[Titan1969]

This is an interesting one. I had my brother ( certified mechanic ) do some side work for me this summer and replaced several items on my HIGH mileage Focus. When he was done it was missing terrible, backfiring, undrivable. After several hours he discovered water on the top of head inside the valve covers. I had washed up the engine compartment in an effort to help him out[)] . Water was right to the top of the cover inside[8] . SO he dried it all out and cleaned out the wires and the car ran fine.

So I figured Id never spray water directly on the valve cover again right? Well I didnt and Im getting a bad stumble and hesitation at low rpms again. So I figure the plugs have 100k on them Ill change em and see what that does. I Yank the boot off the plug and look inside and water is in the valve cover again! Not full but over the end of the boots and rusting the friggin spark plug threads[?|] .
So I figured out that the valve cover has some very small water drain holes on the drivers side. They were plugged up with dirt. I cleaned up and tested it and now the water drains off without reaching the height where it could get in the boot holes. The boots dont seal the holes as well as I thought they would. Yep they are in properly. I think just enough to keep moisture out but not standing water. How the water gets there? Its been raining very hard here for a few days but Im unsure how it could get up that high but it does.

Hopefully this will help someone out! Great website[thumb]

 

[downloader]

dry out your spark plug tubes and install a new set of wires. At 100k its time to change them anyway

 

[Titan1969]

They are new at 175000.

 

[BornAgainFordOwner]

I always use a little clear silicon brake grease around the boot seals.

 

[whynotthinkwhynot]

As BornAgain wrote, you can get what's called "spark plug boot grease" this will help keep water from getting inside the boot where the wire makes connection with the plug and help stop any grounding loss issues there. The rust should be confined to the part of the plug that is not in the cylinder head, but it might've looked like some of the threads were rusted. The standing water is left over from when you washed the car, but could've come from the back of the hood if there is a gap in the insulation there. When you're driving air flowing around the car does force itself under the hood where the hood meets the windshield. There should be some weatherstip there, but if not, that could explain the water in the spark plug tubes.

Some of the Zetec guys can show you where to get a spark plug boot cover that might help keep that down if you don't have weatherstrip at the cowl: the part of the car between the hood and the windshield.

There's no water drain plug on the valve cover. Use a shop vac, or allow the small amount of water to drain inside the cylinder- it shouldn't be enough to damage the engine, but the steam might knock loose some carbon build up in there so a little bit of grey smoke that goes away would be normal.

 

[Titan1969]

No drain plug? They are on mine they run parallel to the valve cover out drivers side edge to the end compartment. They are small maybe 1 mm. Their is one near the back of the cover and one near the front. At the lowest part of the cover..below the spark plug boots. Ill see if I can get a pic. Hmmm...I bought the car new and I havent drilled any holes in it? I put water in it after I found them and cleaned them out and the water did relieve out the holes? Maybe Im special. Just joking[^]

 

[Silas]

there was a recall or tsb or something about the seal at the front of the hood on 2000 foci not being to good...check it out

 

[Titan1969]

there was a recall or tsb or something about the seal at the front of the hood on 2000 foci not being to good...check it out

I will do that! Thanks[]