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What's wrong with my Focus?!
missingink
Posts: 1,204 Forumite
in Motoring
Been having a few problems with our car of late & was wondering if anyone might have any ideas as to what the problem may be & cost to fix.
It's a '99 1.8(A/C) engine branded as a zetec. We've been having problems with the speedo failing but understood that to be an intermitent fault that a lot of Focus models have so we weren't too worried. Just lately though we've noticed that the car runs fine first thing in the morning but when you take it out later in the day, there is loss of acceleration when the speedo fails & when you change down to stop or turn a corner, the engine cuts out all together! Obviously this results in the loss of power steering so this has resulted in a lot of near misses on roundabouts & with parked cars & other objects!:eek:
Sometimes you can get the engine to start up again if you pump the gas when it has stalled but not always.
It passed it's MOT with flying colours just a few months ago, but had advisory notice that the exhaust would need replacing before the next MOT.
Anyone have any ideas?! Any advice would be much appreciated!
It's a '99 1.8(A/C) engine branded as a zetec. We've been having problems with the speedo failing but understood that to be an intermitent fault that a lot of Focus models have so we weren't too worried. Just lately though we've noticed that the car runs fine first thing in the morning but when you take it out later in the day, there is loss of acceleration when the speedo fails & when you change down to stop or turn a corner, the engine cuts out all together! Obviously this results in the loss of power steering so this has resulted in a lot of near misses on roundabouts & with parked cars & other objects!:eek:
Sometimes you can get the engine to start up again if you pump the gas when it has stalled but not always.
It passed it's MOT with flying colours just a few months ago, but had advisory notice that the exhaust would need replacing before the next MOT.
Anyone have any ideas?! Any advice would be much appreciated!
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Comments
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Electrical fault. It's worth unplugging things, spraying WD40 and then reconnecting.Happy chappy0
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Sounds electrical, and could be a 10p fuse or £400 ECU??? Get it on a Ford diagnostics machine and it should have fault codes registered on the memory to say what's been playing up...even if it's intermittent.:A Luke 6:38 :AThe above post is either from personal experience or is my opinion based on the person God has made me and the way I understand things. Please don't be offended if that opinion differs from yours, but feel free to click the 'Thanks' button if it's at all helpful!0
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No, no, no!!! :shocked::shocked::shocked:tomstickland wrote: »Electrical fault. It's worth unplugging things, spraying WD40 and then reconnecting.
You may do more harm than good. Gone are the days when you can fix things yourself with WD40. Disconnecting the wrong plug could reset the ECU and then you'd need to include recovery to the garage bill!:A Luke 6:38 :AThe above post is either from personal experience or is my opinion based on the person God has made me and the way I understand things. Please don't be offended if that opinion differs from yours, but feel free to click the 'Thanks' button if it's at all helpful!0 -
Rubbish. Bad electrical connections due to damp are a common fault. If the battery is disconnected then the ECU will have no knowledge that a sensor is disconnected. Just make sure that it's all connected back up properly.
A few years back I had no end of problems with a car backfiring, losing power etc, so I sprayed WD40 down all of the connectors and it worked fine afterwards.
Reading the fault codes will only show up detectable faults.Happy chappy0 -
Nonsense. All fault codes are stored on an ECU, intermittant or otherwise. Disconnecting the battery will a) wipe those fault codes so if you do take it to a garage there will be nothing to say what went wrong, and b) may cause issues with sensors that require a constant feed, creating even more issues.tomstickland wrote: »Rubbish. Bad electrical connections due to damp are a common fault. If the battery is disconnected then the ECU will have no knowledge that a sensor is disconnected. Just make sure that it's all connected back up properly.
A few years back I had no end of problems with a car backfiring, losing power etc, so I sprayed WD40 down all of the connectors and it worked fine afterwards.
Reading the fault codes will only show up detectable faults.
7/8 years ago you could play a bit more, but electronics on a car now are too advanced for self-maintenance.:A Luke 6:38 :AThe above post is either from personal experience or is my opinion based on the person God has made me and the way I understand things. Please don't be offended if that opinion differs from yours, but feel free to click the 'Thanks' button if it's at all helpful!0 -
Lol, I thought it was an '04
i'd still be dubious about playing with electrics without knowing what sensor does what... :A Luke 6:38 :AThe above post is either from personal experience or is my opinion based on the person God has made me and the way I understand things. Please don't be offended if that opinion differs from yours, but feel free to click the 'Thanks' button if it's at all helpful!0 -
I have a 5 year old Focus zetec, and mine recently started cutting out with loss of steering etc. Took it to the garage and it was the fuel filter clogged up with muck. They are supposed to be renewed every 25k anyway.
Do you have any lights flashing on the dash when it cuts out?“Hardware: The parts of a computer system that can be thrown out of the nearest window!”0 -
(Cue sharp intake of breath by mechanic) Yer...itsyer DC wobbulator missus...known for it they are...known for it. I can fix it a week next Tuesday.0
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Disconnecting the battery should not clear the fault codes out of the memory. I had a new battery fitted to my 2001 car and all the previous fault codes remained. These could only be cleared by the dealer using a star computer.Nonsense. All fault codes are stored on an ECU, intermittant or otherwise. Disconnecting the battery will a) wipe those fault codes so if you do take it to a garage there will be nothing to say what went wrong, and b) may cause issues with sensors that require a constant feed, creating even more issues.
7/8 years ago you could play a bit more, but electronics on a car now are too advanced for self-maintenance.0
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