1998 ford focus 1.8 ?

Question

hi all, i am having problems "finding" 3rd gear.it goes into gear but tricky to do.am thinking of buying but am wary! any one know the problem,if any?? thanks...

Answer 1

Focus never had a 1.8. Been 2.0 and 2.3 that is it. Now onto the problem. First check all of the components that connect to the shifter underneath the car, see if anything is binding. It helps to have someone in the car move the shifter while you are looking. One other thing is if it shifts easy when the car is not running and you can "find" third then it is not any of the shift components. It is something else. Depending on the mileage and how it was drove before you, the gear for third gear may be worn out or the third gear sychronizer is shot. That will require an overhaul of the transmission to fix. Cheap part, but lots of labor required to do. Unless you are doing the work yourself or have a tranny readily available to replace it with, I would not buy it.