Ford Scrote 1.6 Zetec

[Deebs]

Piece of shit car.

Anyway, my car, ala the above, has developed a fault which is causing me to swear a lot more than I normally do.

I think its either an air-intake valve or the engine management system. The sympton is this: it kangeroos when I try to accelerate or you can feel it "flooding".

Any ideas? I don't want to pay some mechanic 200 quid to hook it to a computer or change a valve worth 10 quid.

Please help, im gonna drive this **** into a wall at 90mph soon.

 

[Bodhi]

I had this with my Golf recently, turned out to be 3 leaking air hoses - cost me 45 quid to put right. Does it idle erratically when it gets warm? Have you noticed any loss in power and responsiveness?

 

[old.user4556]

Could be:

1) MAF (mass air flow) sensor acting up and not telling the ECU about the correct volume of air coming in, hence too much/little fuel.

2) it may be the lambda sensor on the exhaust giving wonky readings and fucking up the fuel mixture.

3) it may be a coolant temperature sensor playing up and thinking the car is very cold (happened on my Clio) thus running unnecessarily rich.

4) clogged air filter?

5) fuel pump on its way out?

Need to know answers to Bodhi's questions too, would help in diagnosis. You shouldn't need to pay a fortune for a diagnostics - i paid £40 inc vat for a full diagnostic session at a BMW specialist, so Frauds are likely to charge less.

A quick ECU diagnostic would tell you immediately if any sensors are showing a fault logged.

 

[Tom]

What G said.

A few things to check:

1) Unplug the MAF - does that make a difference?
2) Does engine temperature make a difference?
3) Throttle position sensor - squirt a bit of switch cleaner in there
4) Check any vacuum pipes you can see, make sure they're all sealed well

 

[Deebs]

I had this with my Golf recently, turned out to be 3 leaking air hoses - cost me 45 quid to put right. Does it idle erratically when it gets warm? Have you noticed any loss in power and responsiveness?

Idling is fine. Never had power to begin with but yes, ya put ya foot down and its like its flooding and not going all the way.

 

[Deebs]

Could be:

1) MAF (mass air flow) sensor acting up and not telling the ECU about the correct volume of air coming in, hence too much/little fuel.

2) it may be the lambda sensor on the exhaust giving wonky readings and fucking up the fuel mixture.

3) it may be a coolant temperature sensor playing up and thinking the car is very cold (happened on my Clio) thus running unnecessarily rich.

4) clogged air filter?

5) fuel pump on its way out?

Need to know answers to Bodhi's questions too, would help in diagnosis. You shouldn't need to pay a fortune for a diagnostics - i paid £40 inc vat for a full diagnostic session at a BMW specialist, so Frauds are likely to charge less.

A quick ECU diagnostic would tell you immediately if any sensors are showing a fault logged.

1) No idea where to look
2) Thats pretty new, about 18months old and ive had that break before. Didnt do the same as it is now.
3) No idea where to look.
4) Replaced.
5) Replaced.
4/5 replaced within last month in an attempt to fix.

 

[Deebs]

What G said.

A few things to check:

1) Unplug the MAF - does that make a difference?
2) Does engine temperature make a difference?
3) Throttle position sensor - squirt a bit of switch cleaner in there
4) Check any vacuum pipes you can see, make sure they're all sealed well

Need to go find me a book with pictures in if I am to do 3 of those things

 

[old.user4556]

MAFs and coolant temp sensors aren't the cheapest.

 

[Trem]

MAF will play up more when really booting it, it will feel like you have hit a brick wall more than kangarooing.

This sounds like a blocked inline fuel filter. About £10 or less to replace. Should be quite easy to spot, looks like a little clear bottle type thing with a yellowy filter inside.

I want to be a mod if I'm right


*bans Tom and G*

 

[Deebs]

MAF will play up more when really booting it, it will feel like you have hit a brick wall more than kangarooing.

This sounds like a blocked inline fuel filter. About £10 or less to replace. Should be quite easy to spot, looks like a little clear bottle type thing with a yellowy filter inside.

I want to be a mod if I'm right


*bans Tom and G*

Any idea where it lives? THe fuel pump has been replaced. Shitty car.

 

[Trem]

Don't know on your car luv. It will be pretty obvious which it is, definately under the bonnet and it will have 2 black pipes coming out of it, one at each end.

I will do a web search in a bit and try and find a pic of it.

 

[Deebs]

Cool

with a bit of luck I can dislodge it allowing it to leak petrol, then start the car, notice flames, run like fuck and watch the **** burn.

 

[Trem]

Not much on the Focus really, which surprised me seing as its an uber popular car.

Haynes manual is the way to go I guess although on most cars it is an easy thing to spot.

Also had another thought, it could be the fuel pressure regulator and if so that won't be so easy.

Have a root around the engine tomorrow deebs and see if you can find the fuel filter.

Seems fuel filters in the Focus aren't clear but metal -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-FOCUS-1-...ryZ21654QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Its the silver thing in the bottom left of the picture.

 

[Tom]

If you find the fuel filter and change it, make sure your battery is nicely charged up first. When you change a filter it can take a bit of cranking to get fuel back into the cylinders, and you don't want a flat battery when you're doing that If your filter is clogged, then don't pour the fuel from the old one into the new one, although thats what most people do.

I would imagine the fuel filter will be somewhere at either end of the fuel rail - and that's probably a big metal pipe that runs the length of the engine, supplying fuel to each cylinder. The fuel filter on my car looks like a screw in oil filter.