FocusCanada Forums

Hi folks. My 2003 5-speed Zetec SE wagon has a weird intermittent problem.

The symptoms have been building up over several weeks. Here is the list:

- very intermittent misfire/lack of power
- sometimes during the misfire, the speedo will jump up from zero to 80 kph or more
- on starting, when I release the key from crank to run position, the speedo will flick up for an instant.
- yesterday, the entire instrument cluster died while driving (speedo, tach, fuel and temp); everything else worked normally; no misfire.
- shutting off and restarting did not fix that problem yesterday
- today when I turned the key to "ON" all the instruments pegged themselves for a second or two, then returned to zero or normal reading (fuel).
- the car started fine and all the instruments are working now.
- jiggling the key does not change anything, whether the car currently has or does not have a problem.

I have no idea where to begin, so I thought I would ask this group to see if anyone has seen similar things.

Thanks for any help,

Bob the Duck Canuck

Number one-check the alternator pigtail. A known issue for the Focus.
Post findings and/or pictures once you check it.

Also check the coil pack pigtail, another common problem.
Look for any cracks or exposed wires.

Old wiring harness issues. Odds are you have a lot of dry cracked wiring around plugs. I spent hours going over the 2000 replacing pigtails due to exposed wiring from age. Can cause all sorts of weird running issues but start with alternator and coil pack plugs first to check and then go over visually anything you can see

OK, thanks guys. That gives me somewhere to start. I will post back after I have a look at things.

Bob the Duck Canuck

I have an update about the problem I was having with my 2003 Zetec.

After reading the replies here on the forum, I chased all the wiring under the hood. Everything checked out OK, and as I removed and replaced each connector, I added some dielectric grease (so I could feel like I was accomplishing something!).

Anyway, the weird behaviour continued with intermittent misfires, speedo flicks, and no CELs.

Until last Wednesday night.... finally the misfire became permanent, and I got lights and codes. There were two codes: P0316 and P0304 (Misfire in first 1000 revolutions, and misfire on cylinder 4).

Today I dove under the hood, and chased the problem on cylinder 4. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the coil pack was not generating a spark on #4.

Luckily, my local U-Pull yard was still open, so I went and grabbed a coil pack (I didn't want to drop big bucks until I was sure of the cause).

Well, except for having a heck of a time getting the four stupid Torx screws out of every pack I found, the rest went well. The car is now running on all cylinders, and pulling strongly.

It is too soon to declare that the speedo symptom is also gone for good, but I am hopeful.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

All for now,

Bob the Duck Canuck

(07-06-2014, 07:27 AM)duckcanuck Wrote: [ -> ]I have an update about the problem I was having with my 2003 Zetec.

After reading the replies here on the forum, I chased all the wiring under the hood. Everything checked out OK, and as I removed and replaced each connector, I added some dielectric grease (so I could feel like I was accomplishing something!).

Anyway, the weird behaviour continued with intermittent misfires, speedo flicks, and no CELs.

Until last Wednesday night.... finally the misfire became permanent, and I got lights and codes. There were two codes: P0316 and P0304 (Misfire in first 1000 revolutions, and misfire on cylinder 4).

Today I dove under the hood, and chased the problem on cylinder 4. Eventually I came to the conclusion that the coil pack was not generating a spark on #4.

Luckily, my local U-Pull yard was still open, so I went and grabbed a coil pack (I didn't want to drop big bucks until I was sure of the cause).

Well, except for having a heck of a time getting the four stupid Torx screws out of every pack I found, the rest went well. The car is now running on all cylinders, and pulling strongly.

It is too soon to declare that the speedo symptom is also gone for good, but I am hopeful.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

All for now,

Bob the Duck Canuck

Thanks for the update and congrats on a good outcome - hopefully this thread helps someone out down the road.

Good Job