FocusCanada Forums

So we're coming back to NB today from Sudbury. We get to the Hwy 90/17 interchange, go to pull onto 17... and the car barely moves. Finally we make it onto the highway, the dashboard goes berzerk, and the car refuses to accelerate beyond 60 KM/H. Finally the "door open" light stays on, and I pull the car over to the shoulder. We never "lost power" at this point, but we weren't going far either at that rate. I turn the car off, turn it on, it starts without a problem. The "door open" light stays on, and the car once again refuses to go over 60 without slipping out of gear. I shift to Neutral, shift back to Drive... nothing. I hit the O/D select button... the light comes on denoting no 4th gear, and back off again when I thumb it again. Still nothing over 60. We pull over again. We're both starting to freak out here.

I park the car on the side of the highway, hit the 4-ways. They work. I get out and methodically open and close the doors and trunk, but all were latched fine. I pop the hood - nothing smells "burnt", there's ZERO fluid leaking anywhere.

I should note that none of the "serious" warning lights came on during the whole course of this.

I closed the hood and got back in the car. Fired it up. Accelerated away from the shoulder. Everything's fine. We got to the edge of NB and the car "hiccups" as it has done a couple of times before... never thought anything of it till now. Slight "stalled-out" feeling for a fraction of a second, and then everything's fine again... and no lights.

Now for the ironic part. I'm heading to work tonight to finish up an infrastructure deployment for a meeting tomorrow morning. As I drive the two blocks from my house to our main artery, the headlights and indeed the whole electrical system "blip" once - they flicker quickly and then come back. As I get to the stop sign, the headlights and everything else electrical begins sending morse code. I parked the car (running) for a minute in a parking lot that's right there... and they flicker a few more times. Finally, I decide to drive to work, and the 5 minute drive is uneventful.

Same thing after I was done 40 minutes later... uneventful. I'm really starting to suspect either: 1 - the alternator, especially given the last occurence, or 2 - the ECU in addition to the alternator (possibly), this supports the weird occurence in Coniston and the "hiccuping", but not the headlights.

I noticed a bit of "flux" in the brightness and consistency of the headlights and interior lights when the car is stopped in reverse, but that's probably a low idle at worst. What happened tonight happened under a constant engine speed or acceleration.

I was also thinking that maybe a corroded main ground wire could have caused some of this.

Your ideas guys? It's going to Stockfish in the morning regardless after I drop Sara off at the office - I'm due for an oil change and minor inspection this week :blink:

It's definately electrical. I never had crazy dash lights but the stumbling and lack of speed symptoms I have had. That ended up being the spark plug wires. Since you are also getting light and dash issues I'd say you are right to suspect ground/battery cables. Good luck at the dealer!

There was a battery cable recall (due to fire hazard) don't know if it applied to SPI's but maybe the previous owner never had it done?

EDIT: welcome to Focus ownership, this is the sort of stuff we keep talking about. ;)

do you still have warranty?

If not take it in have them inspect it, if they jack you around. Simply refuse to sign the invoice. Your signing that all work done was acceptable.

Powertrain till the end of the month. I'm hoping this won't cost much, but meh. First real problem I've had with it.

I had this exact same problem tonite on the way home.
The car would 'stumble' between 70-80. I wondered if there was too much moisture getting into the intake tube.
Finally was stopped at a light and the car felt like it was going to stall. Had the dashlights dim & flicker.
Once I got home, I pulled the sparkplug wires individually, thinking one might've been loose. Also, could hear an irregular idle from the exhaust. There some snow in the engine bay around the battery. I will check the ground cable in better light.
Can't really afford to get it checked out right now.

I blame UFO's

J3rt, that's good to know... in a bad way I guess. Or the other way around.

I was kinda vague earlier about the 60 KM/H thing. After some initial hesitation from a start, it would accelerate as normal. Once I hit 60, it would slip out of gear. Slow down and you could re-accelerate to 60, and then it would slip again.

The weird part is, I've done nothing but change bulbs all weekend. No intake, no interior lighting add-ons, nothing. It's really spooky in a way.

What really freaked me out was that a sad-sounding wagon drove past me JUST before this happened... automotive AIDS, anyone? :ph34r:

NOS2Go4Me,Feb 20 2005, 10:55 PM Wrote:... automotive AIDS, anyone?  :ph34r:
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if thats the case then i dont want to show up to any focuscanada meets!! :P

:D 200th post :D

Well, according to Stockfish, the tranny problem and the electrical are possibly related. They said I smacked something somewhere in the last 10K KMs and dented the tranny pan, which caused it to stop some of the transmission fluid flow... ICK. The labour for investigation will be worse than the cost of the fix, which is 40 bucks for the pan. Still no word on the electrical gremlins, and I'm inclined to believe they're intertwined still... somehow.

The only time I can recall coming close to bottoming-out is on the way home last night from Garson, along that damn highway 90. We scraped the mudflaps on a frost heave @ 80 or so, but I've done that numerous times before as my front mudflaps are longer than the rears by far. Goddamn POS Sudbury highways! :wtf: :thumbsdownsmileyanim:

NOS2Go4Me,Feb 21 2005, 10:15 AM Wrote:Well, according to Stockfish, the tranny problem and the electrical are possibly related. They said I smacked something somewhere in the last 10K KMs and dented the tranny pan, which caused it to stop some of the transmission fluid flow... ICK. The labour for investigation will be worse than the cost of the fix, which is 40 bucks for the pan. Still no word on the electrical gremlins, and I'm inclined to believe they're intertwined still... somehow.

The only time I can recall coming close to bottoming-out is on the way home last night from Garson, along that damn highway 90. We scraped the mudflaps on a frost heave @ 80 or so, but I've done that numerous times before as my front mudflaps are longer than the rears by far. Goddamn POS Sudbury highways!  :wtf:  :thumbsdownsmileyanim:
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Make sure they fix it.

Keep all paperwork and take notes on where your kms are.
Tell them you don't want the car back until it;s fixed!

Is anyone aware of a bash plate for the Focus?

2001 ZTS,Feb 21 2005, 11:06 AM Wrote:Is anyone aware of a bash plate for the Focus?
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No, but I would have bought one for my trip through New Brunswick 2 summers ago.

ANTHONYD,Feb 21 2005, 11:08 AM Wrote:

2001 ZTS,Feb 21 2005, 11:06 AM Wrote:Is anyone aware of a bash plate for the Focus?
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No, but I would have bought one for my trip through New Brunswick 2 summers ago.
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French_connection may know a little more info. Didnt some members make fun of him for thinking of the idea???

Flofocus,Feb 21 2005, 11:10 AM Wrote:

ANTHONYD,Feb 21 2005, 11:08 AM Wrote:

2001 ZTS,Feb 21 2005, 11:06 AM Wrote:Is anyone aware of a bash plate for the Focus?
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No, but I would have bought one for my trip through New Brunswick 2 summers ago.
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French_connection may know a little more info. Didnt some members make fun of him for thinking of the idea???
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I probably would have made fun of him.

It is a good idea though.

It's a good idea, and I'm considering asking them about something to that effect today.

As for New Brunswick... I drove through there and Nova Scotia last summer without incident, yet Sudbury manhandles my poor Focus like a stockbroker in Chino. :rolleyes:

Yeah, I'll cross-check the paperwork against what I reported, and they know I'm not taking it back without everything fixed. I reiterated that to the service advisor I DON'T like this morning, cause he was the only muffin working at 7:30 AM.

I'm calling my preferred advisor shortly, because they know I won't be screwed around with.

Flofocus,Feb 21 2005, 03:10 PM Wrote:French_connection may know a little more info.  Didnt some members make fun of him for thinking of the idea???
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Certainly wasn't me as I bought an aftermarket one for my Subaru. The Subaru I had before that came with one from the factory. I have a rear diff protector on order too.

2001 ZTS,Feb 21 2005, 11:14 AM Wrote:

Flofocus,Feb 21 2005, 03:10 PM Wrote:French_connection may know a little more info.  Didnt some members make fun of him for thinking of the idea???
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Certainly wasn't me as I bought an aftermarket one for my Subaru. The Subaru I had before that came with one from the factory. I have a rear diff protector on order too.
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What do parts like this cost?

$160US



160UKP

There are less expensive ones out there, both bash plates and rear diff protectors. Subaru offers a steel diff protector for $90CDN, you pay more for an aluminium Prodrive one. ;)

Then there is kevlar bottom protection:



WRC Gravel Spec: $1,054US

The selection of things you can buy for a WRX is UNBELIEVABLE, if anyone thought Focus parts were plentiful they would be astounded.

More kevlar:

http://www.umsrally.com/e_OriginalParts.htm

Apparently the tech has found "the other problem" but he hasn't reported back as to what it is yet. They're calling me back shortly.


ARGH - so the bill is 290, tax in, for the oil change, the tranmission repair, and labour. Fine, I can eat that. Now they're telling me I've got a "miss" that's attributed to the sparkplug wires, but they're not sure which wire. So, they're telling me I have to replace the wires AND the plugs. I told the guy, "what about all the Ford literature that says the plugs are good to 150,000 KMs?". He says, "It's not uncommon for the plugs to go by 75,000 KMs." The plugs and wires are another 169? :o :angry:

Advice before I go ballistic?

EDIT - here's the link to the manual - going to check for notes on this.

http://teamx.webhop.org/files/2001focusmanual.pdf

Guys, should I do the plugs myself? If I do it myself, how do I know how tight to tighten them? I've got deep sockets that are meant for this (sparkplug sockets), but it's been years since I changed my own plugs. I'd go to Crappy and get replacement wires as well, obviously. Perhaps even a good set of 8mm Accel wires for that cost.

A set of wires, 8mm or 9mm, I've seen for 35-50 bucks, depending on where you get them. Plugs I got from Ford, much cheaper than the NGK from UAP or similar. UAP wanted 24 bucks a plug and I got mine from ford for 22 for the 4 under employee. I think it was 60 in-# for the torque on the plugs but you can find it around the net for from a Haynes manual. Do it yourself, takes all of 5 min.

DRyanC

I wouldn't mind getting skid plates for my ZX3 either. Anyone know who has them? Thanks