[frenchegg]

Hi I have a Ford Focus 2001(Y) 1.6 and am having problems with the car jerking under acceleration. There are no problems when the car is idling or revved when stationary.

When the problem occurs and the car goes jerky/bucking the radio is also effected and sometime the door warning light will come on then go off after a while. I have read some posts about the mass air flow sensor and problems with acceleration but this seams to be effecting electrical areas of the car as well. I am also having trouble finding the MAF sensor as the layout seems to differ form the 1.8 model i have seen pictures of in the haynes manual I have.

Any ideas/help would be greatly welcome.

Many thanks

 

[1sloho]

do u have any lights on in ur dash? like ur check engine light or battery light?

 

[iminhell]

Sounds like a giant ignition miss.
Check your spark plug wires and pull the spark plugs for inspection. One of the two will show signs and be the culprit.

 

[emsvitil]

Check/clean the battery connections. An intermittent disconnection would cause both problems

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

check the power and ground wire going from the battery to the starter as well. if either one has a poor connection that could could be the cause. while you are checking try to bend the wires. if they are extremely stiff or the rubber jacket appears to be melted or burned they may need to be replaced

 

[frenchegg]

Thanks you for all the replies

focusmaniaczx3 - I have checked the earth from the battery to chassis but not from starter motor I will have a look see if I can see anything there.

emsvitil - I have checked battery connections and all seems to be ok.

iminhell - Ok I will have a look and see if I can see any problems there. As the electrics are involved in the problem as well I thought the problem would be more to do with the electrics in the car rather than the spark plugs, leads, injectors etc. I know they are all related to the electrics but didn't think these problems would effect things like the radio and make the door warning light come on.

kttnmthkngs420 - The door warning light sometimes comes on and then go off when the car is acting jerky, the engine warning light did come on but when I disconnected the battery to check the terminals the light went out and has not returned. No battery light has come on.

Another symptom that happens as well is that the speedometer will sometimes jump erratically up and down when the car starts jerking as well when there is no major change in speed.

Thanks again for all the replies.

 

[cheap sleeper]

coil pack

 

[Windshieldbandit]

It couldn't be the battery. My hot lead used to come off during driving all the time, it just makes the dash go screwy but doesnt affect it running. If anything it could mess with your power steering/electronics but thats it.

 

[viney266]

It really sounds like you are loosing power for brief periods, I would check those main leads from the battery again, also, the leads going into the firewall of the car.

 

[duffer1960]

Did you power was your engine? This will cause water to get into the spark plug valleys on the engine and cause the plugs to short out. This is what happened to me.

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

i think he said power WASH but im not sure. that might do it if you sprayed the motor with a water hose to clean it. you wouldn't think that would hurt it because water can come up from underneath when you hit puddles but it has happened many many times. if it got wet take the coil pack off and check for burn marks on it.

and windsheild bandit. do you have a video to go with that avatar? that looks like it was fun as hell

 

[djmontara]

i think its an ignition issue too.. coilpack and wires.. the radio affected thing is a classic sign of heavy misfiring due to ignition problems. do u have a misfire code set?

 

[frenchegg]

Hi all, thank you for all the replies sorry I've not been around for a while forgive the lateness in replying.

I have not washed the engine (or car for that matter lol) so hopefully it can't have be water related unless some how rain is getting in.

Anyway I'll let you know the situation as it is now. I had to take the car to Fords in the end. They said it was the factory safety relay I think it had it burnt out and they said was interfering with the leads and plugs, cost me about £350 parts and labour. They replaced the leads, plugs and instrument cluster.

I though that was quite cheep as I the I though the instrument cluster was about £350 on its own maybe I'm wrong. Its deffinately a defferent pannel as the lights on the dash (main beam, door waring light, hand brake etc) are different so they did replace it.

The car has been fine now for a few days now but I think the problems are coming back again. My Wife said the speedo jumped again and the steering lock isn't working again now (this was one of the first things to stop working before everything else started to go wrong but I forgot about) So it look as though it probably going back to Fords as whatever they did hasn't fixed it.

 

[Blurvfocus]

So in other words the dealer service there is much like it is here.

 

[frenchegg]

If you mean the dealers are rubbish there as well then yes your right.

They have now said it needs more work after looking at it again and would cost another £230, the coil pack (I know a couple of you said this, looks like you know more then the mechanics without looking at the car and having the diagnostics machines to use) and vehicle speed sensor. If I had this done and it didn't work again they probably say now its X-part another £200, keep replacing everything and anyone could find the problem eventually.

There is no way I'm giving them any more money as I have no more, if they said in the first place it was going to cost £600 quid I wouldn't have had the work carried out by them.

The vehicle speed sensor is a job I can do myself from researching the part and job will cost me about £30. But I'm not too sure if this would be needed as a few of you have said about the coil pack maybe that would be enough don't want to replace what isn't broken. The speedo does still jump around when misfiring and they were saying this was why now.

The coil pack I'm not so sure though, these cost about £30 again I think but I can't find instruction in my Haynes manual for replacing this. Would anyone have any pointers for this job I'm hoping this is again not a difficult job and should be connected to ignition therefore not too hard to access and replace. From posts here from poeple this might have been the main problem all along why didn't they check this first as it quite an inexpensive part from what I can tell.

Why they replaced the instrument cluster in the first place is something I'm finding a little confusing. The leads and plugs fair enough they said there was some burnt leads and stuff. Maybe there was some stuff burnt out in the cluster and needed replacing or maybe they got the problem all wrong and replaced an expensive part when they didn't need to.

Trying to get money, all or some back from them at the moment. Took car in said X amount to make problems go away, said ok, they said fixed, paid took car away, problems same as before, X amount of money out of pocket for no change in the car, give me my money back. Am I being unreasonable?

 

[djmontara]

the coil pack is like one of the easiest things to replace! you open the bonnet and you'll see it staring at you in the face! naa your not being unreasonable.. i had problems with my mechanic too.. i paid them money to literally just sit on my car for a day and tell me that that theres nothing wrong with it. they said my 160 miles on a tank was due to my driving style. wot retards...

but anyways, the coil pack is very simple... its the black box where your leads run from to your spark plugs! all u need is a torx screwdriver to remove the four screws holding it down. the wiring harness connected to it comes off just by undoing the little clip that holds it on. thats it! i think the torx bit is a #25.. i cant remember, changed mine last year.

 

[frenchegg]

Ok thanks djmontara, sounds like an easy job.

 

[djmontara]

yup it is! pm me if u need any more help!

 

[rocracing]

throttle position sensor?

 

[focusxc]

i say it is a ground issue. mine does this all the time for some reason the ground from the motor to the chassie always is the problem.i know carry a small jumper wire just incase car desides to act up i can fix at a moments notice.