OT - Ford Focus - Now on Engine No.3
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My old man has been having problems with his Focus (only started two days ago, it was running fine until then) basically it runs as rough as a bag of badgers and when you put you foot down it coughs and splutters before the revs slowly increase. I've looked for the obvious loose connectors and split hoses but I can't see anything, we've also replaced the spark plugs but no joy there. It was in the garage yesterday, but they've not found anything either, so I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks

Edited by Rob H on 21st Sep, 2007.

What's the engine?

My lads ST170 suffered the same. Turns out the variable valve timing device on the inlet cam had stuck. Only £470 to fix, and guess who paid!

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

Kid i know has a Mondeo that was doing the same thing (it also towed to start sometimes), He said it was the crank sensor that was loose or broken!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


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Hi,
Had a probelm on a Zetec escort once. When you started it up it would run on 4 cyls for a couple of seconds and then drop to 2.
We found the cause to be the SAW signal from the EDIS module was incorrect and the ECU was killing off 2 injectors, as a "get you home" solution.
Ford technical said the ECU didn't have the capabilty to do this!
Cheers,
Gavin :)

Edited by Bat on 3rd Feb, 2007.

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Heres all the fault codes

http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=9230

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

The plug lead sets on these can and do break down. And start to earth out down the plugs. Especially under load.

Also the idle speed control valve in the back of the inlet can stick. Resulting in bad idle or no idle.

And the worst one is the cat starting to break up.

Hope that helps.

I drill holes in everything..!

Cheers guys, the engine is nothing fancy just the 1.6 zetec. I fitted new leads yesterday and whilst it runs smoother it still bogs down when you open the throttle, I'm wandering if it could be the map sensor maybe?

I'll have a look at the VR sensor as I've got a spare one (was going to be used for my megajolt set up) but I don't think it's that.

make it splutter and then shut the engien off and check the plugs, do they look like ther egoing lean? it "sounds" like a fueling prob but obviously its impossible to tell without the car infront of me.

First thing I'd do is replace the fuel filter, because its cheap, you shouldchange it regularly anyways, and if you hav a blocked filter / failing pump it will help the situation for now :)

that done, if the engien has an air flow meter, get it off and get some induction cleaner in about it and clean all the shtie off it. if you can, try source an identical one from a working car and swap them jsut to check it.

next up, ignition on engine not running and find the signal wire on the TPS check it swings from ~0v to ~5v. these tend not to fail however.

map sensor i wouldnt worry about, these realyl dont tend to fail. as a test engine running at idle, disconect the hose to it, the ecu warning light should light or the engie will go super rich (try giving it a rev whilst your there!)

next up check the temp sensors, wiht a multimeter set to resistance and measure resistance when hot and cold, do this for all temp sensors you find (one in the inlet and usually two on the block/head)

also if possible try get a known good coil pack and swap it out, but if you need to buy one, dont untill you have done all of the above, as the above is free, coil pack's arnt

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Denis O'Brien.

Possible coolant temp sensor failure. Equivalent to driving with the choke on all the time.
Regards
Dave

have you checked the fault codes? The link that dangerous gave you shows you how todo it.

Team Racing

Turned out to be a combination of crank sensor and coil pack on the way out. The garage reckon the failing crank sensor lead to the damage to the coil, I can't quiet see how, but if they're right it could be something to bear in mind when setting up MJ installs.

Rob ... glad you got that fixed but I have another question .....

Why do you have a picture of my dog as your avatar???? I'm sure he won't mind but that isn't his best side ... LOL

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

I came across the picture of you're dog whilst I was looking for pictures of Mr Woo, and it made me laugh, so I made it my avatar. If you want you can have a picture of Patch for you're avatar.

how old is the car? are you having to fund the new engine or are they paying? Do you know how the piston got damaged?

Ouchies, sorry to hear that mate :( If you need anything I've got some rather tenuous contacts with Brunel Ford- I need a wing mirror off them anyways after a run in with some chavs :(

There is no sense crying over every mistake- you just keep on trying til you run out of cake.

I would be looking into how the piston was damaged tbh!

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

The car is that awkward age where the warranty is no more but it's still worth replacing the engine as opposed to writing the car off.

As to how the piston got damaged, you guess is as good as mine, the car is with Ford having a new engine fitted, and I'm living out of hotels at the other end of the M4, so I haven't been able to look at it.

The engine had do about 60k - 70k so I don't think it could have been faulty from new or it would have failed before now, as being an auto it's not really been revved or driven that hard.

My only guess is a sensors or the ECU went and it ran lean and suffered detonation.

My have to say my focus now has 110000 miles on the clock and (touch wood) is still running sweet as a nut!

There is no sense crying over every mistake- you just keep on trying til you run out of cake.

Major up date - Now on engine no. 3

Well the replacement engine lasted a couple of months, however it seemed a bit down on power & developed a strange "over heating" problem. Basically it would run fine until you put your foot down then the temperature guage would rocket off the scale, then within about 10 seconds of lifting off the temperature gauge would drop back to normal.

Neither my farther or I believe the car is over heating as there is simple no way the coolant temperature can rise & fall that fast, we are guessing that it's a senor or the ECU that's actually at fault.

After checking the ECU fault codes (no faults found) Ford's first action was to replace the engine, that didn't fix it so they replaced the radiator, which didn't fix it either, and after three weeks they are now out of ideas.

Obviously this isn't good as we now have no confidence that what ever it was that caused the first engine to fail, has been sorted, as even less confidence that the new engine will last.

Does anyone have any idea as to what's going on or know a decent Ford specialist that really knows their stuff?

stupid question but have they changed the temp gauge/cluster?

when i worked for ford i changed a few of these for incorrect readings.



mikey

sounds more likely to be a wiring fault than mechanical. something must be intermittently triggering the limp home mode

but on a focus it would put the management light on and leave a fault code


mikey

fair dos mikey. you're the one worked for ford anyways lol

Hi,
It wil only log a fault and put the light on if a sensor goes out of range. An incorrect reading still within the operating range could cause a problem but not be recorded....
Live datalogging required to see the fault for yourself...
Cheers,
Gavin :)

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