Sometimes, an Achilles Heel isn’t spectacular. It can be a completely mundane thing that totally destroys the economic viability of fixing a car, whether it’s an unobtainium part or one that’s simply far too expensive. When that happens, a car dies with a whimper, not with a bang, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth talking about. If we’re talking identical replacement parts, a 2005 to 2007 Ford Focus can be financially totalled by a clogged air filter. Here’s why.
An engine air filter is one of the most common maintenance items on any car, because having an engine breathe in particulate matter is generally bad for tight internal tolerances. These predominantly paper filters are usually designed to be replaced every two years or so, and they’re pretty much always dirt-cheap. Figure anywhere from a couple of dollars for a budget aftermarket filter for something like a Toyota Corolla to like $62 for the enormous panel filter in a Porsche Panamera. It’s not rocket science, clean air in keeps an engine happy, and changing the filter regularly prevents it from getting clogged with junk.
Indeed, when Ford launched the U.S.-market first-generation Focus in 1999, it came with a normal serviceable air cleaner that contained a replaceable paper filter. Motorcraft part number FA188, to be precise. Why? Because it works and it’s the right move. Except for the SVT, all Focuses used this filter arrangement through 2004, but then Ford decided to make a change.
While the rest of the world got an all-new Focus for 2005, North America got a facelifted first-generation model that took some of the weirdness out of the dashboard, updated the lighting and styling to look more modern, and ditched the old 110-horsepower CVH base engine in favor of a 136-horsepower two-liter Duratec unit. In most ways, it was still the same great-handling car that Americans had grown to love. Good stuff, except for one infuriating change.
See, Ford decided to implement a lifetime air filter. Huh? Yep, instead of a paper element you could change every couple of years, the 2005 Focus featured a sealed airbox in the driver’s side wheel well, one that was filled with a series of progressively finer foam elements and featured a gauge to display when the filter was clogged. In theory, it was supposed to be good for 150,000 miles of driving, although because there isn’t really a such thing as a one-size-fits-all “lifetime” part interval, you can probably guess what happened next.
Yep, some owners found that these long-life air filters did eventually clog, resulting in reduced fuel economy and, in extreme cases, rough running. However, instead of just swapping out a cheap air filter, a replacement lifetime air filter is seriously pricey. While it used to cost a few hundred dollars, a replacement sealed air cleaner for, say, a 2005 to 2007 Focus that meets PZEV standards now lists for $1,827.83 and often retails for more than $1,500. That’s about the cost of an entire first-generation Focus.
Understandably, the heavier 2008 refresh saw the adoption of a conventional airbox in non-PZEV models, but the story doesn’t end there. Ford also used a “lifetime” engine air filter design on the 2010 to 2012 Fusion Hybrid, and it also caused a handful of issues once mileage really started to be added. As one Fusion Hybrid owner wrote on the Ford Fusion Club forum:
Well recently while driving on freeway the car would shut down on me when going at 70 mph or over. That’s the only thing I could think was wrong with it, not enough air going in through air filter. Decided to get a new one from Ford (comes with MAF sensor already). Took out old one and blew air through air intake tube and it was difficult to blow air through filter. I literally cut the old assembly in half and it was clogged and dirty. My car as over 130000 miles.
Indeed, now that these cars are in cheap used car territory, the lifetime air filter can be a pain in an owner’s side if it clogs. While the assembly for a Fusion Hybrid is cheaper than it is for a Focus at about $456, it’s also on backorder. Not great considering most jurisdictions categorize the air box as emission equipment, and especially sub-optimal when you consider that if a conventional serviceable filter element with a 15,000-mile replacement interval was used, there isn’t really a lifetime parts cost advantage to going with the lifetime filter.
Thankfully, for Focus owners in dirty environments with clogged lifetime air filters that don’t have to use the factory air box to comply with local emissions standards, there is a solution. You can pick up a third-party air box with a serviceable air cleaner on eBay for about $70, and it will accommodate the filter element from a 1991 to 1994 Saturn SL.
Still, this is one of those things that shouldn’t need a solution in the first place. While a dirty air filter probably won’t kill a car, a replacement shouldn’t cost nearly as much as the car’s worth, or even 20 times as much as a typical standard air filter usually costs. Unsurprisingly, Ford no longer uses these lifetime air filters in anything, because a regular air filter just gets the job done.
Top graphic image: Ford
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The post Ford Once Decided That Focus Drivers Didn’t Need Changeable Air Filters appeared first on The Autopian.
