[2000LX]

It recently snowed out here. I was driving my Focus into town to pick up a package at the post office and it did fine in the snow. Would break traction in any gear practically, but handled it all well. I live on a dirt road and that's where the car died. It sputtered and then died maybe 45seconds from home. I thought maybe it was a wet ignition since I've had a Samurai and my Jeep stall from water splashing on the distributor. I know the Focus uses an ignition coil but I thought maybe. But, it was dry. I looked at the intake and it was dry, plus I hadn't gone through anything deeper than an inch or two. It's the stock SPI snorkle-looking intake. It would start, sort of. Crank it over and it would barely catch, and sit just below idle, only if I kept the gas floored. I was able to limp it home like that (after pushing it withing 25 feet before hitting an uphill). I let it dry overnight and the next day and still nothing. Any ideas? I gotta get this back on the road so I can give my wife her minivan back!

 

[Peregrine]

Is your car throwing any codes at you?

 

[StealthGray]

It doesn't usually cause sudden death, but was the fuel pump recall done on that car?

 

[2000LX]

Is your car throwing any codes at you?

No CEL yet, I'll have to get my scanner back from my brother and see if there's any codes that haven't caused the CEL yet.

It doesn't usually cause sudden death, but was the fuel pump recall done on that car?

The fuel pump recall was done about 6 months ago in response to other drivability issues (hesitation, sluggishness) that turned out not to eb the free fix...I ended up buying my second new ignition coil in the space of 2 months.

I like this little car, it's weak, but still fun thanks to the stick shift. []

 

[2000LX]

Possibly the fuel filter?

 

[2000LX]

I got it start and it idled, rough but I didn't have to keep my foot on the gas this time. However, now the problem came in that if I do hit the gas, the engine sputters real bad and almost stalls, then climbs maybe 2-300 rpm.

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

check the plugs. maby you arent getting good spark. i dont really know tho that is a weird one. when the car is running does it smoke really bad? of course it will smoke a little when its cold but does it seem to do it worse than usual? i know you said it was dry but getting any water in the intake can cause similar problems.

 

[2000LX]

no smoke that I noticed but the exhaust sounds kinda hollow.

 

[racerfan120]

I had water get in the underneath the head cover on top of the plugs and it did the same ish thing although like at 4,000 rpm, nothing quite that dramatic, which I assume the water was shorting the plug wires. Once the water was gone it ran fine.....

 

[2000LX]

Ok, so it's still dead...One plug was loose, don't know how, I hadn't loosened any. We tightened it back down and found what looked like a loose hose, put that back on, and still nothing. It ran good enough to get up to almost 10 mph and mostly climb onto a trailer to get taken to my brother's house for a closer look at things. He couldn't find anything, so we called in a favor from a friend with a shop. They checked it out, called the dealership hotline and was told either a plugged cat or bad valve. The car just got back to my brother's house now, in no better shape than it left. The plugs were fairly dirty, so I think I'll try new plugs. If no improvement, maybe a new cat. My brother can change out a valve if that turns out to be the problem also.

It's sat because I ran out of money to fix it, then got sidetracked fixing/upgrading my Jeep. Now I've got an 85 Nissan truck in need of some work, so I want to fix this Focus and sell it to finance fixing up the truck.

 

[iminhell]

Double check the firing order, IIRC it is listed on the coil pack.

Check each plug to make sure it is firing.

Disconnect the Mass Air Flow Sensor pigtail and see if anything changes. The car should not start if there in no problem with the MAFS. If it starts and runs the same the sensor is bad or see below.

Check the integrity of the Mass Air Flow Sensor pigtail. If there is even the tiniest of cracks in the wiring get a new pigtail

Simple compression test should tell you if you dropped a valve or not (which is what I'm suspecting being it's a SPI and it is common).


That is about all I can think of off the top of my head. I doubt it's a Converter problem actually I'm 99% sure it's not.

 

[focusmaniaczx3]

having a clogged cat wouldnt account for your problems. i still say it is behaving like its stucked up some water but since it sat for so long that wouldnt be possible. its either not getting enough fuel or its not getting enough spark. its getting enough fuel to run so it must be a spark problem.