Please Help! 99 Escort ZX2 is money trap!!!

Our '99 ZX2 has been nothing but trouble. We need help! I know this is a lot to post, but hopefully someone will have the patience to read it. We're at our wits end!

On 9-10-02 (29,183 Miles) $342.30 worth of work was done on the break system: friction relince, disc pads, break shoes, rotor drum, disc hardware (which was broken), shim kit, return springs (weak), bleed & adjust, and bearing pack.

On 6-19-03 (37,829 Miles) we had to have the entire transmission replaced. The cost for this was $1560.07, but since our warranty had just expired, our local mechanic called a friend at a local dealer and he gave us a 'good faith' discount, so we only had to pay 1/2. Gee...what a bargain for a car with under 40,000 miles.

In August of 2003 our A/C went out (44,000 miles). We live in Arizona, so this was a huge inconvenience! However, we couldn't afford to get it fixed so we postponed until 3-22-04 (the beginning of the Arizona heat). The technician found the constant control relay module faulty. The repair cost $375.76.

On 2-10-04 (44,000 miles) as my husband was driving to class, the housing and water pump broke. This is a huge metal piece which the mechanic said he'd never see break. It snapped like plastic! The cost to fix this was $509.47. He has to special order the piece from Ford, who was also shocked that this thing just broke! We kept it just in case someone didn't believe us!

On 2-24-04 (44,428 miles) we had to have the battery and cables replaced which cost $117.58. I know the batteries are normal wear and tear, so we weren't too upset. Although it was the second time my husband missed class because of a stalled car!

On 4-25-04 (@ 45,700 miles) another huge metal piece broke! It was the serp. tension housing and belt. Again, the mechanic said he'd never seen it break before. Again, he special ordered the part from Ford who AGAIN was shocked that this piece broke. The cost of this repair was $195.96.

So far, we have sunk $2321.11 into this car. The worst part is that we still owe on it! During May of 2004 we went to the Lou Grubb Ford Dealer near our home to talk to mechanics there. They said they'd never heard of those parts breaking. We spoke with the customer relations woman who was patronizing and rude. She told us that Ford is not responsible for what happens to our car because we do not go to the Ford Dealer for our oil changes! She said she would speak to the field engineer to see if he'd look at our car. The next day we got a call from her stating that this was normal for the car, and the field engineer denied our request. She told us, "Well, I guess it's time to trade it in. People trade in bad cars all the time". I have issues knowing that some poor soul may one day own this car. We have written 3 letters to the Ford Headquarters, and of course have heard nothing. We filed a complaint with NHTSA, and have heard nothing yet. This car idles like crazy, and it has a hard idle. My husband will not let me drive this car because he feels it's a hazard. I'm a teacher, he's a college student and we can't afford to just go out and get a new car! Can ANYONE give us advice? Are these repairs normal? Has anyone else had this problem? What should we do???

Again, I apologize for making this so long, but I really need help. This is a huge headache, and we're running out of time before the school year starts back up.

hard idle is normal

i have had 2 zx2's (both an auto and a manual) and neither have ever had to go in the shop for any problems, but auto's are known for having problems at and any milage from 10k-100k, some people i know are on there 4th.

trade it in for a manual, that your best bet

Usally Escort are great car's. I own 3 and there the most dependable and reliable car's I have ever owned.

Sounds like you have a lemon...or just bad luck.
I assume it's paid off? You could sell it private party and have a nice down payment for a different car, but there noting that say's you want have problems with a new car.

It could be worse, my wife ownes a grand am with a huge list of problems, some fixed some still there, but we still owe double what it's worth.

Best advice I can give you: Divorce you husband and marry a Ford Machanic. lol
Ok here's some better advice, look around this fourm, it's a large Zx2 only Forum.
http://forum.teamzx2.com/index.php?sid=ac3415463da119447eb2629acb318783

Thanks for the info. so far! We're thinking we have a lemon! It's not paid off though, so we'd have to trade in and pay off the remainder.

Oh, by the way...no divorce...my husband is in school to be a psychologist, and after this experience I'm sure I'll need the free therapy!! :)

I feel for you. Ive learned my lesson. If you want a Ford. For heavens sake buy a crown vic. or a f-150. If you want a mazda buy a mazda. I had great hope in the ford/mazda cars, but ford pretty much ruined there spawn. We started this journey with a 91 tracer. No power a flat turd to drive. At 69k the A/C o-ring conections blew out. There was a service bulliten on them but no help from ford on this one. So I replaced them and it just went down hill from there. Tranny problems and the killer was the whole rear end about fell out of it. The 4 large nuts that hold the whole top of the rear end to the uni-body fell off. This on a car that has never seen more than 5 miles of gravel road. Got rid of that junker and bought a olds delta 88 royal. Gm has its own problems...lololol
I then bought a festiva. Great little car. Put 300k plus miles on it and 2 teen age girls finished the poor little car off. It was the only ford/mazda that was a good car. I would buy two new right now if ford or mazda still made this car. Never broke, normal maint. was all that was required and it ran great!!! Auto Crossed it some and had a blast with it. Then filled with hope we bought a new 99 escort 4 door. Was sucked into fords machine again. All seemed well for about 1 year so I bought a new 2k ranger. Well you guessed it the escort went down hill like a bug sprayed with raid. It has been a constant pain in the arse. Aside from normal maint. its went thru a power steering pump, rear end has tried to fall out of this car. electrical issues, cooling issues, tranny issues and its a turd like the 91 tracer was with more hp. Then theres the ranger. A weld cracked in the cab, top right corner at 2 weeks old. It has labor knocked at hwy speeds since new, the tranny shifts worse than a f-250 ( 5-speed man.) a horrible amount of drive line slop, the front sway bar links have broken. It has a off idei knock that is stupindess. And it gets horrible fuel milage. What got me about this thread was the way ford treated this couple with the complaint. I to have complained to ford and my local dealership, who of which i have bought all four of these cars. All fell on ears of folks that just belittled me and my wife and basicly took us for fools. So with that in mind. I have been wanting a Mercury Marder since I heard they where coming out. After the treatment of ford over the little cars. I blew them off and explaned to my dealer. With this kinda treatment why would I want to blow 34k with them. When ford has treated us like crap over 42k in my last 4 car purchases. Dealer was stunned I wouldnt take del. on the new Merc. they so badly needed to move :) ( screw with me ) So now the moneys going on a Acura TL. Done with Ford. They had there chance. Now its out to work on the dad blasted escort again. Alternator is out on it, or i hope thats all it is. 132k on it and all these problems for a car that does 80 mile hwy comute 5 days a week. Just trying to make it last one more year. We love the Acura and wife wants a civic to replace her tormented escort. There is life after ford!!!

psy

ive got a 93 auto lx ford escort.. buetiful car, runs great, got 259 k km's on her. 4k what we put on it sence we purchased it. The car was likly sitting 6 mouths before we picked it up, everything was mroe or less origenal-the owner just did what was neede dto keep it runin (and i dont mean like take it into ford every 5000km for oil change-he didnt even do thatmuch). So we got our hands on it, me and my father, its now a great little car with 2300 invested into it. So as far as escorts being pieces of shit? it depends were you buy it i guess.. sounds like A) dealer shafted you b) you didnt look at the car throughly enough. How much would you want exactly for that escort psy?

ps.. alternators are cheap.. you can replace them for 10 bucks at the junk yard and minimal labour... AS far as going to a civic.. be careful were you buy it from, do some research. Civics can have just as many problems as escorts, any car can. look before you leap and read the small print of them tehre contracts..

First of all, you need to find another mechanic! Your car should not have needed any rear brake work at that mileage, unless the wheel cylinders were leaking. Even then, replacing the wheel cylinders would have been all that was necessary. Other than that, front pads and maybe rotors should be all the brake work an Escort ever needs before 50K. As far as all those parts breaking, all it takes is a careless or inexperienced mechanic working on your car to damage components that should never break. When the tranny was replaced, I suspect the engine was not supported and the front of the engine was resting against the wheel well, stressing the water pump and belt tensioner, causing them to break. This may have also damaged the motor mounts, causing a car that vibrates a lot at idle to vibrate even worse. Also, unless the terminals were corroded and broken, there is no reason to replace the battery cables, unless again, the mechanic was inexperienced and/or careless and damaged parts during the battery removal. Not only that, terminals can be replaced without replacing the cables. I frequently bolt the old cable right onto a universal replacement terminal through the remaining hole from the broken off terminal and have had no problems to date (knock on wood).

Transmission failures are unusual on Escorts, even when the fluid isn't replaced every 30K as it should be. I often say that Escorts will go 100K with nothing but oil changes, then it's time for a tune up and timing belt. I'm sorry to hear about all your troubles.

broken motor mounts caus excess vibration? ill have to ahve a look at those..

Snow

All cars mention in post where bought brand new from dealer stock. I dont buy used cars and i dont buy parts from junk yards. There are reasons why they are in junk yards. The alernator and new belt for the 99 was $145.00 US with life time warranty from Orilley's. Todays project is to find out why the front end growls so horrible bad. I have a feeling its going to be the wheel/carrier bearings. ( ugh ) Hope its something as simple as it now dosent like the tires and its road noise but not at these db levels. Also it idies very very rough. Dosent very in speed just shakes like crazy. So with my trusty meter and vacume unit i hope to find the faulty smog control causing that. It dosent post any codes but so it goes. :) and the motor mounts are in good shape. OOO and snow the escort will be traded in on the new civic. Out to throw more wrenchs at the escort

Have fun
psy

waste of money... 5 bucks canadian aint much, takes half an hour to pull it and put a new one in...
Dealer parts are the carpyst money can buy.. you can find some real nice things in a junk yard my friend. Sure they might of been in some minor/major collision.. but it can save you alot of money down the raod.

But anyways.. with out first hand experiance of such a noise i can only guess.. Tires outa balence, or the wheel bearings would sound right. Why it wuold idle rough? well theres alot that can caus that.. My 93 escort use to idle extremaly rough before we chagned the idle speed control motor. But id look at the MAS if i were you... maby even the distributer, or if you dont got that take the EEC out and have it checked out at autozone-they do it for free.

forgot about the O2 senors.