FocusCanada Forums

Well.....

I was having some problems with my car with regards to performance and how it was running... well two nights ago confirmed my suspicions about what was going on.

So I was on my way to the girl friends place wednesday night, was low on gas so i threw in a couple bucks as i was running short the day b4 pay day. Got around the corner from her house and it starts making a hell of a lot of noise, then dies.

So first thing i did was checked my oil. was all good. Next thing i checked was coolant and it was perfect. I checked my gauges and temp was within normal range. Checked under the car for anything leaking... no dice. Well after i pretty well checked the car top to bottom i decided i mite as well call road side assistance.

While waiting for mr tow truck driver i tried starting the car and it wudnt turn over at all. my first thoughts are.... s*** its seized. well mr tow truck arrives and we try to boost it with his truck and it turns over. Wont fire at all mind you. So we decide to get it taken over to wayne pitman ford and they can deal with it the next day.

So the tow truck driver didnt bother leaving any of the info i gave him about the car there, just dropped it and ran. So thursday morning i get a call

Tech: Hi, It seems we have a car here of yours...
Me: You sir are correct
Tech: Um... Why is it here...??
(so now im thinking, what kind of an idiot doesnt realize that the car was dropped off after hours, keys in the drop slot, to maybe go to the car, see if it will start and go from there, check the vin, realize its under warranty do a quick diagnostic and then call me....)
Me: Ya, car decided to stop running while driving it in guelph last night.
Tech: O... ok. I guess we will take a look at it

So i got a call yesterday afternoon. "kevin" tells me that it seems there is a problem with the ECU, and that infact a ground wire on the PCM that controls the coils/ignition has been damaged or something like that. cool w/e get a new ECU and fix it. well i only have 1 key for my car so i then had to buy a key so they can re program the ECU. Who would of thought, a key is worth over 100$.... ??? stupid chips.

Well i stopped in today to see what the hell is up with the car seeing as how they got the ECU in but hadnt heard since. Turns out now they think it has something to do with the TPS sensor... Here i am thinking BINGO (is his name-o)

So i guess they are now basically going to try replacing every piece of electronics on the car until sometime it gets fixed... i guess ill wait and see what else they decided to replace while they are at it.

The thing im worried about mind you, is that about 30 second B4 it died, I heard what i thought was a loose bolt on my exhaust get 10X as loud as b4, maybe it was the vibration from a dying engine causing the bolt/nut to make a horrible sound, or maybe it was a tick. Along with that, i also saw a metal shaving beside my accessory belt :unsure: so... Ya im not feeling to optimistic right now

God cars are stupid. Anyways, enjoy the read! Ill update as things progress and hopefully my bank account doesnt need to be touched for anything other then the key

GFXjamie,May 1 2009, 04:16 PM Wrote:The thing im worried about mind you, is that about 30 second B4 it died, I heard what i thought was a loose bolt on my exhaust get 10X as loud as b4....[right][snapback]286318[/snapback][/right]

Coming form the engine bay, or clearly form the exhaust?

Quote:Either Im Unlucky, Or Just Cursed

nah, you just drive a focus. :P :lol:

last time i had a problem they were checking my ECU and they cut a key for me for free. Why are you paying for the 2nd key? Is your car under warranty still?

Did you play with battery lately? I had a similar problem with car dying all of a sudden and realized it was the small negative wire that was loose. It was directly connected to ECU hence it was causing the car to ack all werid.

So first you said it died, i could be battery terminal, then you said i wouldn't run at all, again it could be battery terminal, then you said tow truck driver tried giving it a boost but it wasn't starting, again, it could have been the small negative wire that is attached to the (-) side of the battery.


BTW my problem was the PCM wires that were originally cut and not conneted properly, it took the dealer over a week and they finally found the problem.

Battery terminals are fine, along with anything connected to them. The battery has also never been removed as far as i know especially of late

as for the noise i think it was comming from the exhaust as it was fairly apparent outside of the vehicle altho i have never personally been in a car that has a tick to i cant distinguish between the two personally

i remember the last person i passed on the side of the road glaring at my car with a look on his face " WTF" ya so honestly im not sure what the heck is going on

as for the key the car is still under warranty but they arent going to give me a free key because i lost mine atleast thats how i look at it

either way the whole situation blows as im out of my car until its fixed and stuck driving my work truck

guess it saves on kms tho

Sounds familiar to what my son is currently dealing with.

He parked the car for the winter. Went to start it............nothing.

It turns over but it sounded like no compression to me.

I was right(of course).

No compression.

Tore the engine apart and found leaking valves. Head is now being cleaned up and he has purchased 2 new valves.

Why did this happen?

Car runs rich.

May not be the same case for you as he runs an SC on the car, but it sure seems like the dealer is going to rape the s*** out of you before they figure out what is wrong.

Oh, and he probably will sell the car soon. Had enough of the toy.

so i dropped by the dealership today and low and behold it was my cfm under drive pulley that completely fell apart

well i have been told that i now have to pay for a new pcm tps along with all the so called warranty labour that went into it

so now im stuck with a two thousand dollar plus bill a car that needs a new crank pulley and cps and a car that most likely has bad valvetrain now since the timing sprocket on the pulley came apart from the rest of it

what the hell do it do

its got parts in it that it obviously doesnt need and they wont take them out because they cant return electronics to ford

i literally just bought a house and now after this im pretty well screwed


any suggestions other then fighting with them would help

Jesus Jamie..... :o


I'm taking off the stuts tomorrow.

GFXjamie,May 4 2009, 03:51 PM Wrote:so i dropped by the dealership today and low and behold it was my cfm under drive pulley that completely fell apart

well i have been told that i now have to pay for a new pcm tps along with all the so called warranty labour that went into it

so now im stuck with a two thousand dollar plus bill a car that needs a new crank pulley and cps and a car that most likely has bad valvetrain now since the timing sprocket on the pulley came apart from the rest of it

what the hell do it do

its got parts in it that it obviously doesnt need and they wont take them out because they cant return electronics to ford

i literally just bought a house and now after this im pretty well screwed


any suggestions other then fighting with them would help
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Man that's friggin lousy ... get as much detailed info / evidence as you can and give c-f-m a call ... they probably have some sort of product liability insurance and if pushed hard enough they might give it up.

NikiterZTS,May 4 2009, 04:06 PM Wrote:Jesus Jamie..... :o


I'm taking off the stuts tomorrow.
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tell me about it i cant even believe this

i am going to make it clear that the pcm and tps along with all the labor included thus far will not be paid for as it was originally stated that it was warranty work and i have not once signed a diagnostics sheet stating that i have to pay a dime

i will pay to have the car repaired as it was not a ford part that caused the problem but the fact that it took them almost a week to get it up in the air to look at the crank when i told them i saw metal shavings there in the first place is ridiculous

the fact of the matter is that all they did was toss a part in here and there until they found a solution and when it comes to parts and labour that total over two thousand dollars to diagnose well that to me is a little strange

we will see how things go as the week progresses and my father gets more irritated with these pricks as he seems to deal better with them then i

i guess a little persuassion goes a long way

if all else fails but i can get outta paying a dime i will most likely have the car parked until my cammed two eighty nine with a high rise intake mani and four barrel carb with a five speed winds up in the car as i already have two eight cylinder and a five speed sitting in my possession both of which are pure ballin

also sorry for lack of punctuation and numbers as my computer has sticky keys on and wont turn off

Well after one phone call, i have it all resolved and i only have to pay for crank pos. sensor and re install of stock pulleys and timing.

hopefully once they open up the valve cover everything looks good.

I should hear in the next day or two

GFXjamie,May 6 2009, 05:50 PM Wrote:Well after one phone call, i have it all resolved and i only have to pay for crank pos. sensor and re install of stock pulleys and timing.

hopefully once they open up the valve cover everything looks good.

I should hear in the next day or two
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Good to hear, that would suck if you got stuck with that bill. Did C-F-M say anything?

haha sounds like Pitmans just to throw parts at it. sorry bout your luck dude. i did my co-op back in the day at that place. Id never take my car there if i had a choice.

you need to be a little more clear, why isn't ford covering the "cfm under drive pulley"? you did mention you brought in your car for WARRANTY work, so im ASSUMING your car is factory. but is there something about the "cfm under drive pulley" that you did not mention, like you maybe replaced it with an aftermarket, and now thats why they are charging you? what exactly is a "cfm under drive pulley"? i mean i know what an under drive pullie is, but why is the letters "cfm" infront of it and what does it mean?

I just know you must have been drinking. Maybe you never heard of focus.c-f-m.com.... like one of the past parts makers left for our cars :P

paolo,May 7 2009, 09:04 PM Wrote:you need to be a little more clear, why isn't ford covering the "cfm under drive pulley"?  you did mention you brought in your car for WARRANTY work, so im ASSUMING your car is factory.  but is there something about the "cfm under drive pulley" that you did not mention, like you maybe replaced it with an aftermarket, and now thats why they are charging you?  what exactly is a "cfm under drive pulley"? i mean i know what an under drive pullie is, but why is the letters "cfm" infront of it and what does it mean?
[right][snapback]286887[/snapback][/right]

C-F-M = Central Florida Motorsports ... a.k.a. aftermarket supplier of pulleys smaller than stock ... ie: "underdrive"

Paolo you're pure LOLz

paolo,May 7 2009, 06:04 PM Wrote:but why is the letters "cfm" infront of it and what does it mean?
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I lol'd at that comment like seriously you call yourself a focus driver and never heard of CFM.

I just laughed soooo hard reading paolos comment....

So i pick the car up tonite, 776.01 later... car runs mint the guy said, and he has an ST as well. That include crank position sensor, re install and timing for pulleys and my magical key that costs 1 billion dollars.

A lot better then 3g's +

But still sucks the pogo stick for sure

On a good note, i got an email back finally from CFM, and they will submit it under warranty when i send them a bill of repair and pictures of the pulley :) so thats my project for the night... re learn how to scan