right were to start.

The car won't start 50% of the time when it does fire it will splutter and misfire a 5 seconds or more then it will pick up and idle pefectly fine for as long as i leave it, once it has settled itself i can rev it perfectly fine in neutral. now if i put it in Drive (auto Box) it will idle fine if i put my foot on the gas it will splutter badly and either 1. drive very slowerly and poorly or 2. cut out. i drove it 0.4 miles in 20 minutes and is currently sitting on the side of the road as the battery is flat from starting it. also when the car is moving it hates corners! it will cut out round every corner just losses revs and dies. the petrol pump appairs to be working

i have a mate who knows a bit about cars and has been helping me the last couple days. we have had it on diagnostics. we got code P0171 which is running lean (bank 1) we have also put it on live data diagnostic and it came up with nothing. we have carb cleaner sprayed the engine for leaks found nothing, the diagnostic reset the ecu and the warning light has not come back on!! any idea what the most likely cause would be as we are both stumped

 

any ideas, just fire something at me as i'm stuck

Just got back from picking the car up, had to get towed home, but i sat waiting for my mate to turn up for 20 minutes the entire time the car was ticking over just fine, i know if i had tried to drive it, it would have died so left it running, mate turns up and starts towing me, i have it in neutral and not touching the gas, car just died as soon as it moved with the tow??????

 

What car is it?

 

sorry forgot that bit. it's a 2001 ford focus 1.6 zetec estate automatic

 

You have to look at the sparkplugs. I have had the problem a few times here in my garage. Propebly the coil is the problem. Don't drive it to much because the coil can damenge the ecu internal and than you have to change the ecu. Just try another coil and leads.

 

thanks m8 will try that as i have an old spare 1

 

fuel pump?????

 

ok let me now.

 

can't find my coil pack must have binned it. have been looking online for coil pack problems and there is one very similar to what i have got, so will pop to the scrapyard tomorrow and get one.

pretty sure it's not the fuel pump

 

i have replaced the Coil Pack, Maf Sensor and apparently the lamda sensor would make the car rich not lean. i'm lost any help would be greatly welcome as nothing has made it work

 

long shot but have you checked the fuel lines for leaks? or the tank for that matter as that could explain cutting out round corners.
my focus 1.8 16v was realy slugish untill i changerd the fuel filter,had to drop the tank to do it mind.

when and where did you last fill up as bad fuel may come in to it as you seem to have done all the basics.

good luck

john

 

pretty sure there's no petrol leaks as would have noticed by now, also we have emptied and refuelled the car. The fuel filter was changed summer last year so what would so what is the chance of the car running fine in idle but dieing when i start moving it?

 

would check the rubber t piece or tube under coil pack normally rubber goes funny lets in warm air etc pretty common fault
also check temp sensor in the head,runs with the ecu acts as a choke.

 

sounds like a loose connection somewhere! possibly a connector thats not on properly! check your fuel cut off switch, possibly playin up! also check crank / cam sensors.
might be a faulty fuel pump. smack the tank if u can when its running to see if it affects it!

 

we used the fuel pump to empty the petrol tank, we did this to see if it was working and it was working fine. (we didnt empty the entire tank like that though lol)

Loose connection or cut of switch, like i said i could start the car now and leave it running untill it ran out of fuel without it cutting out. I have checked for leaks and connections didnt find anything.

How how do i check the cam/crank sensor?

 

got hold of a fuel pressure regulatorm wasen't that lol no leaks at all, only fuel pump not tested properly. When i have the car idling if i turn the steering wheel, or turn the heating on, lights anything like that it causes the revs to drop on the car to a point where it splutteres a bit then creeps back up and runs ok????

 

Would a clogged EGR valve cause these probs?

 

Did you change the coil pack in the end mate? dont go for a cheap go for a brand new one and spend at least 50 quid

 

yeah it's not the

Coil Pack
Maf Sensor
Fuel Pressure Regulator
Air filter
Fuel Filter
Spark Plugs
HT Leads
Fuel
Can't find any leaks air or otherwise
Battery has been tested and it good alternator has been tested and is good

 

I had a core plug leak so decided to fix this while i had nothing to do. just found the cylinder head temperature sensor smashed to bits and also the in dash DTC is telling me it's faulty, would this cause my problems?

 

Quite possibly, as this gives the ECU a reading of the engine's temperature. If it thinks it is hotter than it actually is, then it will run lean. Probably worth replacing it and see if that fixes things!

 

no choice other than fixing it as she won't idle at all with it out, got one ordered for the morning just not sure how im gonna connect it yet as they dont supply the wiring argh

 

What do you mean they don't supply the wiring? Is the loom damaged as well? How did the sender get damaged?

 

unsure how it got damaged all i can guess is it got wet when my core plugs leaked and it's as brittle as can be and just fell apart also the plug bit the connects to the sensor has done the same thing aswell as all the metal contacts are as rusty as hell, ford don't know what bit i am talking about as it's not on the diagram so want me to follow the wire to the end and get the code number, not doing this as it would take me months to fine the end lol, going to scrapyard in a bit to hack one off another car, hope that works

 

Should work ok, take the wiring plug off and solder it back on. Good luck!