My wife has an 02 plate Focus 1.4. It's been pretty much faultlessly reliable until today when it refuses to start. It turns over and has fuel and spark, and no DTCs come up. I tried jumping it off my car in case the battery was weak but it's the same.

What do I check next??

 

sounds like its flodded mate press the throttle to the floor and hold it there whilst cranking it over

 

Are the plugs wet?

Martin

 

Check fuel pressure.

Check power feed to injectors (from power hold relay in battery junction box)

Is it turning over normally, or fast/irregular?

Is it sparking on all plugs?

 

Had the plugs out, not wet as such but a bit damp and smelt of fuel - I had been turning the car over so they were no more damp than I'd expect. Gave them a clean and put back. It did fire and run for literally a second when I held my foot to the floor before taking plugs out, but then cut out.

Haven't tried checking for spark on all plugs, just one.

I've got a voltmeter but wouldn't know where to check and for what voltage if I'm honest, electrics aren't exactly my strong point!

Running out of light do it seems like the eufe's going to be stuck indoors with the kids tomorrow!

 

It's turning over regularly and quickly, probably about right, but then it's never not started before, so I don't know what it should sound like if that makes sense.

 

Keep it nailed whilst turning over when it fires keep it nailed till the revs come up to clear unburnt fuel out of the cylinders try to keep the revs above 3k for 10seconds or so

 

Are the plugs good? You clearly have fuel!

Only thing I can think of is the NTC sensor (CTS) although if this would have gone out of range I would have thought it would have flagged up a fault and illuminated EML.

Did you check for faults via OBD or via the dash?

Martin

 

My brother had this. Turns out the coil part of the ecu was spannered. Well the bit that tells it to spark. check the spark is nice and strong...

 

This is why I asked if spark at all plugs.

Coil drivers in ECU can fail.

On the coil there are 3 terminals, centre one is live from ignition, then either side are switched grounds from ECU. Providing you have 12v on centre one, on cranking you should get a ground on either side.

 

The plugs seem ok. They're less than a year old, once she's got the kids in bed I'll ask her to come and try the other three plugs to see if they're sparking.

I can't get it to start sufficiently to 'clear its throat' so to speak.

Checked the codes with a reader (Bluefin)

 

Ok take all the plugs out and crank the engine over for ten seconds or so then leave it heat the plugs up with a blow torch or gas hob on the electrode tip to burn any fuel off on them refit the plugs hold throttle open again and turn key hopefully sort you're problem

 

I checked for spark on all four plugs and all seemed ok. Cleaned them up some more and it started with foot held to the floor. Took it for a run and it's good as gold. Starts and stops perfectly.

It does 'beep' when you start it, but it's done that for ages?

Think I'll replace the plugs to be on the safe side, and if it does it again the coil pack too.

Thanks for your help guys, it's what PF does best!

 

Glad your sorted mate.

 

good news