Tom's TDCi Titanium X...

[Toms306]

Because no one would straight swap a 2.0 for a 1.6 lol. Plus it's pristine inside unlike most, and I like the xenon's and non-st full leathers that are about as abundant as unicorn shite in this age focus. If I could afford to buy a 2.0, swap the best bits over and sell the 1.6 I would, but they're not 306 money unfortunately haha!!

[Toms306]

Random drive out today, stopped by to collect some depleted uranium for the flux capacitor and grabbed a pic...

[C2K]

Ah, Sizewell. One of the best units in our fleet that.

Tis on outage at the minute so you might be able to blag some depleted uranium or even fresh stuff. :p

[Toms306]

Your fleet? Golf, Rallye, Mini, Nuclear power station...

I was amazed how close you can walk to it on the beach side, seen it several times from Thorpness and Aldeburgh but today was the first time I realised you could walk right behind it, so of course I did lol. Seems slightly less dangerous if it wasn't even switched on though, thought I'd have to keep checking for an extra finger or eye appearing.

[C2K]

The Alstom fleet, now GE of course, it's a GEC steam turbine of nominally the same architecture as the one I led the rebuild for in South Africa. If you look on EDFs website you can see its offline for planned outage.

[Toms306]

So, decided to service the Focus today. Couple of weeks early but I'm fed up of the parts box in the way lol.

Ordered this lot from ECP for about £40 iirc, they've always got deals on lol. Not sure what the screenwash will be like but the Halfords Berry flavour stuff just doesn't seem to shift bug splatter which is annoying this time of year. Decided not to go with the fuel filter this time as they are ridiculously expensive on these! Plates were from ebay for £18.75.



Not sure where all the oil has gone in 6k but that's all that was left lol.



Rotated tyres front to rear as I like taking corners briskly and have taken the edges off the fronts lol. It's got a bit annoying slipping a wheel when planting it off wet roundabouts lately. They've done about 12k on the front though so done well! Proxes and Rainsports were more like 8k on 306s!





Only thing I did notice is they've all got some cracking in between the treads. Is that normal for a year old premium brand?



Air filter was quite dirty for 12k tbh, was thinking about leaving it this year but glad I didn't. Not entirely sure how the leaves got through the intake ducts either lol.



I also did a 'proper' service compared the usual rushed filter change! All the bushes and BJs seem ok and no snapped springs. Bit odd as I've been getting some horrible vibrations through the car recently, cant pinpoint a specific time where it happens though. Only thing I did find was the top engine mount has leaked and does look like its dropped a bit - seems to be dealer only though and pretty expensive so not sure how common a fault it is? Also the turbo still has the same play it did when I bought it (tiny bit without oil) and the injectors haven't blown the seals yet.



And the plates, the old ones had done 18k but started falling apart with the jetwash so replaced those. Some of you will spot where I dropped the damn things!







Had a wash yesterday so is all set for summer drives now.

[Magenta Sunset]

I thought nukiller sites didn't like 'tourists taking pictures'?

[Toms306]

Oh really? Well there haven't been any guys in black suits and dark glasses come to see me yet!

[cully]

but men in white coats yes?

[Toms306]

Yeah the ones in white coats keep offering me a lovely padded cell.

[Connor]

Tom should of gave me a shout again for parts. You only need to change the air and fuel filter every 37.5k

[Toms306]

Tbh I don't want to hassle you for just a couple of filters lol. Already buying oil at ECP so thought I may as well grab those too!

Might have to ask how cheaply you can get that top engine mount though lol...

I know Ford only recommend changing the fuel filter every 37.5k but a lot of people on the Ford forum have problems with them long before that, jerking, hesitation, cutting out etc that all seems to be cured with a new filter. The recommendation over there is 12kish for fuel, with 6k oil changes on the DV6. I'll leave it until I start getting problems though as they are so expensive. Also found out that the Mk3 uses a different filter which is far cheaper, kinda annoying lol!

[ConorTRG]

Fuel filters shouldn't be that dear for them must actually check has yours the square box or the round one with 3 torx screws holding it?

Also the interval for filters varies on fuel quality and air quality so 37k is way to long for some

[Toms306]

It's the round metal one, like 50 quid lol!!

http://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/ford_foc..._c_559.htm

[DeeTurbo]

Can you not modify yours Tom to take the cheaper filter?

[Toms306]

Can you not modify yours Tom to take the cheaper filter?

I have wondered that. Only found out about the cheaper filter last week so not looked into it. I guess if it was possible it'd be a common mod by now though. I'd also like to add a hand primer permanently into the system like they did with the 1.4 diesels!

[Connor]

Different filter on the newer focus, with it being a DV5 engine

[Toms306]

Been getting some odd vibrations and rattles upfront this week, didn't think the leaky mount could get any worse but looks like it's definitely dead now lol.







Slightly worried about changing it tbf. Someone on the Ford forum had their cambelt done (mount needs removed) it wasn't refitted properly and their engine fell out on a speedbump...

[Dum-Dum]

The nuts are nylocks so maybe consider replacing for brand new nylocks and do it up to the correct torque and it shouldn't be a problem.

[Toms306]

We 'think' the problem they had was using an impact ratchet on it, pulled out the studs with the nuts, then when they buzzed it back in the studs didn't go in as far as they should and the nuts span further along the stud.

I'm hoping using handtools shouldn't be able to mess it up lol.

[Toms306]

So the new mount turned up today...they're made in France, no surprise it failed then.



Old vs new



Fitted.



Easiest car job I've done for a while lol. Just annoying I had to jack it up first to drop the undertray so I could get a jack under the sump lol. Also one nut did wind further down the stud so good job I was keeping an eye out for that lol! Quickly corrected it and torqued the nuts to 80Nm. Hopefully that's made a major improvement to the drive as it's been awful the last few days with a heavy pull away judder! Not driven it yet though lol.

[Eeyore]

Looks good. Glad you had one easy job today!

[Toms306]

So, boring update, satisfying mileage milestone, MPG still shite.



But I've also finally replaced the broken dash cam after a few dodgy moments recently! Chose the Wedge cam with a capacitor. Wanted something that didn't hang under the mirror and this fits perfectly. The triangular cable tidy above it seems to not be winding me up so far but that may go in the future and run the wire with the mirror wires.

[1616six]

What's more annoying is that you haven't got the cam sitting flush with the roof lining (I know, dot matrix) could you not have used the extra piece of trim to cover the wire up to the roof lining? I'm sure they come with another piece of plastic trim.

[Toms306]

That is the extra trim... The cam itself is square, the huge triangular thing on top is the cable tidy.

As I say its not annoying me atm as it's not in my vision like anything under the mirror. But if it does get annoying I'll just run the wire behind the mirror.

[Toms306]

Spot the difference...

[Frosty]

Wind deflectors and your mirrors folded in

[Toms306]

Lol, didn't notice the mirrors myself.

Bit yeah wind deflectors, never really liked them but seen a few at shows and meets this year which have changed my mind lol.

Amazingly it's coming up to 2 years of Focus ownership so I've bought it an anniversary present which will be fitted soon.

[procta]

looking good tom, you need to have a takeaway to celebrate 2 years owner ship! even if its a bag of chips

[Eeyore]

yep mirrors folded... have you fitted the present yet?