Here's How Ford Is Fixing The Head Gasket Issue On The Focus RS

Ford has now issued a recall notice for the Focus RS, with all owners getting at least a new gasket and potentially a new cylinder head too

It’s finally happening: Ford has issued a recall for the Focus RS related to the car’s well-publicised head gasket failures.

The issue was first thrust into the limelight a few months ago, via a huge Reddit thread with myriad contributions from disgruntled owners plus a similar post on the FocusRS.org forum gaining motoring media attention worldwide. At the time, some owners reported waiting as long as six weeks for replacement parts.

Ford did issue a statement seemingly acknowledging the issue and said it was “working on a repair for all customers,” and now, nearly two months on, we know exactly what it’ll be doing.

All cars built between 3 August 2015 and 6 July 2017 will be recalled. A recall notice (which can be seen here, via another Reddit Cars post) is being sent out to owners, telling them that their car will definitely get a new head gasket. All cars will be pressure tested, and where necessary, Ford dealers will be replacing the whole cylinder head along with the troublesome gasket.

The fact that all gaskets are being replaced regardless might indicate that previous claims attributing the problem to the ‘wrong’ cylinder head (from the 2.3-litre Ecoboost Mustang engine, which has small but crucial differences) being fitted to the RS could indeed be correct.

The claim centres around a hole on the Mustang version of the gasket, which shouldn’t be there on the Focus counterpart. This - along with a little V-shaped depression between the tops of the cylinder bores - apparently leads to coolant stagnating and cause cylinder head damage.

Ford did not comment directly on the ‘wrong gasket’ claims when asked, but the firm did give us the following statement:

“Owners of 2016-17 [model year] Focus RS vehicles are being offered a free inspection and repair, regardless of warranty or mileage status, for concerns of white exhaust smoke and/or coolant consumption stemming from an issue with cylinder head gaskets. Ford dealers will test the cooling system, replace the cylinder head gasket and may replace the cylinder head, as required, at no cost to the customer.”