01 Street at 94,000 miles studders only when accelerating, lights seem to fade at times as well as door chime and light goes on as if a door was open. It's hurting my milage and have hard time getting speed. I also think the muffler is hotter than usual and makes a different sound. Any idea?
Do you mean spark plugs and wires? It might be that I need a new set of spark plugs or the spark plug coil. I have the Ford racing spark plug wires on them.
I would, as well, also look at the fuel pump if you have not had that recall done. I do believe it applied to the '01 Focus as well. Plugs and wires are certainly a culprit as well and both the plugs, wires and fuel pump would cause a mileage hit.
Another thing you may need to look at since you mentioned the lights and such would be the battery and alternator. If you have access to a multi-meter (volt meter) take a reading on your battery voltage while it is idling and when you have it turned off and it has been off for about 30 minutes or so and report that back here if you can.
FocusOnBlue wrote: 01 Street at 94,000 miles studders only when accelerating, lights seem to fade at times as well as door chime and light goes on as if a door was open. It's hurting my milage and have hard time getting speed. I also think the muffler is hotter than usual and makes a different sound. Any idea?
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
I'm thinking he's getting the battery light because of the idel running so low and the car dieing. You should be able to call the dealer and give them the Vin # of your car and they should be able to tell if you had the recall for the fuel pump done. If you put FR wires on the car make sure the boots for the wires are firm on the plugs. Did this problem happen right after you put the wires on?
SyntheticShield wrote: I would, as well, also look at the fuel pump if you have not had that recall done. I do believe it applied to the '01 Focus as well. Plugs and wires are certainly a culprit as well and both the plugs, wires and fuel pump would cause a mileage hit.
I went to my local Ford dealer about the fuel pump issue and they told me that it only applies to certain models for the pump and my car didn't qualify yet I have been having some of the same problems with my car......over hte weekend, the car was very sluggish getting up to speed and wouldn't idle, not so much sputtering, We changed the spark plugs and it is better, but not tip top.
____________________ Lovin' My ZX3!!!! I finally gave it a name
SMKNS2!!!!
Thanks for the help, I figured out what is was. Looks like water got into the spark plug #1 which gave a code of cylinder 1 missfire. I had the fuel pump replaced already.
Dang, how much water did you get in there? Just a little bit of water I dont see being a problem as it would vaporize during the combustion process, it is in fact, a method use to de-carbonize the valves and combustion chambers.
Though I do agree with fx3, its probably time to change the plugs if not done alread. I have done plenty of services on cars and have yet to see any plugs that could go 100k, even the platinum ones. In fact I recently did a vehicle that was just a tad over 100k and besides the plugs being ovbiously well beyond the end of their life most of the gaps were way beyond where they should be.
FocusOnBlue wrote: Thanks for the help, I figured out what is was. Looks like water got into the spark plug #1 which gave a code of cylinder 1 missfire. I had the fuel pump replaced already.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
SyntheticShield wrote: Dang, how much water did you get in there? Just a little bit of water I dont see being a problem as it would vaporize during the combustion process, it is in fact, a method use to de-carbonize the valves and combustion chambers.
Though I do agree with fx3, its probably time to change the plugs if not done alread. I have done plenty of services on cars and have yet to see any plugs that could go 100k, even the platinum ones. In fact I recently did a vehicle that was just a tad over 100k and besides the plugs being ovbiously well beyond the end of their life most of the gaps were way beyond where they should be.
FocusOnBlue wrote: Thanks for the help, I figured out what is was. Looks like water got into the spark plug #1 which gave a code of cylinder 1 missfire. I had the fuel pump replaced already.Also if it was only water that caused the problem how come over time it didn't dry up and run fine? I can't see how water could continuously leak into the #1 plug? Maybe oil from the valve cover? I hope it's not antifreeze! That's big problems. Is the water located in the gapped area or by the wire conection point?
Last edited on Wed May 10th, 2006 05:01 pm by smoknzx3
I believe oil fell when filling, that's how it got bad. But there's still a struggle on pick-up after installing new plugs. The car did ran on low power because of the tension pulley wore out and belt fell, could this have affected the coil pack?
Effect the coil... No effect the car running yes. I would think the coil would still produce the spark and your plugs should fire the same regardless. Are you talking about the accsessory pullies? or the timing belt?
My first Grand Prix I had, the day I bought it, the belt broke on it. As a result the car got really hot really fast. Stands to reason, nothing to drive the water pump. However, that heat took out one of the coil packs.
Now, Im not saying that is your issue, but it may be worth looking at. If you have a multi-meter or an ohm meter then you can check the coil packs in a basic sense. The primary side of the coil should have about 1K of resistance the secondary side should have about 0.1 - 1.0 ohms of resistance.
The secondary side is the side of the coil pack that goes to the spark plugs. I know the Focus has that four tower coil pack, whereas on the Grand Prix they have three individual coil packs, two cylinders per pack.
Not having one in front of me Im not sure what pins you would measure the primary and secondary with. I would also check the terminals for corrosion.
However, I would also look at things like battery voltage as well during idle just to make sure the battery isnt the problem or the alternator. There is a host of things that would cause a hesitation, some of the things that come to mind is an air leak, vacuum line leak, and since you had coolant/water in the the #1 cylinder it could possibly be a head gasket leak.
Im just throwing some things out there for ya right now. The water in the #1 cylinder has me a tad concerned. If you have a coolant intrusion into one of the cylinders thats going to cause issues obviously. A compression check would confirm the head gasket. An oil analysis would confirm whether or not you have a coolant leak.
If you are getting coolant in the cylinder then its going to coat that plug and cause it to foul up as well. Coolant has additives in it that will stick to the plug. While the water may evaporate the additive wont necessarily do so. Also, what plugs did you put in there, stock ones?
Id pull that #1 plug every few days or so and see if is continuing to foul up or show signs of coolant. If so then Id see about getting that head gasket replaced.
Again, Im just throwing some things out there. If you were closer we could hook up my scan tool and go for a test drive and see what we found and we could run a compression check.
Have you noticed any serious foaming in the oil when you pull the dipstick out? Or do you notice any coolant type smell on the oil?
If you have specific questions, post them here or email me and I'll be more than glad to offer whatever help I can.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
It was oil that fell into the #1 cylinder by some spilling when did the oil change. That is what did the corroding in the old spark plugs. I put in the autolite double platiums sparks new, it improved a lot. But every other run there's a electrical problem, whereas sometimes the door chime and light goes on when accelerating. I check now at the new sparks and they are clean and don't believe they will corrode so quick. On the wires, the tip looks clean, like new. So the only thing that I can think about being is the pack. Would the vaccum leak have anything to do with the electric? If the radio is on the FM station, you can hear some noise as well. The battery is an Optima so it's performing great and the audio doesn't drain it, so can't be battery/alternator.
Still with the blues! I just found out it makes a hissing sound when accelerating, check engine light blinks and check fuel cap light helps the decoration on the dashboard.
Now is when I wish I kinda still had my Focus around so I could help out more. Do you have an intake on it? If so, check the seals on that, though if one of those were leaking I would suspect it would not cause any hesitation unless it is after the MAF. Vacuum lines obviously with the hissing sound.
I kinda have the feeling the lights showing up are telling you something, thats awful specific for an overall electrical problem, which by your account is not likely the cause.
Check the vacuum lines going to the evap system. To check the coil pack (to see if there is a breach there) take a fine mist water sprayer and when it is dark out, spary it over the area of the coil pack. Not close to it, maybe a half a foot or so above it. If you see arcing anywhere, well you found the problem.
To check for vacuum leaks, take a can of propane or I believe (though not sure how safe) you can use MAP gas too. I dont know (as I have never tried it) if butane would work, like that found in a lighter, if it would it may be easier to handle and maneuver in tight areas. But whatever you use, if you have a vacuum leak and you get the gas near it, it 'should' cause a rise in the idle speed.
Have you took the car to autozone to see if they can see any codes? If the check engine light came on, it should have set a code. There are two types of codes, pending and active or current. Current or active codes will turn on the check engine light until the issue is cleared. Pending codes wont and are issues the computer spotted but were not recurring problems, usually generated when a component test is ran such as those the ECU would run on the O2 sensors, evap system and so forth.
If the CEL is off the pending code may still be there and would be available to be read. Im not sure if the readers that Autozone use would pick it up, I know my scan tool does, so I'll assume for the time being the ones they use do so as well.
I dont know specifically if it would be the case with the Focus, but in some models the CEL light will flash if there are misfires, which it should set a pending code for that. The fuel cap light flashing would lead me to believe there is something wrong with the evap system, possibly not being able to pressurize. One code that would set I believe is P0440. Usually an indication the fuel cap is not sealing, but it could be set by an issue with the evap system itself.
One other thing to check would be the DPFE sensor. I never had an issue with mine, but its a commone issue on the Focus, but not ever having experienced the issue I cannot tell you what the symptoms of a bad one are.
Hope this helps out.
____________________ My car is a synner! It uses Amsoil Synthetic Lubricants.
2001 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP
It whines a lot, but I like it
