Ford Focus X Reg Misfiring/Judder

[Sherbs]

Spark Plugs look nice, new and white around the porcelain.

HT Leads look fine inside, no corrosion. Engine is 58k Mileage so not that bad.

Friend suggests trying another Coil Pack, and his fault code reader doesn't work on my Focus. Any other ideas besides?

 

[Scania]

Push all HT leads etc down firmly to make sure they are seated properly.

At a GUESS,

Could be the coil pack, or something like a failed engine sensor.

 

[Ricochet J]

I have this same problem on my 1.6 X Reg Focus. I'm trying to find the root cause of this.

So far I've been directed to:
- Faulty Coil Pack
- Clogged EGR

HOWEVER, I'm also suffering from what seems to be an oil loss problem. There's no mayonaise under the engine oil filler cap suggesting the head gasket is fine. I've placed cardboard under the engine bay and it was clean suggesting there is no leak. I honestly don't see how I can use 2L of oil in 3000 or so miles.

 

[Sherbs]

Your oil loss problem sounds like what I've been having, no mayo either. My friend who is a car enthusiast thinks it's my heavy footed driving thats why I didn't mention it. Heard that they can leak while the engine is running/driving so no leaks while stationary.

Currently put around 1.5-2l in around 3300 miles.

Judder/misfire normally seems to happen at the start of a gear, if I use a lower gear more than normal I don't get as much judder. I pull away, 1st, 2nd JUDDER, back to 1st then get to around 15-20mph before going to 3rd.

It judders in 5th sometimes doing 45-50.

 

[logix42p]

I had a misfire on my old focus x-reg and that turned out to be the coil pack. try swaping 1-3 then 2-4 and see if the misfire moves.

 

[Ricochet J]

Even with a heavy right foot which I don't think I have (I never take the engine past 3000rpm, and only in some circumstances exceed 2000rpm) I can't see how our cars can use 2L in 3000 or so miles.

I'll keep you informed if I hear anything.

 

[Scania]

Your oil loss problem sounds like what I've been having, no mayo either. My friend who is a car enthusiast thinks it's my heavy footed driving thats why I didn't mention it. Heard that they can leak while the engine is running/driving but not when stationary.

Currently put around 1.5-2l in around 3300 miles.

That sounds a little excessive to me.

As an example, I run an e39 528i, its old ('97) and very high miles ( > 260k) I drive it like the rocket powered roller-skate that it feels like after a week in an HGV o) - hard - yet it does not use or lose oil.

 

[Sherbs]

Yeah I get to 5,000 RPM at least twice a week. I am sure that is heavy footed?

edit: Ricochet, mine is also the 1.6 version. (Your one isn't a light blue colour too by any chance is it? )

 

[Joshy]

There's no mayonaise under the engine oil filler cap suggesting the head gasket is fine.

Sorry but the mayonnaise test is pretty useless unless oil and water are mixing together big time. Get someone to do a proper compression test on it before making assumptions about the health of the Head Gasket .

 

[Ricochet J]

Sorry but the mayonnaise test is pretty useless unless oil and water are mixing together big time. Get someone to do a proper compression test on it before making assumptions about the health of the Head Gasket .

Advice taken on board.

 

[Sherbs]

I had a misfire on my old focus x-reg and that turned out to be the coil pack. try swaping 1-3 then 2-4 and see if the misfire moves.

I guess I can't tell unless I have a fault code reader which cylinders are misfiring?

 

[Joshy]

I guess I can't tell unless I have a fault code reader which cylinders are misfiring?

Remove a HT lead from a cylinder, start it up, see if the misfire is any worse, if so that cylinder is fine, switch engine off, put that lead back, move onto the next cylinder and repeat. Eventually you should get to a cylinder were the misfire doesn't get any worse. That's the problem.

 

[Scania]

Cheers Joshy, you posted what I was too slow to post!

Yeah I get to 5,000 RPM at least twice a week. I am sure that is heavy footed?

Well, its not taking it to the red line...

 

[aproctor]

Yeah I get to 5,000 RPM at least twice a week. I am sure that is heavy footed?

edit: Ricochet, mine is also the 1.6 version. (Your one isn't a light blue colour too by any chance is it? )

Heavy footed does not mean you use the rev range, you are meant to. I could drive it to 6k rpm every day but it could take me 5 minutes to get there.

Heavy footed would be slamming the foot on your accelerator all the time and getting the revs up quickly.

 

[Joshy]

Heavy footed would be slamming the foot on your accelerator all the time and getting the revs up quickly.

Otherwise known as driving through London .

 

[Scania]

Otherwise known as driving through London .

I spend most of my time in & around the big smoke practically on tickover...

Heavy footed does not mean you use the rev range, you are meant to. I could drive it to 6k rpm every day but it could take me 5 minutes to get there.

Heavy footed would be slamming the foot on your accelerator all the time and getting the revs up quickly.

Yes absolutely, use the rev range - shame cars don't have "Green bands" on the rev counter like trucks do (quite another thread) - I don't think upto circa 5krpm is excessive, well, with a petrol anyway!

 

[MuvverRussia]

My money is on the coil pack.

Is the check engine light on?

 

[Sherbs]

Yeah it is, only just come on though. Had the problem for over a week.

 

[wijcc]

I had the same problem.. it turned out to be the coilpack.. apparently it is quite a common problem with ford focus.
My focus which is a 1.6 2001 model, drinks a lot of engine oil too. My previous cars peugeot 106 and mitsubishi carisma never lost any engine oil.

 

[nshire]

Also make sure your are using 1.0mm gap spark plugs, not 1.3mm as they can cause early death of coil packs.

Ford apparently changed it later on and when you buy sparkies from ford they come pre gapped to 1.0mm rather than 1.3mm.