FocusCanada Forums

Hey all, So a few days ago my brother brought home a Saturn SC1 because his truck was getting body work done. this thing is a real pile of garbage! no exhaust, I think they have about 100 HP, and i swear it had no clutch, foot just dropped to the floor. it was hilarious. But I took it for a spin because I love driving anything.

it was surprising how quick it was. like, faster than my gutted 130 HP focus...... somethings wrong there. 

so we did a little 0-60 run in both cars. Saturn returned a modest 11 seconds. Focus? a measly 22 seconds.... what?!?!?!

so I dived into the issue. Focus was due for a general tune up regardless. So I picked up plugs, wires, Fuel filter, and some seafoam. fuel filter is done, still waiting for plugs to come in. (yay slow mail to rural areas) Did the seafoam yesterday, and my god that stuff is amazing. not only does it work (some people say it doesn't but I've seen results first hand) but its also a great exhaust diagnostic tool. Its like a smoke test, without a legit smoke test lol. 

a few seconds after dumping some seafoam into a vacuum line there was smoke everywhere in the engine bay. Huh? that ain't right....

turns out, one of the rubber hoses for the EGR was completely gone. No idea when, or how, but it was just gone. So that is definitely not ideal lmao
going to order up that hose today, hopefully they have it in stock, but not likely. I

'm hoping that fixes my incredibly slow acceleration. If not, does anyone else have any ideas?




If you don't want to read all this, heres the cliff notes. Saturn with 100hp beat gutted 130 ho focus in 0-60. Focus is missing EGR hose. Seafoam smoke everywhere. Is missing hose cause of 22 second 0-60? 

btw 60 is MPH. not kmh

alrighty. So I went to ford, the hose I needed is obsolete. No longer make em. So I went to Princess auto and grabbed some fuel line, and hose clamps! cheaper that way anyways. Did a 0-60 test before putting the hose on (with my ultragauge) and ended up with 17.1 seconds. and a 1/4 mile of 20.58.

then tossed the hose on, still have to fix a small hole in the metal egr tube, then will re-do the 0-60 after putting some miles on, so the car can get used to having a proper egr system again. I also cleared codes, and elft battery unhooked for ten minutes to reset it. Time will tell.

wow that is incredibly slow lol. I have a Saturn sl1 SOHC and I hate that car. things sluggish as all hell. has tranny slam, and I just plain out don't like it. hope fully you get your issues fixed

(08-19-2015, 10:10 PM)drunkinmonkey Wrote: [ -> ]wow that is incredibly slow lol. I have a Saturn sl1 SOHC and I hate that car. things sluggish as all hell. has tranny slam, and I just plain out don't like it. hope fully you get your issues fixed

I didn't even realize how slow it was lmao. now im just embarrassed. 

I still leave everyone in the dust at lights though. good reaction time I guess.
guessing i'll have to give the system a few miles to get used to being proper again, but so far no change. except sound.

A few pics of my "broke ass redneck" fix!

one with clamps is the new line, it was completely missing!





and this is where the hole in the metal tube was. I could pay someone to weld it, but this should work. Pepsi can wrapped around, and hose clamped lol. the hole is MAYBE 2 mm in length, and 1 mm wide. so not very large.





now, here is my current 0-60 specs




And I knew I had one from a while ago, just had to find it. So I know something is definately wrong. PLugged cat maybe as well? It wont be as good as stock, It's got a steeda short ram intake, aka hot air intake. and i'm missing the air snorkel now as well. but no way it should be slow like it is

plugged cat could have a huge factor the cat is plugged on my focus now and it hardly idles.. you can smell the exhaust gas coming up from the front and nothing going out the back
bogs down so hard and wont even build boost

Maybe this weekend i'll see if i can unbolt it and see if I can't knock the mesh out of it. hopefully the bolts aren't too stubborn.

start soaking them with penetrating oil now lol

(08-20-2015, 12:00 AM)drunkinmonkey Wrote: [ -> ]start soaking them with penetrating oil now lol

that's the plan. I'm scared haha. I hate exhaust bolts, especially ones that close to the manifold.

Before you do that, try methyl hydrate the same way you would seafoam, into the intake, it burns clean with the byproduct of pure water, water at that temp is steam, so essentially steam cleans your cat. Saves having to bust bolts and knuckles pulling it apart!

(08-20-2015, 12:29 AM)MikkelRS Wrote: [ -> ]Before you do that, try methyl hydrate the same way you would seafoam, into the intake, it burns clean with the byproduct of pure water, water at that temp is steam, so essentially steam cleans your cat. Saves having to bust bolts and knuckles pulling it apart!

Oh perfect! Thanks! Will try that out. Just use the same vacuum tube i would for seafoam? Makes sense!

Guess I should make a thread for my car, done a few things to it now.

Starting to think my cat could be clogged also . I drove it yesterday thinking that the car was slower than normal . Time to get the drill out and go straight pipe ! Lol

(08-20-2015, 11:12 PM)2000zx3sct Wrote: [ -> ]Starting to think my cat could be clogged also . I drove it yesterday thinking that the car was slower than normal . Time to get the drill out and go straight pipe ! Lol

haha If someone made an offroad pipe id just swap the cat for one. But cant find any for the non svt zetec cars! May just go custom.

also, picked up some methyl hydrate and tossed some in the gas tank, and some through a vacuum line. will hopefully clean the cat a bit!

If it runs like crap, put some 91-93 octane in the tank with it, I've added too much to the tank and had a hell of a missfire till it burned through, but after it was nice n smooth. It's just gasline antifreeze, so it is safe.

(08-21-2015, 12:58 AM)MikkelRS Wrote: [ -> ]If it runs like crap, put some 91-93 octane in the tank with it, I've added too much to the tank and had a hell of a missfire till it burned through, but after it was nice n smooth. It's just gasline antifreeze, so it is safe.

Yeah I didnt put a ton in, no issues so far. No improvement yet either. put on about 600 kms so far. Not sure what else to try.

check compression?

(08-25-2015, 11:43 PM)drunkinmonkey Wrote: [ -> ]check compression?

yeah going to check a few things this long weekend. Compression, Maybe check my timing, plugs, wires, coil, etc. 

Keep getting a P0455 and P0457 code, but I also lost my gas cap a while ago so that could be that

almost wonderng if my tming is off. Not sure when this decreased performance started happening, but I did my timing belt about 3 months ago. Had all the right tools, the cams were lined up and locked in place, and the crank pin was in place as well. so i'm not sure I could have messed it up even if i tried.

I'll do a compression test, before taking all the timing stuff apart again but maybe its my timing?

also, did different year focus have different fuel pumps? My fuel pump module broke a while ago as well and i bought a junkyard replacement that came out of a 2001 model. would a different module cause the fuel pump to deliver less fuel maybe? have no idea honestly.

Timing would be a good place to check. Fuel systems were pretty much the same 00-04+, it would show massive lean codes and fuel pressor errors if it wasn't working.