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At a local car meet, I had my hood popped open and car running, and a few people told me that I had a rough idle for an automatic. (my engine does noticeably rumble and shake a little at idle)

I was told that cleaning my spark plugs could be misfiring and that I should get new ones. My car is two years old now, and just under 40,000 km. Does this sound like it is possibly right?

If so what spark plugs should I get? I was told NGK coppers were ok... help please!

[sr20det]

i have bosch platinum +4...awsome plugs

[01-yellow-ZX3]

Another spark plug question...

Does anybody have the part # for the stock plugs?

And what cylinder is #1? If you have the hood popped, and you're in front of the car, the farthest left is cylinder 1?

[tdot-zx3]

My auto sounded like a tractor... So i dunno... Its probably people just being paranoid...

[PDW]

my auto also grumbles noticeably as well....its like a mini diesel... my dealer as well as people on focus boards told me to get used to it.

[Focus Is Art]

Do you have short ram? it will course rumble. And go spend $6 and get some 8 guage copper wire at HD and make a few ground wires, it help ALOT.

[Zoom]

I DO have an aem short ram. So you suggest ground wires eh? That would be the cheapest mod to try first I suppose. (before investing in some spark plugs). Anyone point me to a good how-to?

[Raine]

PDW,Oct 13 2004, 09:53 AM Wrote:my auto also grumbles noticeably as well....its like a mini diesel... my dealer as well as people on focus boards told me to get used to it.

Same here. put-put-put-put is all I hear. Car's only got 45,000. Just the auto for ya.

On the same note tho... I've noticed sometimes my car will idle beautifully smooth... other times while sitting in drive, stopped at a light, it shakes a little and drops to about 500 rpm... sometimes it feels REALLY close to stalling... and Dan told me about 2 years ago the auto doesn't stall easily... one time I had to give it some gas cause she was ready to drop... but it's only here and there that it happens... have held off installing my pullies till I figure it out. Any ideas?

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Raine,Oct 13 2004, 06:42 PM Wrote:

PDW,Oct 13 2004, 09:53 AM Wrote:my auto also grumbles noticeably as well....its like a mini diesel... my dealer as well as people on focus boards told me to get used to it.

Same here. put-put-put-put is all I hear. Car's only got 45,000. Just the auto for ya.

On the same note tho... I've noticed sometimes my car will idle beautifully smooth... other times while sitting in drive, stopped at a light, it shakes a little and drops to about 500 rpm... sometimes it feels REALLY close to stalling... and Dan told me about 2 years ago the auto doesn't stall easily... one time I had to give it some gas cause she was ready to drop... but it's only here and there that it happens... have held off installing my pullies till I figure it out. Any ideas?

I had that too Al!!! The rpms will suddenly drop while I was in drive but holding the brake down (redlight). Only my car DID stall. SEVERAL times.

I found that due to the short ram design of aem, the oil spillover tube from the valve cover, was BEFORE the maf on the intake tube, so the maf kept getting gunked up from it. So I removed the line, put breathers on both ends and I have never had that problem since.

[Focus Is Art]

^^ Short ram will course rumble if the car is not moving.
For the oil, maybe is time for you to check the PCV, get a new PCV and the oil will be gone. As for the ground wire, go to HD and get some 8 guage copper and the color of ur choice plus some terminal. The biggest terminal they have is for 10 guage but it will fit. Those should be around $10 plus tax. Crimp it real hard with crimping tool.
wire 1 - from driver side body to (-) terminal
wire 2 - (-) terminal to the metal plate in between engine and air box.
wire 3 - metal plate to left side body
wire 4 - left side body to engine block(optional, I don't see any diff between 3 wires to 4 wires)

Or even better $25 installed from me. :P

[Raine]

Focus Is Art,Oct 13 2004, 03:32 PM Wrote:^^ Short ram will course rumble if the car is not moving.
For the oil, maybe is time for you to check the PCV, get a new PCV and the oil will be gone. As for the ground wire, go to HD and get some 8 guage copper and the color of ur choice plus some terminal. The biggest terminal they have is for 10 guage but it will fit. Those should be around $10 plus tax. Crimp it real hard with crimping tool.
wire 1 - from driver side body to (-) terminal
wire 2 - (-) terminal to the metal plate in between engine and air box.
wire 3 - metal plate to left side body
wire 4 - left side body to engine block(optional, I don't see any diff between 3 wires to 4 wires)

Or even better $25 installed from me. :P

I'll give you $10 and a couple of beers

[2001 ZTS]

Aren't stock plugs supposed to be good for 100,000km? There is no maintenance interval for "wires" to the best of my knowledge?

The wires in my house are for the most part the same since 1936 and upgradedd to only 14AWG & that is 200A service ? Lots of my circuits are still knob & tube.

[CARELESSmtrsprts]

hmm.... I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure you can only get the proper spark plugs for a focus (zetec at least ) from the dealer..... I replaced mine twice now... and everytime I went to buy plugs, no other company except ford made plugs with the proper thread patern to fit in the head. And I did properly check.... this was no slack ass walk around crappy tire looking for plugs... this was a full search... plug manufacturer's web sites... phone calls... looking in manuals... the whole deal.... maybe I'm a retard thou.

and there is a maintenance interval for the wires. 40K. if you look in the ford service packages or whatever... the one with the full tune up.... it says change spark plug wires 40 000km. But what does ford know ? only tiny bits of info it seems.