I didn't know if I should post here or in technical chat, so move if necessary...

Anyways, when I first start my car it idles for a lack of a better word, like its cammed. When I first take off it will idle at between 1500 and 2000 rpms when I stop and then suddenly drop down to a normal idle after a second. Once I've ran it for a couple minutes though it seems to go away and idles at about 800-900 rpms with no "cam" sound.

The other quirk happened just the other day when I was driving down the highway doing about 55-60 running about 2500-3000 rpms and it just puked for a split second and returned to normal. Did it twice and hasn't done it since. I had a tank of 89 in it before I filled it up with 92 right before the incident happened. So maybe thats why the little "burp" in the engine?

But the "cam" noise is still there even after I've been running 92-93 octane in it. Could it be the DSI clip? And how do i know if its broken? I don't even know what to hear for when the DSI kicks in like everyone else talks about. I'm new to this SVT, any suggestions? Thanks!!!

Oh and please don't bash me for having run 89 in it...I know it's not the right fuel to run in it, but really its not gonna hurt anything in the long run. Don't worry! I'm running 91+ from now on!

You'll get slayed around this area for running anything below 91 octane, lol.


You probably need a tune man, sorry to tell you. But this car is really quirky without a aftermarket tune, Predator or SCT, choose your poison.

That burp is something with the Maf signal blah blah, basically no other way around it until you get a tune.

the high idle at startup is normal

Dude let that SVT really warm up before you go driving. it take mine about 5 min but it runs a hell of a lot better afterwards

yeah I realize the high idle is from it needing to warm up, what im more interested about is the sound of the idle.

Both symptoms you described are normal for a factory tuned SVTF.
Rough idle especially when cold, and the 2,500-3,000rpm "stutter"

Meaning...you don't have an aftermarket tune in the car do you?
Read First: SVT owners: Post reviews of your Tune! (http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36117)

^^^as far as I know the previous owner(s) have not had it tuned. Thanks for the clarification WD40, I thought it may just be a cold start up issue but I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything more serious. I'll def. have to look into getting a tune up, probably from Tom if I can...