Radiator failed on my Focus - can't wait for my LEAF

My radiator fan died on my 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 causing a coolant pipe to burst. At 9pm on the 134 no less. Fun fun.

The car was in the the shop 2 nights and I had to get a rental etc etc etc.

$500 later the car is fixed.

Can't wait until I ditch the ICE for my main commuter car.

How many miles does your Focus have?

Bummer. I feel your pain driving my 1997 Ford Escort while waiting for my LEAF. 160,000 miles and I replaced the radiator many years ago.

Good news is that the Pending status went away finally for me. Delivery in March...

EVs will not be immune to failures and considering that your Ford is 10 years old it's not a shocker that things will fail.

c1987 said:

Bummer. I feel your pain driving my 1997 Ford Focus while waiting for my LEAF. 160,000 miles on mine. I replaced the radiator many years ago.

Good news is that the Pending status went away finally for me. Delivery in March...

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c...1997? Are you sure? Just sayin', what with the Focus only showing up in 2000 and all.

Now I've to get emission check and renew the tabs. Weeks before getting Leaf.

Last year I spent over a thousand $ - getting service done etc.

evnow said:

Last year I spent over a thousand $ - getting service done etc.

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Interesting, I don't remember spending so much for a service on my Mitsubishi that I bought new for the past 4 years and after almost 40k miles. Here is a breakdown:

oil change $40 x 7 (every 5k miles)
cabin filter $20 x 4
tire replacement $800
tire rotation - varies, but now I get it free with new tires
engine filter K&N $50
lost key fob $200 (!) + programming $ 100
car washes $10 x ????

I am due to replace break pads soon as well as engine coolant ($100) and flush the transmission oil ($100), but it's still nothing to be concerned about.

so I don't spend $1000s and I am confident that ICE car would last me for a while, so I don't see how EV would be substantially different, but I am worried about battery replacement if I plan to keep it for at least 8 years...

Is this the first coolent replacement? If coolent has been replaced, are you certain only distilled water was used to rinse and refill along with the new coolent?

One of the things to love about the leaf is less moving parts under the hood. That was of particular interest to a person like me who never looks under the hood because i would have not clue what I was looking at. The service intervals of the Leaf are pretty much non existent. Rotate your tires, add some washer fluid, charge and keep it moving. COME ON APRIL!

the problem with EV that I see is while it has less moving parts, it has more electronics and I don't expect those would be cheap or easy to fix once the warranty is up. I'll probably be shopping for extended warranty, although I never before considered one for a regular ICE car.

IBELEAF said:

the problem with EV that I see is while it has less moving parts, it has more electronics and I don't expect those would be cheap or easy to fix once the warranty is up. I'll probably be shopping for extended warranty, although I never before considered one for a regular ICE car.

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I would expect that the discount on labor (and troubleshooting time) would better than cover the increase in actual component cost. Looking over the service manual, I'm having trouble finding anything electronic that wouldn't require much more than some basic troubleshooting or pulling a code from the OBD connector.

DarkStar said:

How many miles does your Focus have?

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No much. Around 60k. It was mainly used as a commuter.

IBELEAF said:

EVs will not be immune to failures and considering that your Ford is 10 years old it's not a shocker that things will fail.

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Well yes - of course. But there are less things to fail.

cdub said:

No much. Around 60k. It was mainly used as a commuter.

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That certainly describes the regional differences! Here in Portland, I had a 2003 Subaru Impreza RS that ended up dead due to a 2nd failure of the head gasket in 2009. I put over 140,000 miles on it though, used only as a commuter car!

Leaf has at least one radiator

mwalsh said:

c1987 said:

Bummer. I feel your pain driving my 1997 Ford Focus while waiting for my LEAF. 160,000 miles on mine. I replaced the radiator many years ago.

Good news is that the Pending status went away finally for me. Delivery in March...

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c...1997? Are you sure? Just sayin', what with the Focus only showing up in 2000 and all.

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Yep, she's an Escort, last time I looked under the hood. Pardon my typo.

Ya I have wait issues too. My sister who was going to buy my Prius could not wait (I told her I have my Leaf by dec....) and had to exercise other options....so now I am gonna have to get it detailed to sell.
But that ok. Gas keeps going up I will get a better price

c1987 said:

Yep, she's an Escort, last time I looked under the hood. Pardon my typo.

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I was thinking you meant Escort or Contour. I had a 1997 Contour before my first Focus. It was nice that a lot of the controls were either identical, or at least similarly positioned, in both. The Focus (actually both my Focii) also featured the much better Duratec engine.

I can sympathize...I was hoping my trade-in would make it 'til delivery day, but the clutch throw-out bearing died, so I wound up replacing the clutch - to the tune of $1100.00. "A month late and a grand short". Sigh.

ahagge said:

I can sympathize...I was hoping my trade-in would make it 'til delivery day, but the clutch throw-out bearing died, so I wound up replacing the clutch - to the tune of $1100.00. "A month late and a grand short". Sigh.

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$1100 for a clutch?? GULP! What is it....a Rolls?