Comments: 1-15, 16-30, 31-45, 46-60, 61-64
To those who are having problems with the gas gauge, this is what we found; there is a wire under the back seat (bottom) that goes to the sending unit. It gets rubbed and shorts out the fuel gauge. Thank god my husband is a mechanic; he insulated the wire with black tape and it runs great.
My daughter has a 2001 escort zx2. We bought it used, it idled poorly (the whole car shook) and we replaced the spark plugs and it made a huge difference.
I have a 2000 ZX2 purchased new in 1999, now with 65000 miles. At 39,000 miles, the serpentine belt had to be replaced. At 44,000 miles, the auto trans was replaced. At 50K, the trans was overhauled again, and the idle control valve replaced. I have the excessive vibration, which I suppress by turning off the air cond until out of stop and go traffic. I have not had the car die on me yet. I've babied this car because of all the transmission problems with double maintenance to eliminate problems before they cause larger problems, but by reading all your comments, I plan to trade this off before it hits 80,000 miles. Thanks for the input.
I have had such massive problems with my 2000 Ford Escort ZX2! I got on here to determine if anyone else has had the problem that is currently occurring (the car is shutting off by itself).The car has had diagnostics run on it 3 times and nothing is showing up. This is just the icing on the cake of problems this car has put me through in the last 2 years, mainly he last 6 months. I was wondering if anyone else was considering a a class action lawsuit against Ford? If so, please respond. This car has endangered both me and my 3 year old for the last time.
I just recently got a 2001 ZX2 auto transmission. It has 144,000 miles.
The car idles terribly, like everyone else has said! I don't know much of what happened before I bought it, but the timing belt it cracked.
The day I bought it, I had to drive it home and it was way in the cities, but in never shut off when I was on the freeway or when I'm slowing down to stop. I hope I don't run into too many problems with it, cause I don't have money to be forking out and I NEED a car for college!
I got a '98 model ZX2 I bought from my buddy. (he bought it new) It's been the best car I've owned. I live in the northern U.S.. Rough idle is usually intake problems and mighty makes a guaranteed intake cleaner.
As far as a speed sensor, it's on top of the tranny and really easy to replace.
B.T.W. NEVER trust every dealership and their service shops, I work at a full service garage as a electronic mechanic and most people seem to complain about our local dealers and their B.S. repair comments.
Don't give up on the ZX2's, they are good cars and easy to repair.
I bought a 2000 ZX2 in August, and I hate it! It hesitates like it has a bad fuel filter, but changed that and it's not the problem. Seems to get worse when I turn the heat on. Also keeps A/C on all the time if the temperature is turned to cool - no outside ambient air temp. The worst is that I'm getting the 2ND clutch put in the car today, and it only has 101K on it!!?? The 1st time it was replaced was at about 54K according to previous owner. It's a nickel and dimer if I've ever seen one, and I've driven a WHOLE lot of 4 cylinder basic little stick shifts. I'll buy anything but a Ford in the future!! Especially after reading all these comments! I guess I should consider myself lucky.
The 'scort' is a good little car for what it is... cheap basic transportation. Most problems with the car are directly related to owner error, such as poor maintenance, seems that people buy a cheap car and drive it with little to no thought of its well being, and then when something goes wrong they blame the car. Transmission problems occur about 80k for most everybody... might have something to do with the fluid change NOT being performed at its regular interval of 50k, there is no filter only a screen, this is very important.
Most don't think about maintaining a vehicle but how many forget to eat? Or drink? Or go see a doctor when we have a problem? Yet don't give the same consideration to our own cars.
My Escort has 247k miles with no major breakdowns, only a strict maintenance schedule. Give the little car a break... after all it was the cheapest four wheel box on the lot to start off. If you wanted a high priced gas guzzlin Sherman Tank, then that's what you should have bought... not the entry level rattle box.
Well, my car is very maintained and just hit 99,000 miles. I live in Dallas where you have emissions to deal with. Check engine light came on about 4k miles back, but had no effect on the drivability of the vehicle, and 2 different mechanics said it was just a sensor firing wrong.
Well at 98k miles the timing belt started slipping (one drive home I felt it, pulled it over and had it towed) While getting the timing redone, I tried getting check engine light off. $1500 dollars later still no success. Dealership says it's either mass air flow sensor or variable cam timing (which of course is tucked away inside of the engine block) now, after they listed off 6 other things I have gone through myself and redone.
A few MAJOR things about this vehicle.
Never get into a car accident. I know someone who did and it's surprising that they lived, even though it wasn't a high speed collision.
The radiator blows.. it will be replaced before you hit 50k.
Don't BUY an automatic. The guy I know who wrecked his (deer in the road, not his driving skills) was in and out of the shop for it. My manual has never been an issue.
The idling is controllable. Mine was motor mounts.
Ac has never been an issue for mine, guess I was lucky.
And last but not least, get oil changes FREQUENTLY. This car does not live up to the 3k mile rule. I do mine every 2 months (around 2k miles) and even then it starts running a bit sluggy towards the later. I drive in Dallas polluted air so that may have something to do with it but it's synthetic oil all the way. Never had a problem with the engine block, just stupid sensors.
We bought a used 2000 Escort ZX2 for my daughter, and it has been a very reliable car, except for the following problem that is unusual. When you operate the car while it is raining, and drive thru a puddle of standing water, the accessory belt flies off.
I haven't been able to find the cause, but would love to hear if anyone has had the same problem.
I am looking to get rid of this piece of junk. I have had SO many issues with this car and dumped too much money into it. I found one link that said this car does not and will not last after 120,000 miles (mine is a bit over 116,000). I actually think it might have been on this site when I searched a few months ago.
I have asked time after time to have my car inspected to see if anything is out of the ordinary. I am planning on taking a 5 hour trip at the end of the month and the mechanic told me not too (at least with this car). I have to get new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new fuel filter (would be my THIRD for this car), more power steering fluid, new windshield wipers (fifth for this car), alignment adjustment, new back brakes, new belt (would be second for the car), and another thing I can't even remember. Regardless - those are the RECENT issues I have found with this car.
In the summer I will need to add coolant frequently in order for my AC to work... since for some odd reason, it drains out faster than I need an oil change. I also AGREE with the above statement... I have to change my oil before the 3000 mark or my car eats away at my gas and can't even go over 65-70mph. In fact, I can't even go above 75mph for some odd reason. My car will begin to shake.
I also have had the shaking issue. I was first told it was a fuel problem, then an alignment issue. Found out one of my motor mounts was broken... seemed to solve the problem for a few hours then right back into driving a shaking p.o.s. This is the worst car I have ever owned and I plan to toss it to the junk yard as soon as possible.
Many problems with this vehicle. Very rough idle, transmission jerks upon acceleration, head gasket went at 100000, motor mounts were replaced and did wonders for the idle. 90% better idle. Obviously the stock motor mounts were faulty.
Tie rods weak.
Mileage could be better.
The engine itself is very good. Passes emissions flawlessly.
Ford could have made this car a winner if quality control was followed.
I own a 2000 ZX2, it's funny because all of the problems are the same with the belts falling off in the rain, with the brake lights staying on, to rough idle.
I had the car for 9 years now, and probably invested maybe $2000 into it, at least 1500 for AC which isn't bad for 9 yrs, but the problem I can't stand is the idle, did anyone find out something to stop the car from killing when the AC or heater is on.
Right now I'm stationed in New Orleans and summer is coming around the corner, plus I have a part time job delivering pizzas, which is going to suck if I can't fix this problem. I just put 100,000 miles on it.
I noticed that some of the owners complaining of problems with their ZX2 have purchased these vehicles with high mileage. What do you expect with an old car?
I purchased my ZX2 new in March of 2000. While I was deployed to Iraq the car sat for 18 months. When I returned I had to replace the brakes and tires since it was outside.
About a year ago, I had to replace the outer tie rod ends, but the car had about 90k on it, which isn't bad.
The car has 96k on it now, and is resting inside until I do some body work to it due to momentary inattention on my part.
This has been such a great car that in DEC 08, I searched the web and found a 2003 ZX2 with 32k on it. It has been a great car and now has over 50k.
I have a 2000 ZX2, bought it used with 83,000 miles on it, now up to 164,000. Never had any major problems, just routine wear and tear items.
I had the timing belt changed and have replaced both front wheel bearings. Also replaced one tie rod end (for a total of 20 bucks).
This has been a great little car. I drive it around all day for work.
The only thing that's kind of annoying is the PCV rubber elbow keeps getting a hole in it every few months, but Autozone has one made for Chrysler for like 4 bucks, and it only takes 30 seconds to replace. So overall I love this car.