15, and a set of feeler gauges for gapping the rings. They also have some reasonably priced click-type torque wrenches, which are much more handy in tight spaces than the beam-type wrench I already had. I think those were only about $20 each. Test them before doing something important; the first one I got was faulty, and I could've stripped the threads from the rocker mounting holes if I hadn't caught that. Finally, they have some sockets called "E-socket set", also about $10. The set with sizes E4-E10 fits the Torx (star) tips on the ends of the manifold studs, so you don't have to tear up the ends of the studs trying to use vice grips or other hacks. That was well worth the $10 for removing the studs from the old head and installing them on the new. I would also recommend their impact-rated sockets. I split my regular 13mm deep socket trying to break loose some very tight bolts. All of the above was in stock at my local store.Second, try to keep the engine block propped up to the right height when working. I let mine drop a bit low, and then when I disconnected the passenger side drive axle mount to get the oil pan off, something shifted enough that the transmission fluid dribbled out around the shaft seal. Hopefully it isn't damaged, but I won't try to refill it until I get the engine and drive shaft mounts all back together.Third, the exhaust bolts were *really* rusted. I ripped the head off of one of the bolts that held the exhaust pipe to the oil pan / transaxle bolts. And I could never break the bolts connecting that part of the exhaust to the back sections, I had to work around the dangling pipe while removing the oil pan. Note that if you have to do that it is hanging by a flexible section, so prop it up with some blocks.Fourth, there are a LOT of hoses that hook to the cluster of ports on the intake manifold. And there don't seem to be any good diagrams in the manual I have or on the web for how to hook all of them back up. So take good notes before you start pulling all of those off! I spent about an hour rummaging around the web and think I found enough different pieces of info to put it all together, but I don't have great confidence. I do have enough info to avoid putting coolant lines onto vacuum ports, fortunately.

[@SoftwareDevJason]

All good info! Thanks for watching!

[@d.j.9961]

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST!!!! FINALLY,,,,SOMEONE WHO BRINGS THIS ISSUE UP!!!! I HAVE SEARCHED KZbin FOR ANY TYPE OF VIDEO REGUARDING THIS!!! I HAVE A 03 FOCUS, 2.0 DOHC ZETEC VIN3 MOTOR! I NEED TO REPLACE MY ROD BEARINGS1 I would love to rebuild the entire motor but, it will have to wait till spring! (do 2 NO garage & IM DOING THIS JOB IN A GRAVEL DRIVEWAY) Apon looking at the upper oil pan< I see bolts that go threw the transmission & into the upper oil pan! also the axle, When I remove said bolts that go threw the transmission, WILL IT SPEW TRANNY FLUID? WILL I NEED TO BUY A NEW TRANY FILTER & GASKET SET? There are bolts going threw the tranny, the cat convertor, A/C compressor, a mount/stabilizer 4 the drive axle that appears to be in the way so, im unsure if I will need to pull the axle or not??? Im just wondering if I will loose any transmission fluid when I remove the bolts that run threw the trans & into the upper oil pan & 2nd I see a gasket that goes between the upper oil pan & the trans, I cant find it anywhere except in a expensive rebuild kit (what is it called? so I can possibly buy it seperatly?) 3rd, Are there any other gaskets or O-rings that I will need apon removing the upper oil pan & replacing the rod bearings?(BESIDES THE UPPER & LOWER oil pan gaskets)??? I really hope to get a response from you, considering you are the only person to comment about transmission fluid leaking apon removing the upper oil pan...THANK YOU KINDLY!!!

[@silveraxe1988]

great vid series on this I'm currently in the process of a rebuild on the same engine dropped #2 catastrophic failure destroyed piston and rod scored crankshaft cracked cylinder walls the damage was extensive but 800 dollars in parts and 425 in machine work and should be running again. by the way these blocks can be sleeved as long as the cracks do not extend to the bottom of the cylinder or the top of the deck consult your local machine shop to ensure they can do the work good luck

[@jbocajun1]

I Had the Same thing happen to my 2001 Focus, got 174,000k miles with same noise and and I rebuilt my motor just like you are talking about this past Spring, Thanks for the Video.

[@SoftwareDevJason]

jbocajun1 Cool thanks for watching!

[@jancalipo490]

How much? And are you still driving ot

[@brandonpeterman9964]

i've had 2 first gen focus's both with the 2.0 zetec absolutely love that engine i've heard many horror stories about the SOHC 2.0

[@j.l.daltoin2238]

you are lucky on mine it shared the shared the shrapnel with all the other cylinders with one piston was busted wide open the other pistons had damage it destroyed two rod bearings but did not hurt any cylinder walls cost me 1600 to buy the parts and rebuild it now i've got another one that's at about 120 k just did the same thing but not took head off yet if were like yours in damage i would be so happy lol this 2001 was my retirement car had 43 k on it when i bought it and one week ago it sounded like a scrap yard dropping scrap metal lol i know it was going to do more damage but i drove it home on 3 cylinders anyway lol

[@barryaiello3127]

Nice work there, back in 2004 my 'Scort decided to do the "valve seat boogie", I was at the top of climbing a large bridge when she dropped, the noise was insanely bad so i had it towed home, next day I popped the valve cover off and saw #4 intake had a 20 degree "list". So I rented a shit-box car and began the job, #4 piston was mangled so I just bought a new one, rod looked OK but really, what's the point in saving all that $$ in labor just to reinstall possibly sketchy parts?, I bought a new one. The head was re-done by a local machine shop, he grinded all the crap out of it and installed all new seats/guides. Now came the fun part, here in '04 in FL we had 4 hurricanes slam the state, the 1st one, (Charley), passed right over the house, I didn't have time to do any prep since it had veered way off track, the 'Scort was on jack-stands while the storm raged through, rocking it like mad!. Miraculously, it didn't tip over so the next day I filled all fluids and started her up, then my heart sank because wide-open throttle only produced 2,500 RPM, where did I go wrong?. Since I needed the 12V power anyway I kept starting her over 3-4X a day and she came back 100% to full power, then I figured it out, the machine shop had not properly pumped the lifters up resulting in very little air/fuel getting in/out, drove it for another 35K miles then traded it in in 2006.

[@giovanni233]

the MK1 if my favorite car my ideal focus is a 2004 ford focus ZTW Wagon with a 5-speed manual and the 2.3 Ztec

[@Ilyadyachkov]

Thanks for video from Russian Ford Focus club!

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Cool! You're welcome!

[@TejasToolMan]

happened on my 2000 zx2 @ 35k miles on #3. Can cylinder head shops put in quality work where seats never fall out again? About to dig into mine finally after all these years of it sitting in the garage lol

[@ryantaylor3345]

Happened to me to 76000 miles on the engine the car was handed down to me from my mom for a 2nd car btw I'm a Chevy guy what a bunch of crap Ford really!!! Great veido I'm going to have a mechanic do the work but I'm glad I found your video now I know what is going on with my Ford

[@caseyklauburg8896]

The same issue affects '97 and newer Escorts with the same engine. I had a '97 that made it to 232,000 before it died. Ended up swapping the entire engine (had block damage because I was driving the car when it let go) courtesy of a wrecked Escort that had the engine rebuilt to fix it.

[@inventorup3956]

Next time you have to remove a stud put 2 nuts on the stud and tighten them to eachother then with a wrench turn the inside nut and it will come out clean, then remove the nuts and your good. No need for vise grips.

[@Bewefau]

I think that's what happened to mine but in cylinder 3. I had a miss fire. I though it was the spark plug so changed that. After he was changed car shook like hell after i drove it for a little bit. Than the cylinder 3 froze shut.

[@Reesetrain44]

what surprises me is that the engine im working with has 251050mi but only has a blown head gasket ,or hoping thats it in a 1999 ford escort

[@kidrock098]

Just hit 170 000 miles on my 2004 Ford Focus SOHC 2.0 SPI

[@frankmontez6853]

Do you think a timing band that comes loose would bend rods / valves? One mechanic said yes another says no. I need to know. It might be a different engine 2016 Ford Focus SE 2.0 L GDI Flex fuel. Anyone know?

[@Bewefau]

Wait so if this is a known issue. Is this a recall for that issue?

[@JeremyWade3D]

Before you do this...take your cylinder head off and measure your current bore. Turned out my focus had been bored 3mm over and so the STD rebuild kit I ordered with 84.86mm pistons wasn't going to work. I assumed everything was stock and now I have to pay about $1,000 for a machine shop to bore it out and put custom pistons in. :(

[@d.j.9961]

SEEMS TO ME THAT, AT the moment that one drops a valve seat in a spi focus, Would be the best time to switch it over to a dohc! simply by using a dohc head & timing components!!! water pump's might be different? plus u will gain a little hp.

[@austinharding9734]

you can do that and keep the same block?

[@robbcochranitservices686]

I have a 2004 Ford Escape 2wd which doesn't knock or anything but it runs really rough... At first start it runs fine with a light missfire for a few minutes then starts missing all over the place. I'm probably going to rebuild it but I'm trying to figure out where to start first with it. I'm going to check the fuel rail pressure today and check the fuel filter for water... Then I'm going to check the plugs... I'm probably going to go ahead and replace the timing belt just because. But I'm just trying to get an idea if it's common for these things to just "have a bad or warped head" any help here will be appreciated. I'm going to keep it I'm just trying to fix it on the cheep. I figure head gasket intake exhaust gasket set and a new timing belt. Luckily I have a guy in town who rebuilds heads so maybe I'll just pop it off and have him take a look. I appreciate all of the great videos around the tube... If u have a PayPal.me and you email me or post it I'm not against buying someone a beer or two for the pointers. Awesome video!

[@robertartherton3747]

Mine was cylinder 3. Right on the clock 140,000 miles it dropped the seat :-(

[@d.j.9961]

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YA, I have a zetec Dohc motor in my focus. Do the wrist pins need pressed in??? I have to replace my rod bearings & HOPE MY MAIN BEARINGS ARE STILL OKAY!!!??? However, I want to do a full rebuild but, FINANCES & WEATHER IS HAMPERING ME!!! NO GARAGE!!! SO, As I expose the piston rods & replace the bearings, I will want to push them up threw & install new rings SO BAD but, bills,bills,bills!!! come spring time, I WILL REBUILD IT!!! I WANT FORGED RODS & PISTONS SO I CAN RUN A TURBO!!!

[@matthewvorys6471]

Hey SoftwareDevJason , Awesome video series on the Ford Focus rebuild! These vids really help. I am currently doing the same job with the wife's car. I was wondering where you bought your piston rings or what size piston rings you used. LOL I keep buying piston ring sets and all of them have way to much end gap play in them.

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Hey I believe my kit was the Mizumo Auto kit on ebay using the standard size (STD) piston and rings. However, I had some issues with the gaskets in that kit so would probably look elsewhere. Obviously if you had cylinder damage or something and bored the cylinders out, you would need a larget piston set. You may want to track down a bore gauge and do some measuring of everything

[@МаксКуличик]

Hello! Tell me please the name of manual used in your video. I can't find it..

[@SoftwareDevJason]

+BlahBliddyBlah890 Ouch, yeah it happens. Are you going to fix it?

[@jesusrodriguez4645]

Thanks friend you know thanks to your videos repair my focus with the same problem

[@SoftwareDevJason]

jesus rodriguez Awesome thanks!

[@KoruptStatusX]

Would you recommend replacing the parts before this happens? Mine is going through a rough idle right now with around 110k miles on it.

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Hard for me to recommend it on the off chance yours could survive forever. Personally, if I had another one that I wanted to keep forever, I would proactively replace the parts before this happens.

[@d.j.9961]

Ya, I would see about using a dohc head from a zetec focus & the timing parts!!! pay to have the block & head decked (leveled) tho, if it was never overheated< theres a small chance it might not need done(using a good head gasket but, ITS NOT THE BEST IDEA) SO, MAKE SURE THE BLOCK & HEAD ARE FLAT & LEVEL!!! USE A DOHC HEAD & NEW HEAD BOLTS & HEAD GASKET! ME, I HAVE A ZETEC MOTOR WITH A BAD ROD BEARING & LACK OF POWER UNDER LOAD, ON FLAT GROUND, IT RUNS GOOD BUT, PUT IT ON A HILL & ITS SLOW! THEN LUCKY ME, IT DEVELOPED A NOISE IN THE BEARINGS SO I NEED TO REMOVE THE UPPER OIL PAN & REPLACE THE BEARINGS BUT, I WANT TO INSTALL NEW RINGS! ( NOW ITS OCTOBER SO MAYBE I WILL JUST INSTALL NEW BEARINGS & A FULL REBUILD COME SPRING TIME?

[@Bewefau]

Can you give us a link on where to buy a new head or what ever?

[@SoftwareDevJason]

I can't find my ebay history that far back but I believe it may have been these guys: www.shop.headsonly.com/ and more specifically this: www.shop.headsonly.com/FOCUS-20-LITER-SINGLE-CAM-REBUILT-CYLINDER-HEAD-FOCUS-20-SOHC.htm At any rate, do some research on these people and who else provides this service these days.

[@nicholasrobinette5401]

Would the car run if you threw a new head on it?

[@Mimi03asmr]

what was the book you used in your video on the rebuilding of the ford focus and where can i get it?

[@SoftwareDevJason]

+miranda cangemi Hi, I responded to your other comment. This is the Haynes manual. You can get it online or at some auto parts stores. Try to give some local ones a call and ask them if they have it.

[@shaneloveday1769]

I'm at 160,000 on my 2000 split port. I really hope I'm lucky and this don't happen. Thanks for the video

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Shane Loveday Well it has lasted longer than mine so I hope it keeps going for you. If it does drop, it's common enough that you won't have any trouble getting it fixed. Good luck!

[@jancalipo490]

Do you still have it? I have a 2002 ZX5 150,000 miles and I think my head gasket is messed up. Getting the test this week. Sounds perfect just losing coolent. The oil isn't milky and nothing coming out tail but I've had most things replaced so I'm thinking this is it

[@benfouts2164]

I must be lucky my focus made it 245,000 and still running strong I just wanna do a overhaul

[@grand_vacation]

This just happened to mine this afternoon. I'm PISSED! Except I was fifteen minutes away from home so I said fuck it. It's toast. :/

[@prestondarnell95]

Mine has 170,000 miles not very well built engines but awsome cars

[@zacharymongold4431]

how much did this rebuild cost you

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Hard to say, this was a while back. I would say around $400-500?

[@curtismiracle3121]

I just rebuilt my focus, got a rebuilt head on ebay for 200. I drove the car 61 miles and the seat fell out of the rebuilt head.. So much for rebuilt heads.

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Curtis Miracle What seller did you purchase the head from? Every reputable seller I looked into on ebay had something like a 1 year warranty on the head which would absolutely be covered if a seat dropped. This is very odd though since all of them use aftermarket intake seats that don't have the old problem. Are you sure you didn't have pieces of your old seat stuck in your intake and EGR tube?

[@antoniohernandez-zr5bv]

Mine has 187k miles hoping for 200k only minor repairs

[@SoftwareDevJason]

Nice, i hope it lasts

[@cranberyy22]

Awesome

[@d.j.9961]

love how everyone thinks P.B. BLASTER IS THE TRICK TO BREAKING RUSTY BOLTS LOOSE? IN MY EXPERIENCE, ,,GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!! HEAT & CANDLE WAX & REPEAT,,, IS THE ONLY THING THAT WORKS!!! I KEEP MY LUBRICANT SPRAY'S FOR SQUEEKY STUFF. BUT, 4REAL, THE CANDLE WAX & HEAT-WORKS!!!