[venessa214]

2002 Focus ZX5, Zetec, manual

Recent work:
Water pump
tensioner
idler
serpentine belt
alternator
valve cover gasket
heater hose outlet pipe (two days ago)

Issue:

Yesterday when driving to work, I noticed a bit of a stuttering when taking off from a stoplight - minimal, originally dismissed the issue as a bad take off and my foot slipping off the clutch pedal. Lunch time, drive a few blocks, it's definitely something other than my foot slipping. When accelerating, the car jerks/bucks and seems to have no power. Idle at this point was not affected. If I let off the gas, and then start to accelerate S L O W L Y, then the issue does not occur.. It does not matter what speed, or what gear. I cannot maintain a level speed on a hill - regardless of grade - if I try to hold the speed, the card jerks. Talked to someone else, and they suggested cleaning the MAF, did that, and the issue was better immediately after but worse this morning. Idle is now rough at a stop, and the car jerks when trying to accelerate at all; even a ridiculously slow acceleration does it now.
ETA: No CEL

 

[Leora83]

Mine did this for a few days before finally throwing a code.
Check the coil and harness. The wires tend to break right at the plug and cause intermittent misfires. And flip the coil over to look for hairline cracks in the resin--any cracks and it's toast.

 

[freemind]

^this x's 2

Plus, when is the last time the fuel filter was changed?

 

[venessa214]

^this x's 2

Plus, when is the last time the fuel filter was changed?

At most two years ago, but I believe it was last summer. My boyfriend made this comment when I mentioned it "You change your fuel filter more often than anyone I know". I've had the car almost 5 years, and I've done it twice - when I got it and within the last two years.

 

[rhowe]

agreed. pull the plug wires and look for corrosion. the two times I had spark plug wires go bad I could see a spark thru the boots in the dark.

Or the coil. I've heard that it's not if they go bad, but when.

 

[z0mbief3tus]

This literally just happened to me last week in my 01 automatic. It ran perfect right after I changed my ignition coil pack. It was exactly as you described while accelerating and progressed to instense shaking a few days later. I also did not have any code pop up for it.

Good luck!

 

[venessa214]

So, we started pulling the spark plugs and noticed that the gap was off and the center and ground electrodes were off. Decided to change the plugs, even though we had just done so last year, and also did the wires since they had not been done in the 4 1/2 years I've had the car, and it runs great!! Took it for a test after we were done, and chirped the tires out of the drive without even trying. I even volunteered to drive ALL OVER yesterday!

Thanks for the suggestions and help!

 

[freemind]

the fuel filter needs to be changed every 25-30,000 miles FWIW

I am glad to hear that you got it sorted out.