Ford Focus 03 MK1 Bonnet Latch / Lock (Cant Open)

[fordfocus2003]

Hi,

**first of all, this topic is specific to those who have a MK1 focus (1998-2005). Most threads and forums i have read for help on this issue, all across google, deal with the MK2 focus from 2005 onwards, and as such I wanted to share my experiences trying to fix my 03 plate UK ford focus.**

firstly, i am one of these focus drivers who has recently gone to open my bonnet (to jumpstart my girlfriends car) and discovered that by turning the key left and right as usual, the bonnet on my MK1 focus would not open at all. slightly embarrassing!

typically, this happened on the coldest week of the year. anyhow, for the last two weeks i have read scores of different articles online, to try and find out how to fix this problem myself but have found that as I tried each of the different methods to get into my bonnet, none of them seemed applicable to my car, which is when i realised i was reading mostly advice for the MK2 focus.

from what i understand the MK1 has the same or a similar issue with the bonnet catch / lock seizing as the MK2 does, where you cannot get into the bonnet using the key. from driving my car to three or four local garages for advice, the consensus was that the only way to get into the bonnet was to book it into the garage, where they would have to either drill out the lock / attempt to take out the grill without breaking it / get it up on the ramps and try from underneath, all of which for me required taking it into a garage and paying.

i did however after a week or so of perseverance, manage to get the bonnet open on my focus, and am now at the stage where i can attempt to fix it my self. out of all the methods i tried the only method that i think worked was to keep twisting the key left and right, whilst pushing on the bonnet and pulling to try and free it. when i did free my bonnet, it appears that the latch / mechanism had seized - see picture below.

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• fordfocus2003
• 19 Dec 2010
• 1

i am lucky as my lock barrel is still working, as when you look from above when the bonnet is open the plastic connector shaft between the lock barrel and the lock mechanism (latch) rotates left and right as per the key movement but it appears the shaft has somehow come away from the locking mechanism.

the cost of a new locking mechanism is £24 + vat from my local ford dealer which i have ordered but now i have to do the hard part and sort it out! the garage seemed fair and offered to fix it for £75 inc. vat and inc. the part, which in my opinion is good for a ford garage (half an hours labour) but as i have zero money at the moment, have opted to fix it myself and swap out the new latch mechanism.

this is the part i have ordered: http://www.fordpartsuk.com/shop/focus_mk1_bonnet_latch_rhd_models_only_2016.htm

to take the top shield and upper grill off took seconds, 3 self tapping screws to prize out for the shield, and two clips to unclip, 2 x 10mm (i think) bolts and a small crosshead screw to remove for the upper grill.

the challenge now is that the two bolts that hold the bonnet latch / locking mechanism in place appear to be crazily close to the radiator. i will take some more pictures tomorrow when i have another go at trying to locate the bolts but at the moment, have no idea whether i will be able to get to them to get them out.

if anybody else has experience of swapping a ford focus mk1 latch it would be really useful to hear your comments. i hope i don't have to take out the radiator!

thanks for reading, and hope this is useful to someone, i will update more as i make progress!

 

[connor7932]

hi ff,
had the same problem, wasn't broke just the plastic X had popped out.i used this link to solve it,and has been O>K> since.hint put masking tape on leading edge of bonnet to save scratching it.

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=98674

and thanks to philgc for his post,


con.

EDIT sorry ff,just seen your post on that thread,still useful for getting the bonnet open though,

 

[fordfocus2003]

thanks Con,

went out just now to have a go, it looks like the latch is definitely in need of replacement, as i pushed the key barrel with a screwdriver so it was displaced a couple of mm out of its seated area towards the lock mechanism. the result was that the shaft went further info the lock mechanism, and although moved the mechanism slightly when the key was turned, did not have the impact it should have done.

wondering if there should normally be that much play though between the shaft and the mechanism, i hope the shaft hasn't snapped aswell.

also bad news on replacing the mechanism myself, i had another look and it appears you can't get to it because of the casing around the mechanism, so would have to try from underneath or release the cooling pack or such. see attached picture...

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• fordfocus2003
• 22 Dec 2010
• 1

the black circle is the approximate location of the bolt (mirrored on the other side) and there's not enough room to get in between the radiator and that housing :[ so looks like i'm off to the garage to resolve unless anyone knows of any other methods. thanks,

 

[joenineo]

This is the ONLY post that I could find wrapped around the bonnet latch problem on a Ford Focus Mark 1.

However, it doesn't quite take things to the conclusion that I needed.

I have recently experienced the same "heartache" with this and was determined to find a way to rectify this without having to resort to the usual response that I, like fordfocus2003, seemed to be getting... from every source that we asked: Namely - destroy the grill and lock housing at the front of the car in order to get the the latch. (I priced the parts to replace all of this from Ford and it was around £200. I'm sure that you could probably get them from a scrap yard much cheaper.)

The good news is, that I now have a solution... and will be taking time out in the next few days to update this entry with my findings/ experience.

Lets hope this helps some other poor unfortunate soul like myself (and fordfocus2003) from having to endure the same nightmare in trying to deal with this problem. (thanks Ford!)

Joe

 

[joenineo]

Right, lets get this out of the way first: Anyone that tells you that you have to smash the front grill et-al in order to get to the latch is talking RUBBISH.

I have just replaced the latch without any damage to the car whatsoever, other than to the defective latch of course. However, had I known what I do now, I would have been able to open the bonnet, extract the latch and potentially free it up again (with copious amounts of wd40, oil and grease etc)

In other words, at NO cost to me whatsoever.

Unfortunately, in order to get to this position I've spent a little bit of money and a large amount of time on it... but, a small price to pay me thinks, if it helps anyone out there who is trying to resolve this issue as well.

So, where to start.

... Lets go back a little.

Like most folk out there, having bought a 2nd hand Ford Focus Mark 1, I was completely ignorant of any key/bonnet latch problems. I did find it a little odd that there was no cable release, like on most other cars that I have owned, but hey, who thinks about these things? ... that is, until things go wrong.

Just to be crystal clear: Up until this point I had no prior knowledge of the latch or lock mechanism on this vehicle. I was a complete newbie on this.

So, on a whim I decided to have the engine bay cleaned. I mentioned this to a mechanic friend of mine after the inevitable seizure happened and he simply rolled his eyes in the manner that said "what did you expect?".

Anyways, engine bay looking "spanky" I drove home and everything was fine. The bonnet opened and closed that evening without issue. No problemo. (or so I thought)

A week or so later I tried to help my father out with a jump start and, a little embarrassing, I couldn't open the bonnet.

I was stumped.

"What the hell?" was as nice as I can put it here.

 

[joenineo]

Fast forward with a lot of internet searching, talking to various mechanics and the local ford dealership (customer service and parts). Everyone told me the same thing: smash the front of the car to pieces!. I'm sure this sounds all to familiar to fordfocus2003.

I thought about this. A LOT. I couldn't believe that there was no alternative to getting to the latch and popping the bonnet. "There's no way to do it" I was told.

After a number of days of trying to brainstorm different ideas (both sensible, and not so sensible), I donned my trusty boilersuit and headed underneath the car. Prior to all of this I had sprayed a ton of wd40 into the lock, hoping to free the thing up. Crashed and burned. I had also consulted the Haynes manual. No problem looking at the latch mechanism - if you have the bonnet open. Thanks for that.

So, first things first - lets see if we can get to the latch from inside the car.

In order to even see the latch you have to unclip a protective plastic cover that is attached between a rail below the radiator and the front bumper. I can only describe these as plastic pop type rivets.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

There are x4 of these. Inevitably I broke all 4, but at about 38p each (from Ford) this wasn't my primary concern.

Once the cover is loose, you can turn it back on itself so that you can get a good look up between the radiator and the front of the car. Use a torch or light beside you and you'll see the latch at the top of the opening The tricky bit now is to get your hand and arm betweeen the small gap that has been created between the plastic cover and the steel rail that it was attached to. You won't snap this as the platic is manufacturing to fold in this way. The gap is about 2", so any body builders out there are going to struggle with this. I have a nice long bruise along the full underside of my arm and a massive graze on my forearm from these endeavors - so be warned!

Ok, now that you can see what's happening and you can now get your arm into the gap, you can feel your way up, to where the latch is located. Be careful of the radiator fins - they are very delicate, and easily damaged.

The latch is connected to the car body by two M10 screws.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

You'll also notice (or feel rather) that the latch mechanism is "smooth". I didn't understand this at the time, and I'll come back to this again later on. However, for what its worth at the moment, this is in essence a steel plate that has been "wrapped" around the latch mechanism.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

The same two M10 screws hold this cover over the latch and fix the entire assembly to the body.


Using a simple open/closed 10mm spanner carefully undo both of these screws. It's not the easiest task in the world and you have to go a tiny fraction of a turn with each movement as you go - to avoid contacting the radiator fins. It's tedious... and this is where you mess your arm up a little. Forewarned is forearmed! - No pun intended.

The reason we have to do this (again, a little hindsight here) is to get the surrounding plate away from the latch. Although the heads of the screws may be rusted, the screws are actually screwed into plastic, so its not as bad as it sounds. Its not like its rusted in to steel or anything. Good news there then.

Once both screws are out you will be able to bend the surrounding plate a little in order to remove it. It will simply drop down and out. Nice.

Important note: The surrounding plate that you have just removed serves no real purpose that I can determine other than to protect the latch from "prying eyes". Again, I'll be coming back to this later on.

You now have a latch that is no longer attached to the body of the car, but is held in place by the latch mechanism holding the bonnet catch in place.

Now what?

 

[joenineo]

As luck would have it, I was able to find a 2nd hand lock and latch mechanism from a Ford Focus Mark 1 at a local scrap yard.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

£15 later and I was inspecting the latch mechanism. My plan was to "destroy" this one in order to discover where the weak points were. However, first off I wanted to have some idea as to how it actually worked - as is.

For those that don't know, there are 2 catch mechanisms, hence the need to turn the key in the lock first one way and then the other.

The first key turn is the most important. This is the one that holds the bonnet in its normal operating postion. ie Firmly fixed to the body. Once unlocked, the bonnet then pops up to the 2nd catch position. This is the one that on a 'normal' car, you can put your hand between the car body and the bonnet and release the catch manually, thereby allowing the bonnet to be lifted.

No such luck on the Ford then, as you need to turn the key in the opposite direction to release this one.

Not quite true!

Once the bonnet has been released from the first catch, you can get your hand up to the latch (from inside) and move the 2nd catch out of the way. A little tricky perhaps, but unlike the first catch, there is no internal "locking mechanism" that prevents you from doing this. This will be clearer later.

However, if in doubt, pop your own bonnet and try it sometime - You can use a piece of rod or a screwdriver in the catch to try this.

I did.

Back to the scrapyard latch then.

My thinking was fairly straightforward: Locking and latch mechanisms work on some form of pivoting. So, destroy the pivot, and the mechanism should fall apart.

To this end I found that the bonnet latch on the Ford Focus Mark 1 has three pivots. Two of these are accessible from inside the car, but the top one isn't. Lucky for me that you only need access to the bottom two.

HOWEVER, the latch does have a weakpoint - one which I'll get to later - but first, I'll take you through how I got mine off.

Taking a dremel tool with a stone wheel on it I ground off the bottom two rivet heads that you can access from inside the car.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

Once I had ground off the heads I could see that the steel back plate came away from the plastic surround fairly easily and, as I guessed, the latch mechanism twisted and fell apart.. thereby releasing the locked bonnet catch. Success!

(This is a picture of the one that I took off the car)

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

But. Hang on ... that's all well and good when you're on a workbench with lots of access and you can see what you're doing. True. It's a different story when you're navigating small areas with a high speed dremel in one squashed up hand, trying not to damage anything else and going by "feel".

Difficult, but as I have shown - it is doable. There is however another way. Yes, yes, we'll get to that in a moment.

Anyways, once both of these privot pins were successfully ground off, from the latch in situ on the car, I was able to use a longish flat screwdriver to "pop" (or twist) the metal plate from the plastic housing, as I had done in the garage earlier, and the whole latch mechanism fell apart. The bonnet was now free and easily moved up and located in its open position using its rod stand on the LHS.

 

[joenineo]

Ah!, but here's the best bit.

Once I had done all of this I figured that there must be an even easier way in. I mean, why surround the latch mechanism with a steel plate. It's not supporting anything at all. In fact, it looks more of a hinderance than anything else .... UNLESS ... its protecting something.

Having ground off the 3rd pivot pin from my scrapyard "test" latch I could now gain complete access into the inner workings of the latch... and lo and behold, there was the "access" point that I was looking for.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

(internals in the "open" position)

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

(internals in the "locked" position)

At the bottom of the latch, is where the lock connects with the latch via a steel shaft. This shaft is inserted into a cross shaped recess.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

When the shaft turns one way (anticlockwise from the front on my car) there is plastic lever that moves the steel locking "catch" out of the way, thereby allowing the bonnet to pop up to the next position.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

(internals with a screwdriver operating the "key" mechanism)

Inserting a small screwdriver between the plastic lever and the steel locking catch would therefore have the same effect as the normal key operation.

Ta-da! ... Eureka moment.

The bottom of the latch that you are looking at from under the car is made of plastic. Lets assume you either don't have the surrounding metal plate in place or you have already removed it (by removing the two M10 bolts).

Now, using the nib of a hot soldering iron, simply bore a hole through the plastic at the location shown.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

This will allow a small screwdriver to be inserted into the latch from underneath the car.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

A slight twist of the screwdriver or leverage towards the drivers side will then release the latch.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

No grinding or dremel required. In fact, you won't even have to replace the latch (if you can free it up with a good soaking etc) as you won't have damaged the internal mechanism at all.

I'd like to think of this as the back-door entrance... and thinking about it, someone at Ford must have known about all this - hence the steel surrounding plate - which hinders tampering.

I'd also like to think that the majority of us would pre-empt this situation NOW and take the latch off, throw the steel plate away, and bore a nice neat hole in the plastic .. just in case... but I know we won't. That'd just be too much hassle. (lol)

For the rest of us, that don't take this route, there is a at least a one hour task ahead of you to rectify this situation.

In all probability, it won't cost you a damn thing. (other than perhaps those plastic "rivets") ... and that's well cool in my book.

One sore arm and £45 later (as I had to buy a brand new latch from Ford due to time constraints) you all now have the answer to this problem.

NO real damage to your car.

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• joenineo
• 26 May 2011
• 1

(new latch in place)

If you've found this entry then you're on the right track!

I wish you all the best of luck.

It can be done.

If I can do it, anyone can.

All the best.

Joe

 

[Mjd1]

Followed joenineo's advice and hey presto one open focus bonnet. Can't thank you enough. No cost to me at all, zero damage to car. Didn't have a soldering iron or any tools like that so just hammered a screwdriver through the bottom of the lock casing where you specified and worked a treat. Going to clean the lock up now and see if I can free it up a bit. Thanks again joedineo, big help.

 

[joenineo]

Brilliant!

Nice one Mjd1. I'm very happy to see that my post has helped someone else out - especially the "no cost" aspect. Congrats.

Kudus to fordfocus2003 though for his initial post, which gave me the incentive to post my own 'solution'.

Joe

 

[fordfocus2003]

Nice one joenineo, so good to see your solution, if I hadn't have been lucky enough to have it just open with poking around you're post would have been invaluable. Plus if it happens again in the future I know where to come!

Biggest advice to anyone who's not yet had the experienced the issue is to keep it greased then it hopefully won't seize up in the first place. (well, that's why mine failed anyway!)

Good luck all

 

[rob2013newbie]

Many thanks for all those who have posted. I got the dreaded problem over the weekend and your postings gave some excellent ideas to try. I have an alternative solution which worked for me (but does rely on the fact that the problem may be with the key and not the catch).
Symptom: Key would turn slightly to the left but not normally enough to release the first lock. After hitting the bonnet a few times and after about 15 mins the lock suddenly turned enough to open the bonnet.

I didn't have the tools or time to replace the catch (which I assumed was faulty) and took car to local garage. Mechanic suggested that catch may be OK and suggested trying another key as my main key was wearing low - although no problems starting the car.
Managed to find the spare key and sure enough it opened the bonnet every time.
Took the good key to a Ford Main dealer and got a replacement key for £8 !! As it was a horseshoe design they just replaced the metal part and not the whole fob saving ££££££s.
This may be a possible solution to those who have not actually got a broken catch. Good luck all.