I have recently purchased an 05 Focus ST170 in performance blue, was a little weary of buying at first as it has covered 87K, but it has had a full service done, cambelt replaced etc.
The reason for my post is I was hoping you could help me with things to check/look out for so that I have total piece of mind that the car is sound. I used to have a Clio Sport 172 and the clutch and gearbox went at around 72K (I no they have much weaker gearboxes and are cheaply made) but I just don't want the same costly happenings all over again. I wanted something that will last me a few years and a few of my mates have ST170s and have never had an issues with them (they are lot lower mileage though). At a glance the car seems in good nic and under the hood aswel, but as I am no great mechanic wanted some advice from some people with knowledge on these cars lol.

Cheers

 

Hi mate if you join one of the Focus forums there are lists of common faults with them. On the whole they are pretty reliable, i have had mine for 2 year although had only done 26K miles when i bought it and had no major issues just the common wheel bearing issues and the clutch master cylinder.

 

and the coil pack (which I fixed today)

 

Which forums do you mean?

Im on ST170.co.uk and Focusstoc any others you recommend?

 

miner is on 86k and the only faults i have are self inflicted. as long as the cambelt has been changed dont expect any more than wear and tear faults. the only mechanical week points are
1 dual mass fly wheel- vibrations through pedal and rumbling, not very cheap
2 clutch master cylinder- leaks fluid on to clutch pedal, cheap and easy to do
3 concentric slave cylinder- gearbox out job, worth changing clutch and flywheel at same time
4 clutch- slips
5 lambda sensors- bring eml and can cause bad running
6 imrc solenoid.- will prevent engine from revving over 4000 rpm

that does not sound to clever but honestly i would not worry if none of the above symptons are there then you will be fine. a friend has a hard driven st170 with 142k on the clock, its onlyt on 2nd clutch and replaced 1 lambda sensor, bar that its spot on. and trust me you will find it hard to break the st170 gearbox, they are tough as old boots.

how do you find the st170 compared to youyr old 172

 

The ford focus owners club forum is very good.

I had mine for 2 and a half years from new and it did 65k and no major problems. Drive shaft was the only thing i think went wrong

 

Compared to the 172 the focus has much better handling, more comfortable, nicer looking and an all round better car.

The clio was slightly better on fuel suprisingly was getting 35MPG! And is quicker 0-60 and top speed. But saying that the ST170 is still decent performance.

But overall if I had the choice to buy out of the 2 again I would defo buy the ST170!

 

I would say with your milage get some decent money behind you for a new clutch and fly wheel as it WILL fail they all do. Had my ST170 just over 2 years and only had the clutch fail with 56000 on, its has not missed a beat the whole time. Expect to pay between 800-1000 for your clutch replacment. I fitted a Clutchmasters lightened 12lb aluminium fly and kevlar clutch when mine went which turned the car into a completely different car to drive. ALLOT more fun.

YUMMY

 

I wouldn't say the clutch and flywheel are common problems at all. I've not heard anyone say that before. Sure, a clutch is a wear and tear part but premature failure is not really an issue.

Most ST170 issues revolve around dodgy idle and acceleration problems which can have a few causes. I wouldn't say it's as reliable as a normal 2 litre focus but it's a more complicated engine so to be expected really. The major parts are very strong, certainly well up to coping with lots of power.

The other parts that can niggle are replacing bushes quite often but they're cheap and you get used to it.

 

you need to look across the st170 pages mate, the clutch and flywheels are there biggest downfall full stop, and the bushes do not normally give many probles, the drop links are not the best though. oh and it is no less reliable than a normal 2.0 focus bar the clutch issues

 

The ST170 clutch fails prematurely, some after just 20k its just a matter of time. The reason for this is one of 2 things
1. Ford fitted in the factory a smaller friction plate to the earlier models, later changing it to a larger one in 2003, this was a recall in the USA but we never got the recall.
2. The dual mass fly wheel, the bushes on the flywheel wear then causes movment which causes the clutch to slip, or you get a horrible chatter sound like your slave bearing is foobar but its actually the two plates of the fly hitting eachother.
When i removed my chattering flywheel it was in a right state im suprised it stayed in one piece. You are in a very small minority if you have not changed your clutch by 60K.
It WILL fail and the replacment parts are VERY expensive

 

thats great news mine 02st on 58k so far only had change rear lambda, So can i expect clutch to give up anyday now although did have my eye on a exedy clutch and flywheel not that cheap though any other good kits out there

 

it wont just burn out it will start slipping gradually like any other car, i think its down to luck rather than judgement

 

My clutch went at 72k, the cat is knackerd and the manifold is blowing, other than that she's a peach

 

I import all my tuning goodies including my clutch from the states. It saves a few pennies even with import tax (if you get caught).
I buy all my stuff from William at Central Florida Motorsport. So far i have imported the Clutchmasters Stage 3 clutch, aluminium fly and slave cylinder, CFM short shifter, CFM Exhaust Cam Vernier, CFM underdrive pulleys and my complete set of rear Prothane bushes. Usually it takes 3-4 days for the stuff to arrive in the country, then it takes over a week to get out of customs, sent to courier and for the charges letter to be sent out. If you allow 14days for delivery you will never be disapointed.
Pumaspeed make a HUGE mark up on CFM stuff.