Hi everyone! Just bought a 2001 focus 1.6 zetec on saturday. quite pleased with it in general but one thing is niggling me..... when i got it on the motorway at first , it choked and lost pretty much all power under heavy load ( booting it through 70mph in 4th ) , exhaust backfiring , dropped away down to 5 mphh , putting the pedal down made it choke more and lose revs!
pulled over , engine off and back on and it got me home ok... thought maybe dirty fuel ? put redex through , filled the tank and revved the life out of it for a few mins and it seemed to clear and hasnt done it again . the only thing now is that theres a strong smell of petrol around the car and coming through the vents and the fuel economy doesnt seem quite right ( greedy! ) . Theres no leaking onto the road / pavement or obvious fuel spillage elsewhere.
On further investigation the car looks like its had a new coil pack ,new plugs , new leads and a new fuel pump. now im getting worried , you dont change all those parts unless your trying to clear a problem ?

ideas ?

 

check the basics first, new fuel filter, plugs etc

i was going to suggest coil pack problem, but on that year of manufacture it normally brings on the EML light if coil pack problem. check its a genuine ford one as the Chinese ones are shite

 

will do !

genuine ford ones say FORD i take it ?

 

yup, or should be

 

Any fault codes?

 

not ran diagnostic yet as only got it on saturday and been at work. no EML though

 

Check plugs, my 1.6 eats plugs for fun and runs as you've described! Also if it's not got them already, fit Ford/NGK plugs. Then Coilpack, they're know to be shite on zetecs.

 

Any other symptoms? Are the dials all working correctly?

 

will do . how much is genuine coil pack ??

as far as i can see everythings kosher

 

wow! one spark plug (3) was absolutely TOAST . replaced it and the smell seems to have gone...... is that the end of the issue or do i do anything else ?

 

Not sure on price of genuine coilpacks. What was up with the plug? Mine have a habit of cracking/destroying the ceramic...

 

the plug i replaced was completely black and cracked..... and the ignition coil pack had a loose lead and only one fixing bolt screwed in!! thought i had fixed it , but the smell came back this morning . turns out it was a completely seperate issue! , opened the hood , but this time left the engine running...... only to be greeted by a fine spray of shell vpower 10 feet in the air. someone has fitted one of those little round chrome after market fuel filters in the rubber hose between the copper fuel line and the injector arm inlet. the jubilee clip he had put it on with has split the rubber ever so slightly , unnoticeable when the engines off and the hose isnt under pressure. so i've been spraying fuel onto the foam padding at the back of the engine when its on!! hence why no obvious leak but a god awful smell when the A/C was on. one wee rubber hose and a new clip later , disconnected the battery to reset the ECU and fuel pattern ......and the problems gone!

still going to get a new FORD coil pack though cause the one thats on it appears to be a shitty japanese one . and a treat it to a new MAF meter , k&n box and a new manifold and aftermarket exhaust now to help it breathe!

 

Sounds like a lucky escape! Glad you've sorted the dangerous fuel issue.

 

hmmmmmm it just choked again going from 2nd into 3rd , around 4000RPM . EML light on this time around ! think a new CAT / LAMBDA might be in order.

 

sounds like you bought a bad car there to me welcome to fords hope you get it sorted tho mate

 

ok from a bit of internet reading ...... this is a common problem in 2001 zetecs when the fuel drops below a quarter tank...... this ties in with whats happening to me also, as both times when i've filled up its gone away to an extent ... but no one seems to have any clue why ????????? it also seems worse after the car has just gone sharp right . ie. roundabout

 

ok , after a month of driving the car keeping it above a quarter tank of petrol. the problem hasnt returned. however there is still a petrol smell in the back seat. i just lifted the back seat and someone has cut a hole in the fucking floor ( im guessing to acces the fuel tank / change the fuel pump ) and just covered the hole with a bit of riveted sheet metal!!!! is this normal?!?!?!?! can i do anything about it now or do i just throw this thing on the scrap heap now ?