YACT > What's wrong with my ford focus

[The Stigenator]

My 2000 ford focus has started to give trouble of late.

its mis firing. I took it to the shop, its right now sitting there, the guy is going to look at it. He thinks a valve is sticking or something.

The system is not throwing a code, so i dont what it is. this is the problem.

Problem: When the car starts (mostly when warm but also when cold) it starts up like its running on 3 cylinders. Looks like cylinder 1 is misfiring. It goes away after a few starts and it starts normally and runs normally. I thought it might be an injector issue or a fuel pump issue or a coil pack issue. The plugs and wires were changed about 10K miles ago and it had its 120K service about that time (its at 130600 right now). The computer does not show a code. When the car doesnt start sometimes it struggles to start liek its not getting fuel.. so something is up. I dont kwno what it is.

I've asked him to clean out the injectors and change the oil (since it was due) but i dont know what else might be the issue. Any ideas?

 

[akubi]

this is too easy...

 

[Ilikepiedoyou]

Originally posted by: akubi
this is too easy...

care to enlighten us....

 

[K1052]

The last two words in the thread title seem to be the root of the problem.

 

[eLiTeGoodGuy]

Maybe because it's not eLiTe enough

 

[deadlyapp]

You can pull the plugs, see if they're sparking, you can pull the plugs and see if fuel shoots out of the cylinder when you crank, a compression test will tell you if there is a valving problem,

 

[The Stigenator]

no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

 

[swtethan]

try... honda civic 161k miles 0 problems

 

[SketchMaster]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, ect..

 

[evident]

try 88 nissan stanza, 250k miles, 1 problem - had to replace gas line due to hungry squirrels

 

[BoomerD]

The Ford Fvckus was well nick-named...

There are way too many possible causes of the symptoms you describe. Bad injectors, bad fuel pump, clogged fuel filter/line, bad distributor or components...

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

It's a Ford, that's your problem.

 

[BoomerD]

Always remember Murphy's Law #4:
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.

 

[Unheard]

Originally posted by: SketchMaster

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, ect..

Please foreign cars != quality any more.

 

[TUKIN18S]

Could be fuel filter, coil pack, etc. It's hard to diagnose over the internets

 

[SketchMaster]

Originally posted by: Unheard

Originally posted by: SketchMaster

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, ect..

Please foreign cars != quality any more.

U.S cars can run on rice wine now?

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: Unheard

Originally posted by: SketchMaster

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

Honda, Toyota, Suzuki, ect..

Please foreign cars != quality any more.

It never really did except for a couple of brands.

 

[TreyRandom]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

120,000 isn't much at all. My Nissan Altima is at 150,000 (which also isn't much at all) and going strong. Just got new tires... I'm gonna keep driving it until the wheels fall off of it. Which isn't likely to be soon.

I've had Fords before... two Escorts and a Mustang. That said, I wouldn't own a Focus.

 

[desy]

Funny my colleagues Acura 2003 with barely 30K miles on it was running like dogsh1t and required a $500 sensor in the throttle body to fix it. Seems you can just can't change the sensor you have to change the whole assembly . . .
Don't get me wrong first new car I bought was a Honda but indestructible they are not.

Back to topic, my buddies 2001 Focus needed a fuel pump, it was a recalled warranty item for the Ford's and it pretty much had the same symptoms as yours. . .

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
The Ford Fvckus was well nick-named...

There are way too many possible causes of the symptoms you describe. Bad injectors, bad fuel pump, clogged fuel filter/line, bad distributor or components...

Yeah but it should be throwing a code.
Mis-fire code if it is a injector or plug, if a stuck valve then it should thow a code for the o2 would be picking up the un-burnt fuel.

I'm going on a limb here and saying its one of three things, bad computer, stretched timing belt that hasn't jumped a tooth yet or broke, or more likely with that many miles a clogged cat converter.

All in all the Focus really isnt that bad of a car, its not built by Ford just stamped with Ford that year, but with no code to go by its computer related and if not its making it run the best it can with the restricted exhaust. Since it seems to happen mostly when warm though Im going with the cat converter with my money. Restricted cat will make the car misfire, lack of power, and run worse mostly when warm. Since it may not have a sensor in it will not throw a code since all the other sensors are working correctly and the computer is trying to compensate for the restriction

OH and so you all know the Ford Focus is NOT an all Exclusive American made car, it is a Import as well:

The Focus is produced by factories in: Saarlouis, Germany; Valencia, Spain; Santa Rosa, Laguna, Philippines; Pacheco, Argentina; Chongqing, China; and Wayne, Michigan in which the United States Knocked down kits are supplied for assembly to Vsevolzhsk near Saint Petersburg, Russia. Some North American Focuses were built in Hermosillo, Mexico until 2005, when the North American Focuses were then assembled at the Wayne Stamping Plant in Wayne, Michigan. The Hermosillo plant was then retooled to build the Ford Fusion.

Source incase you all didnt want to believe me.
It was first introduced in Europe, then came here

 

[drinkmorejava]

I have an 02 focus with 25k on it, not any problems, of course, it obviously doesn't get driven too much. I know the earlier focuses had a ton of problems, I'm not sue what year they started getting fixed though.

 

[Ilikepiedoyou]

my next car will probably be a ford - they have great reliablity

 

[akshatp]

Originally posted by: Ilikepiedoyou
my next car will probably be a ford - they have great reliablity

Surely, you kid.

 

[thomsbrain]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
no jokes about it being a ford focus.. the car has been reliable for the last 120,000 miles of my ownership.. all it required was oil changes and regular maintanence (brakes, tires, coolant)

try that with anyother car.

my gf put 120K+ on her used '87 Camry after buying it for $400 (i mean she drove it for 120K MORE miles). but she skipped most of the regular maintenance... and most of the oil changes.

so i guess you're right: only the focus actually needs regular oil changes and maintenance to make it to 120K.

sorry, i couldn't help myself.