FocusCanada Forums

so it was a vacuum leak! :)

ok still not fixed....got underneath today, wasnt the rear mount...that bracket from mount to tranny was broken, got a new one and now the engine/car doesnt shake but still doesnt run. i also changed that evap thing, no change in how its running...if u give the car gas once started it does run but not mint seems theres still a bit of a misfire, then u let off and it just dies out

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

got the focus towed to Eastgate Ford here in Hamilton, what a disaster this turned out to be. Lets start from the top. Last night, went in and argued with service until they said they can guaranteed find out my problem if I bring the car in and pay them $100+taxes to diagnostic test it. OK, fine, might as well. Got it there today, leaving work they call and say I have a bad coilpack connection for starters, and its going to be $259+tax to repair and to call them to authorize to do it. WHAT?? So I drove straight there and went to the car...he said first off, he rigged a new plug to get it to run, but still sucks and ready to stall still..so it idles like a bag of crap if anything and sounds like a heavy cammed car. They found a collapsed vaccuum line behind my UIM, replaced that free of charge. Still doesnt run. On their laptop, says my long term fuel something isnt reading, and short term is at 35 and its supposed to be -15...basically he said its dumping too much fuel in. He tested fuel pressure and said I have AMAZING pressure, 60lbs into the rail..seems a bit high, no? Anyways..then he pointed out theres a spacer on my throttle body for reasons he doesnt know and he needs to take that out. valve cover gasket? is leaking also, under where it says Zetec 16V etc in the front/bottom left corner. Then said it needs a new timing belt most likely, and it could have slipped teeth and thats why theres no vaccuum and wont idle right. so heres the breakdown they gave me:

1. Coilpack plug and harness/wiring kit = $60, + 1hr labour at $90/hr = $150,
2. Throttlebody work, 1hr labour = $90, = $240,
3. New gasket at $50, 1hr labour = $90, = $380,
4. Timing Belt at $60, 3.5hrs labour = $375, = $755 + TAXES, total..

then he added, doing all this wont guarantee it will work either..our shop foreman even looked at thye car and laughed and said not to touch it until we fix those things. Thats when I asked for my keys back and shoveled out $160 for the plug to the coil and the diagnostic time WHICH they tried scamming me for 2hrs but I ended up paying for 1hr. Car idles terrible and since has no vaccuum, no power brakes, so I drove home in the rain at 9pm with no brakes basically and a car that wants to stall if the idle drops anywhere under 1000, thank god I lived close enough to take sidestreets to run all stopsigns and lights lol. Made it home okay, $175ish outta my pocket with still a broken car. He also complained about my exhaust saying theres no cat blah blah whatver buddy i dont care. Oh, the joys of Ford dealerships.. :(

That sucks dude, thas why dealers are terrible. Do you have a video cam, maybe take a vid of it running and someone here may have a better idea on helping you troubleshoot.

lol Anthony, I was thinking the same thing! I can get a video tomorrow of the car for anyone who thinks it may help

Oh boy Sean you took it to Eastgate eh? I hate that place with a passion. Look, if your cam timing is out all we gotta do is pull the plugs, set the motor to TDC and check if the slots at the end of the cams line up. If your timing belt is doneski or cam to crank timing is outta whack, it wont take much to fix.

However, something tells me this isn't the problem. Im sorry but Eastgate ford sucks and they wanna rip everyone. My old man has bought over 5 or 6 cars from there over the years and they still try to jerk him around. I dont take their word for s***.

I got time tomorrow to come by and check it out and run a few more tests. We should check the timing to cross that off the list but i'm pretty sure when that mount went something else got fubared behind that intake manifold.

- Matt

sounds good Matt, just send me a txt sometime tonight or I'll shoot you a message in a bit...someone on FF said he had the same problem, his car wouldnt idle and would stall until he gave it gas then it would run and it was his EGR gasket, which if thats screwed could also be a result of having no vaccuum in the car right now..?

cars fixed!! turns out a vaccuum line going from the brake booster wasnt fully on. put it back on fully and now it runs mint, thanks for the help/thoughts guys, appreciate it, and big thanks for the help to matt aka burnin21 for comin over and helpin out in the rain too :) thx buddy

Yeah, the guys at Eastgate Ford are a bunch of crooks. I almost bought my Focus there until I looked at the quote they gave me a little closer, tons of extra little fees, the P&D was higher then other Ford dealers in the area, they wouldn't let me opt. out of GlobalI, and the icing on the cake was them telling me (after "searching" their system for other cars at different Ontario dealers) that the Focus they had was the only manual one left in southern Ontario (I was buying an 07' in early 08'). Mohawk Ford, 15 minutes away, had two on the lot.

Please, please, please, call Ford Canada and make a complaint about them. Just explain all the stuff they told you needed changing and when you took it to another mechanic, it was just a simple vacuum line that popped off.

/rant


And congrats on getting the car up to snuff again! :)

-George