Focus maintenance important and not so important

As most of Ford owners I have limited budget for taking care of my car and I want to spend it wisely. My car Focus 2000 SE black and it has around 95000 on it now. Very nice car so far, I bought it when it was at 65000. I wanna make sure that I address more important things in my car as far as repair and maintenance concern. I was changing my Oil at Mr. Lube and the guy suggested me that these things need to be done:

1- Cabin Filter replace $80 CAN 2- Transmission Oil change $120 CAN 3- Radiator flash service $70 CAN 4- Fuel system cleaning $90 CAN

I haven't done any maintenance in my car for a while just changing the oil. If I want to go for long trip maybe the tires, break etc should be checked also but as you know all of these need money.

Can you please let me if 1-4 are really important or not and what else is really important to take care of first.

Thanks

Reply to
David McGeorge
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I'd check the Maintenance Schedule book that hopefully is in your glove box.

Reply to
Craig

Amen to that, and for sure you should be thinking about the timing belt replacement, valve clearance check/adjustment, and probably replace the water pump and timing belt tensioner as a part of the timing belt change also. The cam oil seals should be replaced when the cams are taken out for tappet replacement.

I'd skip the fuel system clean, just replace the fuel filter and run a bottle of Techron or Berryman's through the system on occasion. Transmission oil change, yes, (if it's an auto, change the filter, too). The cabin air filter is a piece of cake to change by yourself, it should only cost about $20 CAN. Radiator flush? Just dump the coolant, fill with water a few times and drain, repeat, then refill with distilled water and the proper coolant mixed at the proper ratio.

Reply to
Mark Olson

Hi don´t forget to change the brake fluid every two years bye Jupp

Reply to
Josef Erbs

The maintenance schedule is in the owner's manual. Do any maintenance items listed there that have not been done recently enough (e.g. if something needs to be done every 25,000 km, but it has been 25,000 or more km since you last did it, do it).

Of course, you'll also want to inspect tire pressure and wear, fluid levels, light bulb functions, general condition of various things, etc. and correct if necessary.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

I would suggest you take your car and start a relationship with a Ford dealership service centre. They have factory trained mechanics for your car. You pay a bit more for labour costs, but it's peace of mind, because they see your type of car everyday. If you go, a service rep can print out a the maintenance schedule for you that shows what they do every 5000 Km. The guys at Mr. Lube will always try and sell you more "services." At the dealership they do the service you're there for and if they find stuff they'll let you know. I've been to Mr. Lube, and if they can they'll make sure you pay for that free paper by purchasing other services.

.02$

Reply to
Union Kane

Good answer David. They give me a free newspaper but they charge me $110 for fuel cleaning. Ford dealership is also rip off. I don't know what I should do? I will end up to spent thgousands of dollars and still my car broke maybe.

Please advise what is important

Reply to
David McGeorge

I would never allow a Jiffy Lube to replace a Cabin Filter on a Ford Focus Sedan SE. How exactly is a Jiffy Lube going to replace one of those plastic clips on the cowel (sp? -- the plastic panel above the cabin filter) when they break one? And, it is not that hard to do.

I would check to see if you actually have a cabin filter, and if you don't already have one, in my humble opinion, don't waste your time or money installing one. If you don't have one, Ford puts a plastic cover in there instead.

Jiffy Lube has just found a new possible way to make money, cabin filters, and so they are telling their employees to do things where they sometimes have absolutely no idea of what they are actually doing, the result will likely be that they will break something on you and likely not tell you.

Reply to
Frank

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