juddery ford focus (after fill up)

[Andy Monty]

Right Dads Ford Focus Estate 1.8 petrol Zetec engine 51 plate

run fine from new never had a problem with it (bar a flat battery yonks ago)

anyhow mum decides to fill it up at a certain well known supermarket beginning with a T in Scunthorpe

only done about 20 miles since and its running like a bag of ****e from about 5 miles after fill up it juddered when accelerating at any speed with the odd flash of the Engine management warning light whilst accelerating but it never came on permanently

so tonight managed to drop the fuel out of the tank :yuck: and brimmed it with Shell super unleaded and had it on a 40 mile blast on the Motorway

it now runs far better but still judders from a standing start as if it has Hiccups but once up to speed runs smoothly and no more warning light..

fetched it home and run it on the drive at about 4K revs (it was still hot from the 40 mile run) till the manifold was glowing red

then left it on tick over to cool cant take it out now had a beer to remove the taste of petrol (joke) good old jiggle siphon :slayer:


Anyhow if it isn't sorted in the morning what could it be?

im thinking Lambarda/ Hego sensor has a build up of contamination after reading back up on their problematic fuel last year

is their any way to remove and clean the HEGO sensor IE blowlamp or solvent?


Thanks for any tips and advice

 

[T14086]

sure it aint got a misfire, focus (focuses...foci?) are well known for plug, leads & core plugs leaking

 

[Andy Monty]

sure it aint got a misfire, focus (focuses...foci?) are well known for plug, leads & core plugs leaking

thanks for that T it was a thaught but just seems too much of a coincidence as five miles after filling it, it started to play up?

and fresh fuel seems to have improved the situation but i'll bare it in mind for my next list of things to try, surely a missfire would happen most of the time (it did on my old KA the engine management light wedged itself on and went to limp mode) ford replaced the HT leads no cure, plugs no cure, they then replaced the coil pack and that sorted it...

whats a Core plug you referring to the spark plug arcing from the cap to the nut?


thanks

 

[T14086]

if theres been heavy rain recently that could be a reason?

core plugs are at top of engine, they leak water which gets onto the plugs and short out but after a journey the water heats up and is gone by time you rip plugs out...but you look for the tell-tell orange marks.

Could be the usual focus fuel pump problems aswell...mines been doing it for 5 years

 

[Andy Monty]

if theres been heavy rain recently that could be a reason?

core plugs are at top of engine, they leak water which gets onto the plugs and short out but after a journey the water heats up and is gone by time you rip plugs out...but you look for the tell-tell orange marks.

Could be the usual focus fuel pump problems aswell...mines been doing it for 5 years

thanks for that T they did go through heavy rain today will give them a coat of Dewetting fluid and see how it runs tomorrow Thanks very much

 

[T14086]

http://www.rac.co.uk/web/forum/showthread.php?t=4890

could be coil aswell?

 

[Andy Monty]

Just had the caps off and they were nice and orange with a nice poof of steam when i removed the first cap, so gave them all a healthy blast of Ferrisol (better than wd-40 by a mile) will be able to tell in the morning


(p.s. just don't tell my mum that it might not be the petrol )

 

[T14086]

lol.....dont come on the forum does she?

so plug leads were orange?

 

[Andy Monty]

lol.....dont come on the forum does she?

so plug leads were orange?

No she's a teacher so can't use a computer to save her life

yep very orange

(thats not water in the bottom thats DWF

 

[jug]

i was going to say its that time of year when they have ignition problems, but T beat me to it.

 

[Hellcat]

look at all that rust!

 

[T14086]

i'd change those core plugs (x2) aswell as plugs/leads, you dont need rocker cover gasket as its built into cover.....but if that f*cked its £140

 

[Andy Monty]

i'd change those core plugs (x2) aswell as plugs/leads, you dont need rocker cover gasket as its built into cover.....but if that f*cked its £140

just to double check are these the Core plugs are they in packs of 2?

or is there something hidden under the black trim?

 

[T14086]

no the core plugs (two off) are under black cover between cylinder 1 + 2 and 3 + 4 (i.e.between spark plugs) look into the hole after taking plug lead out and you will see a large hexagonal (allen key) nut.

Have you got a T.I.S disc?

 

[Andy Monty]

just used google and now see what the core plug is

will get the cover off give it clean and see what is going on and if there is any trace of coolant in the area of the core plugs

 

[T14086]

water has came from somewhere (radiator bottle dropped level) by the way the core plugs are very tight to remove so no shame in getting it done at garage unless you have large allen socket & long breaker bar.

 

[Andy Monty]

found the core plugs look rusty like the rest of the space under the cover there does seem to be slightly more scale built up round them than the rest of the void

crap picture as its dark

is it a "simple" matter of dropping the coolant cleaning out all round soaking in plus gas, removing with an appropriate alan key and replacing then refill the coolant?

Any bleed screws on the focus cooling system


sorry for all the questions but i dont want to go off half cock and get half way through and find i'm stuck

whats a TIS disc (by asking that question you can take that as a No )

 

[Andy Monty]

coolant hasn't ever needed topping up and is still well on the max mark...

then again if its a real slow weep its probably not noticeable but will be kept a close eye on

 

[T14086]

unbolt black rocker cover, clean (dry) area before removing plugs then see if you have correct tools, then undo core plugs & fit new ones, no need to bleed system.

 

[Andy Monty]

thanks T will get some plugs ordered tomorrow (live 500 yards from the local Ford Stealers )

whats the correct refit Torque (if you know it?)

(this ham fisted Yorkshire man has a Torque wrench )

got plenty of tools might have to invest in the correct size socket then again i know a couple of engineering bods and my dad works in a hardware/tool trade counter so that wont be a problem can get most tools at cost


Thanks again T (No doubt there will be some more questions at some point :devil:


(now to the pub )