Scotty, my mom is 90yrs old and drives a 2007 Ford Focus with about 54,000mi. The ac went out and her mechanic said to repair it would cost more than the car is worth. My question is should I spring for the $800 or $900 for the new compressor and labor, or just let her sweat it out? I mean how much longer before we take the keys away and deal with that nightmare?
Each person's abilities at that age are different. I've ridden with some 90-year-old drivers and it was pretty scary, and their cars have usually been pretty banged up. However some are no doubt OK. Chances are though you will need to deal with the issue of taking away the keys at some point. The question is what other options are available to her? Calling a taxi? Uber? Or maybe continue driving and lease a relatively inexpensive new vehicle? (Of course this is a highly personal family issue.)
Getting back to the AC compressor, the problem is when those fail it's usually a much bigger job than replacing the compressor itself, which in most cases is a part that costs $200-$300. However when a compressor fails internally it will usually contaminate the entire air conditioning system with metal debris which means having to replace most other components as well. (You'll find that the warranty on new compressors requires this to be done.) I would say that if you cannot do the work yourself, the cost to have the job done by a mechanic will easily exceed the value of a nearly 15-year-old Focus.
The 2007 Focus is worth repairing. Those cars had Mazda L-series engines with pretty solid automatics.
Whether you want to replace the AC compressor is your own choice although it should not cost over $300 on such a simple old car.
I remember it being even cheaper when it failed on my ‘01 Meganè. If that’s the price to redo the entire AC system; that’s a different story.
I would let her sweat it out. A/C work can get expensive quickly. It is also not uncommon to fix an A/C component and then discover that another component was faulty. Plus I would not put any money into a Focus. The Focus was a pretty junky car. Even Scotty said so.
Scotty said that about the third generation, the second generation Scotty said the engine can last 200,000-300,000 miles not to forget to mention the Mazda automatics that are actually well built.
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That’s a small Mazda engine that ranks higher then any small Toyota engine. The L-series aka DuraTec HE powers all Volvo P1 models famous for their reliability and the Mazda Miata of that time, during that time the Toyota ZR was recalled multiple times for the valve cover gasket leaking not to forget to mention the VVT issues
But the rest of the car is garbage.
@BillyBob
Sorry friend you seem to not know that:
I’ve manage A FLEET of Focuses! Up to like 8 or 9 at the same time. (I still own the fanciest one of them) If anyone in this world knows about their reliability it’s me.
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All were great from a reliability and efficiency stand point and all were reliable as well.
A focus with 77k miles has AT LEAST another 80k miles of life left in it - of nice, efficient driving. This is just a Mazda3 under the hood.
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That’s why I happen to know, expect for later working as a gearbox tech EXACT model numbers of what’s good and what’s crap, being able to tell you what engines and transmission will blow and what will run and go forever.
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I’m not intrested in talking with people who judge cars by their feelings to a brand, that’s unprofessional and has no place in a discussion that may influence the financial decisions of others.
No, don't put words in my mouth! I never said that I had an issue with Ford in general. Ford actually makes some decent stuff. But the Focus isn't one of them.
@Dan Plus even if the car was a good car I would still tell him to let her sweat it out so it doesn't even change my initial answer.
@BillyBob I’m curious why do you think that’s a bad car.
The best wagons out there that’s for sure, outlasted those damned first gen matrixes
@Dan I highly doubt that.
@billybob
Doubt all you want, but let’s check up on the facts:
The matrix used the ZZ engine, that engine is known for being quite bad. Google the Toyota ZZ engine to see how much they last.
my Focuses used the 1.6/2.0 DuraTec HE.
Also parts for the focus were super cheap from junkyards so I could pretty much run them for almost free. The 3rd gen (still got one) was much more efficient but they did need more attention.
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The focus is a car fleet manager’s dream. Predictable, cheap, and never will stop on the road, the self diagnostics would predict any issues.
The ZZ engine is not bad at all. The 2.4 version was known to burn oil (some of the Matrix had the 1.8 ZZ) but that isn't the end of the world, you just check and top up the oil on a regular basis.