Bks

I have a focus st170 i have made many mod's to improve its power and performance, a pipercross induction filter with a silcone hose air intake with replacing my standard hose, magnacor ignition leads, a scorpion stainless steel exhaust and bluefin install on tune 4, but is still not feeling a great lot of power mainly when pulling off from start up, as even noticing the struggle against old saxo's vtr's and standard civic type r's, could this be to something engine wise or electrical not functioning to how it should.. could anyone help or have experienced the same, as now been considering a scorpion sports cat and a manifold exhaust wrap as purchased denso iridum spark plugs for it now.

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

TBH the only mod you have listed there that will give power increase is the bluefin install. Everything else is for response, reliability and sound. Maybe a few bhp more but I wouldnt think noticable ammounts.

Seeing as every civic typeR model will see 60 in under 7 seconds I am not surprised you would struggle against them.
As for saxo VTR's. Std They will hit 60 around 9-10 seconds. However, you never know what mods people may have.

Best thing you could do is get it to a RR and see what power it is producing and see if it has any hiccups.

Bks

Thanks for the reply above.. seems best to find out what its giving out.. been also thinking if its a fuel release or fuel pump issue, and also other prob's get a felling of a sticky accelarator in cold weather and possible a clutch prob in reverse as backing up every so often the battery light flickers like the car was just about to cut out..

focusrrx87

most st170 never even made 170bhp, on the rollers they seem to be 10-15 down on standard plus they are heavier than a normal focus, your complaint is the shame as most st170 owners. Enclosed induction kits work best on Focus's.

focusrrx87

most st170 never even made 170bhp, on the rollers they seem to be 10-15 down on stated plus they are heavier than a normal focus, your complaint is the shame as most st170 owners. Enclosed induction kits work best on Focus's.

focusrrx87

most st170 never even made 170bhp, on the rollers they seem to be 5-10 even 15bhp down on stated plus they are heavier than a normal focus, your complaint is the same as most st170 owners. Enclosed induction kits work best on Focus's.

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

Might be an electrical fault by the sounds of things. Might be a slight missfire causing the lack of low down power Would defo get it on a RR and get it diagnosed if it doesnt seem right. As they will be able to see exactly what everything is doing and see where the fault is.
I myself have spent a fortune trying to diagnose a problem myself then not sorted it, got it diagnosed by a tuner to find out it was a cheap repair of something that I just missed.

Bks

The ignition can be touchy it turns and fires up ok most of the time.. but then the odd time i can turn the ignit key and an electrical feeling of it being dead.. then i have to release the key and turn it again to fire it up

Bks

or should i say the feeling on turning the ignition the feeling its just died on me.. and then another key turn or 3 gets it going.. so am also feeling if it is a possible electrical defect.. as the garage i purchased it from had changed the lamba sensor as the engine light came up when i first owned it..

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

By the sound sof thing you want to make sure the engine is sound before you start worrying about increasing performance. Trying to squeeze more power out of a dodgy engine will always end up in tears.

Bks

If the car doe's have an electrical defect I.E. even my ECU would this result in the bluefin not functioning to it's tune, and why i not seen any real increase in power

Bks

When i had my scorpion exhaust fitted by a local garage.. and radiator flush and coolant change on completion of this work the garage did tell me they picked up a wheel bearing gone.. and will need to be fixed just before the MOT

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

Electrical faults can be local or broad depending on where in the system the fault is if it has one.
When and where was the bluefin installed?

Bks

I do see what u mean.. best not to over run an engine thats not functioning correctly or over-power with straining it.. I purchased the car from GKS of ivybridge and now feeling i should of got it checked over before buying as first owning the ST170 i was told the brake disc's were renewed and heat shield.. but still had to have the lamba changed and a resistor to the heat and cool fan replaced, as it would only operate on 4 before now works with 1 2 3, but odd times rattles, feelings of concern that i could of purchased a car with faults that could of been ignored.

Bks

I have a plug and play bluefin i purchased off demontweeks and after the modified exhaust was fitted i installed the tune 4 into my plug below the steering wheel.. if this assists.. in what i have done to the car

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

After doing a little bit of googling, I assume the tune 4 is also "race 97" which is supposed to be for induction kits and run on high octane fuel. Also, you will very rarely see a power increase from a bluefin install. Seems to be just for reliabilty/response etc. the car will "go" better, but wont have anymore power. Well, so say the many reviews I've stumbled across.

I would go for the RR treatment and see what comes up.

My RS turbo seemed a bit lacking in power when I first bought it. Turns out it had a weak actuator and was holding no boost! Made 99bhp! I would have never guessed it was missing that many ponies.

Bks

my bluefin has a diagnostics option on it.. has it says at the begining to install bluefin Y or N extra options on these is a diagnostics option

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

yeah I assume that will be for the bluefin/ECU side of things. However, If your car does have a fault it could be coming from elsewhere.

Bks

Think this is one thing i should of done was research if power increase makes any difference to the ST170 and what really works before spending my hard earned cash on it.. as the Scorpion exhaust cost Ł270 plus fitting Ł320, bluefin Ł227, managor leads Ł50, denso spark plugs Ł48 and Pipercross foam induction cone filter Ł65.. the spending of Ł710 on its mod's and feel i'm possibly going mod crazy to improve its power but not with real powerful result.. just love the car but feel it should be giving true power that it's not which has been my addiction.. will look into the cost of my local tuner ap motors or alan jeffery to get it diagnosed if my bluefin's diagnostics option is not equipped for this job..

TomStarkey

On the sticky throttle side that suggests you have gunk on the butterfly valve in the throttle body. Some good old carb cleaner and cloth with fix that

Bks

The advice for my sticky throttle has been very helpful, and will get the butterfly valve in the throttle body cleaned, My tuner was jammed out, but had a brief look, at my engine. Pointed out the throttle cable resting on a very hot crankcase was not good, idle speed and accelaration was extremely poor and required adjusting and tightening, was possibly the reason to my feeling of a slip of the clutch and cut out feeling occurring when reversing, but importantly to the reasons of why the car was taking off like a bad condition 1.2L car.. Advised to use some cleaners for the fuel, oil and valves to see if any change, And an rr test would provide good info if the car is responding to the mod's and power increase, should of regained roundabout 10bhp with all mod's, but will gain another 5bhp with better cold air feed and sports cat, and manifold wrap, as there are very big tubes, which draws alot of heat, could even bring it to a 20bhp regain, but only the rr test could really provide that info in bhp increase, As informed the history to the ST170. The problem with performance was the standard air box intake was a poor design as a very small section fitting to the airbox from the front end of intake does not provide good amount of oxygen, which can be seen when the air box is opened and element removed, so not intaking a great velocity of cold air, Heat was a problem with the ST170 it draws alot of heat around the engine with the fans kicking in constantly to cool the temp, dragging its performance down, also be good to look into other faults that could be there that has not been diagonosed, is the distributor functioning but faulty, to why the mag leads are not sparking to its highest peak, is the valves sticky, is the Gasket wearing ETC.. So been informed a good investigation with good mechanical advice and to always receive as much knowledge as i can, to even owners who may of experienced this, so i pick up on what i really feel could be the cause, in which you all are helping with to narrowing down if there is a problem to it not giving good performance, also told to give it a good service and an oil change and filter change with only castrol edge.. but the adjustment and improvement, done to the idle speed and throttle has been good, getting a feeling of a better take off now and snappier response, would like to thank for the advice on speaking to my local tuner with my issue

Bks

Was Advised the manifold wrap would be less costly to get done, than the cost of buying a scorpion sports cat but would be good to fit the sports cat too, but to keep finance spending down the wrap would be best, would this be best

Chopshop85

iTrader: (4)

Wrapping a manifold will always help. keep the heat where it should be. A very cheap thing to do as well.
Ive got the downpipe of my RST wrapped as it sits very close to the starter motor and they have a tendancy to get knarky when they are hot.

The only trouble of removing the airbox for a cone filter to draw more air, if the st170 engine runs hot, pulling away will probably be worse as the cone is gonna slurp up all the hot air which doesnt do any engines any favours performance wise.

Take the tuners advice and get a few bits looked at then when you are all done with whatever he has reccomended get it down there for a RR check up. That will iron out any little creases left in performance etc.

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

Wrapping the Manifold will just disipate the heat elsewhere, ie to the exhaust valve seats etc and to the head which is not great. Some say its good to wrap some say its bad, controversial.
I hate all this talk of Heat soak etc, its rubbish as soon as the car is moving it is not longer a problem. I have a typhoon K &N on mt ST170 and it never suffers heat soak. Sounds like you have a very poorly ST170 as mine goes very well

Bks

I think it is Poorly, as the engine management light has re-appeared on the dash again, as when i first bought the car, when i took it back and had them fix it, they said they had to replace the lamba sensor, due to an O2 sensor fault, and will be warranted for 12mths, now informed them i need to bring the car back to them, but have been told it will cost Ł40 diagnostic's to check it is the same fault, but concerned if the car sales has sold me it with faults, (as even got the car from an auction), as when i had the scorpion exhaust fitted, i was informed i had a wheel bearing going on the car, which i did not know, but on my first purchase of the car, they said they had replaced the brake disc's and pads, And a new heat shield put on the car to pass the MOT and service before handing me the car. The bluefin superchip diagnostics did gather 001 DTC errors 1218 and cleared them but could not clear all the DTC errors, so will it be the lamba or will it be the ECU unit is faulty, problems i seem to need to find out, and am i being duped by the garage with a quick repair

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

When i switched to Dreamscience i kept my Bluefin unit for fault finding, Mine always says that it is unable to clear all codes. this is normal. I dont know what 1218 is, its not listed on the DTC Codes i have?
Usually a fault on the ST170 will be a common one, so its worth checking them all, IMRC unit, cable and check the level itself is intact, fuel pumps fail, both lambdas fail but only the front one effects the running of the car. Coil pack, and of course clutch.

Bks

its un-usual i got to admit, as the car goes fast, even with the engine management light on the dash, as it was very sluggish before on take off until i had the idle speed and throttle cable tightened by a tuner as a freebie, so reason to why its not gone under a full diagnostics, as worried of the cost it could spring up and is still under finance for just under another two yrs, so dont want to splash out to much cost yet, until i get the finance off, Another strange one i took the bluefin superchip tune 3 off and restored original back on, obviously EML sprung back on after a little while, but the speed hasn't lowered, seems there is no difference in performance, that puzzled me as i thought it would drop a little.. will the denso iriduim spark plugs burn more fuel, as i noticed it has been running through fuel since i put these in and should i put NGK laser platnuim plugs back in, as i only put the denso in for the magnacor ign leads

TomStarkey

could just be the weather, cars are more economical when its cold outside.... usually

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

The ST170 can be quite sensitive to spark plugs, i have always been informed the best plugs you can buy are the OEM Ford plugs. Mine does 220miles to a full tank which is not unusual. If your lambda is getting sluggish this can cause bad MPG, it will be the first lamdba sensor you will want to change, the rear one has no effect on engine performance. It just senses if the first lambda has failed.
I always thought a car had better performance but was less economical in the cold, denser colder air will cause the engine to add more fuel to compensate.

TomStarkey

220 miles, thats close to 20mpg, you should be getting at least 300miles, you can get 400 if you drive like a softy

Bks

The engine light came on when i travelled to bath and back, then dissapeared for some time, funny u say the plugs, my light did come back on after awhile when i put the denso plugs in, the car is still running well and fast, took it back where i purchased it GKS of ivybridge but i have a bad feeling they just robbed me of money, and mugged me off, as i was told not to worry as even new cars get engine lights, i mentioned to the mechanic who seemed not really with life, that on research i've heard the inlet manifold flaps get stuck open, so he put it on the computer, but suprise suprise he came back saying its code 1518 and the intake manifold runner control is stuck open, is that a sign he didn't really know, and just went on what i told him, or not, so i dont feel alot of confidence in GKS of ivybridge Car sales mechanics now, and had to pay GKS Ł41.13 to be told this, so i got a second opinion from my local plymouth garage, he did feel a bit of play on the intake, and did feel this could be an issue, but to replace the plugs back to ngk laser's i had in first to test if that was the result to the light first and if the light only popped up on long journeys before it could be a budget lamba put on it or they may have never replaced the lamba and just cleaned it up, as an ngk lamba should only really be run on the car, i heard ford redesigned the intake manifold flaps, as it being a problem, but do any companies make a stronger intake manifold than ford's, if anyone knows

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

Yes mine definately does 220 to a full tank, never ever ever had more than 240 to a tank in the years i have owned the car and never once had the engine light come on. Mine does have 21bhp extra over standard which does not help.
BKS engine light means problem, dont let anyone tell you differently. Something needs fixing. You need to check the IMRC is working properly, remove the air box and the cover over the DIS pack. Look down the side of the inlet manifold, you will see a cable connected to a lever on the end of the manifold. When you start the engine this cable pulls the lever to switch the inlet runners then when you get to 5000rpm the cable is pushed and switches back. Check that the cable has not snapped off the end of the lever first, if it is ok then get some one to start the engine as you watch the cable, as it starts the cable should pull the lever. If not you have found your problem, the IMRC has had it (silver box on the bulkhead)

Bks

Really do appreciate for the good info, as not that good mechanical minded yet, would it be best to take this info along to my local garage and do this check with my local mechanic, as he is very good in looking after my custom and work on my car, compared to GKS where i purchased it from, as on record GKS car sales stamped my service book and MOT, but on replacing alot to upgrade it with better performance, i discovered the plugs were black as ink, with corrossive residue in the crankcase, informed a wheel bearing had gone, by my local garage when they fitted my scorpion stainless exhaust, raidator was full of crap when my local garage flush and replaced the plastic tank, cool/anti-freeze, hence to the reason why i feel more confidence in my local garage "PDC" of plymouth now.. is the IMRC just a cable replacement or will i need to replace the DSI lever clip, and can i only get this from vospers ford, as looking it to my car i see PUMASPEED do a billet DSI lever clip that is stronger, with the strength of billet aluminium, and stated its very common for this to break and illuminate the mil light

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

If the lever clip has broken then yes change it for the pumaspeed one or just bodge it with a screw lol. The cable will not break, if the cable is not being pulled then the IMRC need replacing and they are about Ł180

Bks

I got the cable to move with brute force of throttle, but it doesn't move all the time, just sits still 90% of the time and watching the cable with the air box off, with the bracket and cable i see the little silver bit in the middle spinning but not the cable and bracket, now i had the code 1518 register told it was the manifold inlet stuck open, but vospers ford are determined its the IRMC UNIT gone and rarely sold any inlet manfolds, vospers ford priced me Ł216 pounds for the IRMC UNIT, But will replacing the IRMC UNIT be the right part to replace before i splash out a dredded Ł216 + Ł80 labour of work, please advise

Sp3no

iTrader: (1)

When you turn on the engine the cable will pull the lever and hold it there till 5000ish RPM when it releases it. So to test its operation watch it whilst some one turns the engine on or rev it up too past 5000, but make sure the engine is warm.
Lean down and operate the lever with your fingers you will hear the flap moving inside the inlet manifold. If the lever moves and flaps dont the problem is with your inlet manifold. Ł600 for a new one of them

Bks

i only got the lever to move once with reving it with hard force, i saw it move forward then, but cant get it to move all the time do you think the transistor is gone inside, also i have had to tighten up my throttle cable a few times, as it has dropped down alot on the speedo.. right to the first little bar, but runs well once i have tightened the throttle cable up

Bks

like to thank all for your help.. i got the inlet manifold runner unit replaced with a new one.. the engine light is no longer on and been fine for a month now.. with no light appearring many thanks all.. the dsi clip was ok.. so got away with the cost of a new one..