Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below*

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - Printable Version

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Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - Fingers - 07-24-2005

BACKGROUND: 2000 SPI 5 spd, Bought it in march, noticed a slight stumble on acceleration right from day one, but it was very mild. Didn't bother me much, until it stalled twice in coming-off-the-throttle situations. At that point, i took it to the local dealership to do the fuel pump recall. Apparently, the fuel pump was replaced (Although, I truly doubt they did the work that was on the invoice), and the car was returned to me. On the way home, i noticed the mild stumble again. Few weeks later, it stalled coming-off-the throttle again.

MOST NOTABLY -- The stumble becomes more evident, the lower on gas I am. Below 1/4 tank is pretty much guaranteed stumble.

FAST FORWARD TO TODAY!: I started the car and had 1/8th of a tank. After 5 minutes of driving, I notice something DEFINITELY wrong... THE GODDAMN THING BARELY MOVES WHEN ACCELERATING@%!#@@#^ at ANY low RPMS (can't tell exactly how low), it STUMBLES LIKE A BUCKING BRONCO. If I had coffee in the car today, the interior would be painted DARK BROWN. It is absolutely HORRIBLE, and struggles like a madman trying to get out of the dig. At higher RPMs or cruise its fine. ONLY when the throttle is flogged, or when it's accelerating does it start to give me hell. At idle it runs like a bag of hammers. Pops and misfires could be heard through the exhaust, and you could see the engine bucking.

No CEL, did a code scan earlier -- showed zero codes. Let it idle for 5 minutes, did a code scan -- showed Cyl 3 misfire (although I truly doubt it has anything to do with cylinder 3 in particular). Erased the codes and now i'm letting it sit and cool off in the driveway, at which point I'll come back to do another code scan.

To me, it WITHOUT A DOUBT sounds like the fuel pump. I'm now beginning to question whether or not they even did the recall work, and just said "oh yes sir, everything is done" because I probably wouldnt notice the difference anyway. Regardless, its way worse now than it was when the recall was done.

I called Ford, and they said "sorry sir we only have 3 techs working today and they're booked. the earliest we could have you in is on Monday", which is fine with me -- but I want to conclude whether it's the fuel pump or not.

Any ideas fellas?

*CLIFFS* car feels like its running out of fuel when accelerating in low RPMs, and misfire at idle/revving in neutral. Cruise driving is fine, high rpm driving is fine.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - ZX3TUNR - 07-24-2005

check plugs and wires, check all vacuum lines/pcv. Those are the 1st things I would check.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - ANTHONYD - 07-24-2005

DPFE SENSOR STRIKES AGAIN!

Do a search.

90% of us here have had the same problem.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - Fingers - 07-24-2005

ANTHONYD,Jul 23 2005, 10:38 PM Wrote:DPFE SENSOR STRIKES AGAIN!

Do a search.

90% of us here have had the same problem.
[right][snapback]124646[/snapback][/right]

Dude it aint the dpfe... its WAY too violent to be the dpfe

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - DanielB_ZX3 - 07-24-2005

I'll add my standard "check the coil pack wiring harness and see if any of the 3 wires are broken"..

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - hardk0re - 07-24-2005

- Check the Coil and Wires
- Pull the plugs and check them

Your scanning your car, with a code reader or something like an Xcal2? If you've got a chip or program in there, disable it and see if maybe a CEL lights up. I know with my diablo when I had it in I never got a CEL until I removed it.... :blink:

edit: less gas, more problems....it may be none of what I stated above but they are still worth a glance....

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - ZX3TUNR - 07-24-2005

I had the same sorta thing when I just un parked my car from winter. You step on the gas and nothign happens. Car shakes like a mofo and just puts. End up stalling out. Fixed it with a new set of $12 spark plugs.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - Fingers - 07-25-2005

hardk0re,Jul 24 2005, 06:45 AM Wrote:- Check the Coil and Wires
- Pull the plugs and check them

Your scanning your car, with a code reader or something like an Xcal2? If you've got a chip or program in there, disable it and see if maybe a CEL lights up.  I know with my diablo when I had it in I never got a CEL until I removed it....  :blink:

edit: less gas, more problems....it may be none of what I stated above but they are still worth a glance....
[right][snapback]124681[/snapback][/right]

OBD2 code reader.

CORRECTION: It seems to be happening UNDER LOAD only, because if i feather the clutch and drive very gently, it doesn't really happen at all. Sounds like the coil now.

Tuned radio into weak AM station... at idle, you can't hear popping too much, but while moving, you could DEFINITELY hear crackling when it misfires.

Worst of all, I think the coil is discharging into my VSS, because when it misfires, the speedometer jolts unexpectedly.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - BrooksZX3 - 07-25-2005

i had the same symtoms with my zx3, it turned out to be a bad spark plug wire.

Help! My Focus Runs Like Crap! *cliffs Below* - Fingers - 07-25-2005

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!

[Image: coil1.jpg]

Coil was totally cracked, absolutely everywhere you could think of. Water must have gotten in and frozen and eventually cracked it. I'm not sure why yesterday was the day that it chose to go completely ballistic, but I bought a new coil today, and $160+tax later, car runs FANTASTICALLY. It has NEVER been this responsive or powerful. I thought it was supposed to be that shitty, but now it feels like a brand new car. Couldn't be happier! :D