Ford - Focus :: 2001 - Engine Malfunctioning - Rough Idle
Dec 30, 2012
I recently bought a 2001 Ford Focus (about 4 months ago) and it recently began having a rough idle, check engine light, and stalling. One night, I started and it immediately stalled. When I tried to drive it, it made a grinding noise. Eventually, I made it home and got it to a shop the next day. I was told that it was likely the pistons by a mechanic. He later confirmed it was the pistons, had them replaced, sent my engine off to a machine shop for "smoothing". 2 days later, I had it back and it seemed to be running great. Took it to work and went up a small grade hill (not even labeled) and it began chugging, making a grinding noise and the check engine light began flashing.
I took it back to the shop where the mechanic couldn't even keep it running and he determined that it was a broken hose. He replaced it, free of charge and the car ran great for a couple days. Next thing you know, it begins the rough idle and random stalling but no check engine light. I took it back in and he asked to keep it for a few days. He said that he determined the machine shop didn't do things correctly and sent it back in. I got it back this morning and it seemed to be running fine for my husband, but once I got in it, there was a loud rumble and a slightly rough idle. Then, there was the smell of burnt rubber. My mechanic wants it back, but isn't open again until Monday and I work the next two days. By the time I got it home from work, it had a very rough idle, issues accelerating and I'm still having issues going up hills.
Clearly, my mechanic is really focused on the issue being related solely to my pistons and is only focusing on that. I think something else is wrong and is being missed, but I have no clue what.
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my 2000 focus se, 2.0L SPI, with 82k began to recently run rough at idle then progressed to stalling at longer lengths of idle. The condition starts once the engine warms after 2-5 minutes. I 1st tried gas treatment. I replaced the ignition coil as suggested in the other threads, but it has not improved the problem. I had the fuel pump recall-replaced 2 years ago. I would guess that a bad fuel pump would exhibit loss of power at all engine speeds? Before I proceed to replace plug wires and plugs.
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I have a 2008 Ford Focus - 4 Door Sedan SE 60300 miles.
I've gone to 3 mechanics now and no one can seem to figure out whats wrong with my car. Here's whats happening:
About 1 1/2 years ago I took my car to get an oil change at Jiffy Lube (Yeah never again). When I left, my car was idling funny... Silly me didn't take it right back and have them tell me what was wrong.. so I let it go, well about a month later it started idling even weirder. Basically it feels like my car is shaking when it gets under 1000 RPM and I notice my RPM dial start falling and bouncing back, acting like its going to stall, but never does. I notice a loss of power when this is happening (on speed up and just accelerating in general). All of this is random, I can't seem to put a pattern to it as to when it happens. One day I'll start it up and everything is perfect... Then I'll shut it off and restart it later, and it starts vibrating and puttering again... No signals as to if its hot/cold or wet/dry, no environmental variables seem to cause it to happen anymore than others. And there is no check engine light on, everything "looks" normal.
What I've had done to it so far is:
Air filter changed / reseated
3 oil changes (keep getting told it will work)
Throttle cleaned
Computer reset for idle sensor data rebuilding
Now I'm told that I need new engine mounts, and that could be the reason for the vibration. I'm thinking that the vibration caused the mounts to wear out, more so than the mounts being the cause. Mainly because I don't see how bad mounts could cause loss in power/bad idling.
What could be wrong?!? Really bugging me and don't want to keep throwing money at it for phantom solutions. Seems like mechanics I go to can't figure it out unless there is a check engine light on with some diagnosis code to tell them exactly whats wrong.
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I have a 2000 focus ZTS with about 190,000 mile. Near the back of the valve body near firewall I have a loud suction of air sound. I've checked all vacuums and they are good. I was told it's the air control valve but not sure. The car idles rough at all times and when I turn it off is the sound sounds like it's draining out.
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My daughter's automatic DOHC SE Focus had suddenly been stalling, becoming harder to start and not maintaining a steady idle. I took it to our semi-trusted repair shop and was told it needed an EGR valve, plugs, coil, and ignition wires. $580! These all seemed like repairs I could do and so I have worked through all of these. I replaced the EGR valve and that seemed to make the problem actually worse. (so I put the old one back in) I put in new plugs and that improved the idle a small amount. Then I put in the new coil and that seemed to steady the idle a bit more. But here is what I have discovered through my many test drives after making these incremental repairs: The car starts now from cold very well and runs great for the first 20 minutes or so but...when it gets hot after 15 minutes or so of 50 mph driving, the idle drops and the engine wants to cut off. At low revs it seems to stumble and lose power. I think this is what my daughter was experiencing originally and none of my early test drives were long enough to surface the original problem. I have read that the Idle Control Valve might be a culprit in this sort of behavior.
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We have a Ford Focus wagon that idles rough once the engine starts coming up to temperature. When you first start the car it's fine. For example, today I started the car, drove it up the road to the store and it was fine, but upon returning to my driveway just a few minutes later, as the engine temperature was just starting to come up, it started idling really rough. The idle is so rough it sounds like it's on the verge of stalling, but it never has actually stalled. An oxygen sensor has been replaced and it was good for a while, but now the problem is back. The check engine light is on as well.
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I just purchased my first foreign car ever. it is a 2002 Elantra it idles very rough changed plugs using NGK and wires new fuel filter and ran 2 full tanks of high grade fuel with STP fuel injector cleaner. but had no effect on idle also have no check or service engine light. What to check next?
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The 2001 Passat 1.8lT has an engine warning light on and feels like it is running on less than all four cylinders.( very rough idle) This is the first time we have seen this particular warning light and the manual suggests that it has a problem with the catalytic convertor.( 170K miles on the car) The car had no symptoms until the light came on today and the car was serviced last week. ( oil change and new tires) It seems that every time I take the car in for service something goes haywire shortly afterward.
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Recently replaced plugs/wires on soon-to-be 10 year old '04 SF 3.5L (157K mi.) for the first time.
Plugs were OE Champion Platinum and all 6 looked identical except for excessive gap of .010 +/- due to all the miles. Replaced plugs with same as OE. Old plug wires looked good, but replaced them with aftermarket wires ( fit was as good as OE). Also replaced plenum gasket.
Problem is: engine runs rough at idle and high rpm and appears to be mis-firing. CEL is off and code reader shows no Trouble Codes stored.
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Every time i stop for gas..my 01 santa fe is hard to start..it would take 4 to 5 start before she goes, then i have to keep the rpm up, bring her to idle..after that shes ok, till the next fill up.. the only way around this is to keep her running while gassing up..while filling up she run rough idle, some time engine shuts off..then its hard to start..
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I drive a 2001 Ford Focus ZTS with ~133000. I just recently filled up my coolant reservoir with 50/50 coolant. 2 days later I needed to fill it again. I went through an entire jug of coolant in 4 days. It seems to be leaking from the top of the engine and the engine runs slightly rough and has a hard time starting some days (more often recently). How bad is it doc?
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I have a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 (2D Hatchback) that has been randomly stalling since we bought it. There is no engine light, the dealership couldn't get it to stall and just gave it back. Another garage got it to stall and thought it might be the "idle-oxygen sensor" (not sure if I'm remembering the name correctly), but that didn't stop it from stalling either.
My wife is ready to dump it, but even spending a couple thousand a year on repairs is less than the grand total of a year's payments on a new car, insurance, etc. But it would be nice to fix it.
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Almost every time I start my 2001 Ford Focus, it won't start. The starter functions but the engine won't start. I have to pump it, give it gas, and once it starts, it's perfectly fine, no stalling, no problems after that. That is until I turn the engine off. When I go to start it again, say after doing an errand or two, it may or may not happen again throughout the day, the problem only occurring when I attempt to start it.
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Back after months...van has been checked by 2 ford dealer mechanics here in VA , nothing.
Now it's the opposite ...temp outside 90 or higher, drive it for 8 -10 ml, park and come back after 15 min. From shopping, try to start, won't idle, stalls every time I try , after 6-8 attempts, back to normal, all together 3 times, last time was so bad, had a real problem to make it back home, at every stop, it stalled.
Back to the shop ....they drove several times, no show ...it's fine, don't know what to do ????
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So I have a 2001 ranger 2.3l . Runs very rough at idle.code says misfire in cyl.#1. I have changed plugs, wires, coil packs all motocraft. I did a compression test..
#1.170
#2 180
#3. 185
#4 . 180
Compression seems fine,but where do i go from here? Anything else i can check/replace to solve this?
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Have a 2001 F150 FX4x4 and since the weather changed and started having days below 40 the truck has started running rough for about the first 15-20 miles. When you first start it starts like normal for first 3-5 min and then it starts loping real bad like it has a cam in it!
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A couple weeks ago my 01 7.3 with 265,xxx started ideling rough and stalling. I had driven in all day Sunday and the next day it started out of the blue! It would barely start idle rough and stall out no CEL. I have singed changed the icp, fuel filter and I have checked oil level. Also used fuel cleaner. Still had no luck. When I changed the icp sensor the check engine light came on and was no change I then got a ford oem camshaft sensor and my truck fired right up but still sounded like it had a little miss here and there drove it for a few weeks fine now back to the same thing it will start up and idle fine for 10 seconds then start the rough idle but won't stall out anymore just idle rough. I am stumped I can't get any codes to pull up and if oriellys uses there scan tool while the truck was running it would shut the truck off! I can't find any answers.
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Sunday my truck began to sputter at idol while at a light and continued when parked. My first assumption was another coil pack has gone out. Went to autoparts store to get a new one and run the codes to tell me which cylinder it was. Code P0357 came up referring to cylinder G which seemed odd to me as it usually gives me a number rather than a letter. Bought the coil pack and went home to swap it out. Replaced the coil and with no change in the idol I googled the code. I have now replaced the coil, inspected the plug and wires around the plug and now I am at a loss of what to do next.
There is only a rough idol, no hesitation when driving or accelerating. Along with that, I've notice that if I'm going between 30-50 and take my foot off the gas it doesn't slow down, it's as though the cruise control is on... After a few miles on the highway and come to a stop, the RPMs are around 1k for about 30 seconds then drops to almost stall before catching itself and begins to sputter.
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2001 f250 v10 6.8l runs a little rough at idle, low rpm is ok between 1700 and 3000 rpm but around 3 it starts to shudder while driving let off gas get back on its fine, new plugs 1,000 miles ago has throttle body spacer and cold air intake, stock everything else..
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My7.3 is idling rough till I pull the fuse for the fuel pump them it will smoothen out I ran a by pass switch to us my truck but the fuel mileage is bad why
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2001 f350 v10, initial problem was when i came to stop at light it idled rough. I changed all plugs,injectors and COP, and bad connectors thereto. Changed the clock spring as well. Now the truck idles like crap at first start of of the day then run fine there after. Replaced IAC, TPS, Temp sensor. Condition getting worse and now the temp gauge does not work. I am thinking maybe CAT Converter loaded up?
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