2013 Focus clutch/transmission issue
#1
05-02-2024, 09:05 PM
2013 Focus clutch/transmission issue
I've owned a 2013 Focus SE for nine years now and had almost no problems with it until a week ago. I was driving through a parking lot and the car seemed like it couldn't shift out of first gear. This continued when I got out in the street. I got back into another parking lot as soon as I could and let it sit for a few minutes. When I started it back up it would shift again, but felt like it was struggling. I had a shop look at it and they told me the transmission was going out. and I was looking at anywhere from $3-6K depending on whether I got a reconditioned trans or a new one.
I decided to get a second opinion and took it to a Ford dealer. They told me the problem wasn't the transmission, it was the clutch, and gave me an estimate of $2700 to repair the problem. Thing was, as I was driving away from the dealer, the orange engine light came on (which it hadn't done before) and again the car couldn't seem to get out of first gear. It literally would not go more than 10 MPH. Just like last week, I parked the car for a few minutes, started it back up, and it was able to shift again. I got it up to a little over 40 before I decided not to press my luck.
Tonight I got really worried though when the car wouldn't go in reverse. I had done some shopping and tried to back the car up, and it wouldn't move. Same strategy again - I shut it off, sat for a minute or so, started it back up and reverse worked. I'm going to be darn careful about where I park the next few days though.
Now in case you haven't figured it out, I don't know much of anything about cars. I've done some online research and read that apparently this is a fairly common problem with 2012-2016 models. I've also read that repairing the clutch should only run about $1K with parts and labor.
I need to make a decision here and quick. My Focus is at just under 80K miles and as I said earlier, I've had almost no problems with it, so I'm reluctant to just up and get rid of it (though a lot of people I know are telling me to do just that.) If anyone else on here has had similar issues with their Focus and can offer some advice it would be very helpful.
I decided to get a second opinion and took it to a Ford dealer. They told me the problem wasn't the transmission, it was the clutch, and gave me an estimate of $2700 to repair the problem. Thing was, as I was driving away from the dealer, the orange engine light came on (which it hadn't done before) and again the car couldn't seem to get out of first gear. It literally would not go more than 10 MPH. Just like last week, I parked the car for a few minutes, started it back up, and it was able to shift again. I got it up to a little over 40 before I decided not to press my luck.
Tonight I got really worried though when the car wouldn't go in reverse. I had done some shopping and tried to back the car up, and it wouldn't move. Same strategy again - I shut it off, sat for a minute or so, started it back up and reverse worked. I'm going to be darn careful about where I park the next few days though.
Now in case you haven't figured it out, I don't know much of anything about cars. I've done some online research and read that apparently this is a fairly common problem with 2012-2016 models. I've also read that repairing the clutch should only run about $1K with parts and labor.
I need to make a decision here and quick. My Focus is at just under 80K miles and as I said earlier, I've had almost no problems with it, so I'm reluctant to just up and get rid of it (though a lot of people I know are telling me to do just that.) If anyone else on here has had similar issues with their Focus and can offer some advice it would be very helpful.
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