I've been thinking of getting the mrs a st170 5 door when she passes her test, what are they like on fuel when used around town on a daily basis? I've heard there pretty bad on fuel?

 

Not able to say about fuel economy yet as I have not driven mine enough but I can say the insurance is pretty steep, changed mine from a 1.7 puma to the st170 and could not believe the extra cost. Possibly not the best car for a new driver but when you see one like this I can understand wanting one!!

 

Cool thanks mate. Insurance not an issue as she's on my trade policy, might get one and see what it's like and if too juicy can always punt it on, shouldn't lose any money if so. She's always wanted one so thought I might take the plunge

 

mines mint on fuel, even when on track.

It'll easily do 30mpg round the doors. It averaged 38mpg on the journey home from Nurburging

 

Great thanks for that info matey

 

prices are on the up for these now and decent examples can command decent prices even got mine up for sale now

 

Mine too, easy does 30 - odd round town, mind you I'm not tracking it, but occasionally I do drive it like I stole it

 

I think my problem is that I drive everywhere in second and third gear

 

Not much of an update today, again this morning I went out for an early morning drive, and there was nobody about





Maybe the odd dinosaur

 

So the ST170 developed a little problem driving home the other night from work. Under heavy throttle use it hesitates throughout the rev range, so I will have it looked at tomorrow.

 

Well my car was looked at yesterday, and although I asked to have new spark plugs and a new fuel filter fitted, they recommended having the cam-belt done first, as the timing is out by a couple of thou which puts up the error code P1381. I can understand the logic in that, as advanced timing will burn out the plugs, but it's been like it for 4 years since they last did it. So nothing was done, and I said I would think about the cam-belt route over the weekend, and look at options on parts etc.
Sadly driving the 1 and a bit mile home the miss-fire got worse, and as I pulled onto my drive, the car had just cut to 3 cylinders.

So as it was still light, I quickly removed the plugs to take a look, and get the number off them.


The first plug, on the left of the engine as you face it, was very oily and the ceramic part freely roated.


No plugs.


I don't think the fact that the ceramic rotates around is a good sign lol, so fingers crossed on just needing some new plugs, maybe a coil pack. Sad bit is, where I work is closed today, and the next nearest parts place is nearly 30 miles away. So I will either wait until Monday or try and get the girlfriend to take me over tomorrow.

 

That sounds like spark plug 'blow out'. Usually means the plug was incorrectly torqued. If it had of been ejected it probably would have stripped all the threads, so luckily that didn't happen.

There's plenty reading on the web about it and the causes for it to happen. There is a mention of ignition timing also, so maybe get that checked out too.
One such article: https://www.carsdirect.com/car-repai...roblems-solved

 

Cheers for that, I will take a read for sure.

I did pop over to my local Euro Car Parts and bought a set of plugs, as I needed the car first thing tomorrow morning.




Not my preferred choice, but at Ł28 they will do until I can get my hands on some Ford ones, and at least I can use my car tomorrow.

I fitted the plugs, and once I had gotten the HT - Leads seated correctly, the car started and ran fine. I let the car warm up, and took it out for a quick 5 miles trip, and both flat spots I've had for years had gone, and also all the hesitations had gone as well. The car still feels slow though, but it is an ST170 lol.

These are the old plugs.



It's hard to see, but the plugs are laid out in the same order they came out, and although the picture doesn't really show it, I swear to the naked eye the one on the left has a bigger gap than the others ?

 

Nothing wrong with denso plugs mate , I would use the denso idrium itv 24 plugs gapped at 0.8. Just clean them every 3 months and you will be fine.

Cheers paul

 

Cheers for the tip

I took the Focus on a 20 miles trip today to see how it went, and to be honest, it actually feels like a different car. The power (lol) is smooth and right through the rev range, and I no longer have any flat spots, nothing around 2000-3000 or around 5000rpm, it's made a hug difference, and makes me wonder if one of the plugs was actually slightly problematic for some time ?

I actually even over took a few vans without having to drop a gear, I just rolled on the throttle and went, really bizarre.

 

Just keep them clean as I've already said as the flat spot does come back if they get shitted up .

Cheers paul

 

I'm thinking about finally lowering the ST and refurbishing the alloys in gold.

 

They do look better lowered will be lowering mine dont know about gold alloys though.

 

Have some Apex springs going cheap Mate if you do decide to lower it, took them off mine when I fitted the standard height ones

Personally, I quite like the gold against that colour, all a matter of personal choice though I suppose

 

Well I'm 5 years in on owning my ST170, who would of thought. How time flies...

The question now is, do I buy it a present

 

If it was me and had her in as good a nick as you do. I would treat her to a paint correction. Proper under the lights treatment to show any swirl marks in the paint and then a 3 stage polish correction.

 

That's actually a very good idea cheers.

 

Not much of an update, but the other day I put in 4.5 gallons of normal BP unleaded fuel, and I'd gotten 130 miles out of it, and my fuel light hadn't turned on. But I've just filled it up with ultimate as I don't like running it low. So I think I'm getting around 28+mpg ? how odd lol.

 

Thats good going that matey. I think i used to get about 300 miles to a tank on my old ST170 i used to own.

 

I'm now toying with the idea of getting the up-rated MSD coil pack, but I wondered if anyone noticed any difference ?

 

Did you pop in the Hungry Shark for breakfast

i also have a 52 plate capri blue ST.
And a 53 plate black one too.......

That place is my fav holiday place every year without fail

 

gives much better spark when run with the correct leads and denso plugs, used to use that set up on mine

 

A bigger spark won't add anything. Engines need more air and fuel so unless your current system is failing then it will see no gain.

 

So a little insight to my almost weekly routine , being an ex-motorcyclist I'm very keen on carrying out weekly checks on my car, especially when it comes to tyre pressures.



I think I have a porous alloy wheel, as every time I check my off side front the psi has dropped to around 22 - 25 psi. It never goes lower, and I've had two tyres and two valves do exactly the same thing.

The wheel doesn't appear to be cracked, and it's not bent or oval, actually the overall condition of the wheel is pretty good apart from the odd bit of curbing

I'll either get the wheels refurbished or just put up with it until my lottery win happens then I may get some new wheels.

Overall the car is still going well (famous last words) and I'm still pleased with it.

 

What a coincidence with the wheels. The OSF wheel is always lower than the rest on mine, same st wheels as yours on my standard 1.6 focus. So I found that odd, and queried it with a tyre fitter. He said it could be a buckle in the wheel allowing the air to escape. It's fine once it's kept topped up. I don't believe it's the valve or tyre as they have previously been looked at, by a few fitters.

 

Yeah, could be a buckle in yours, mines odd in that it never drops below 22psi, which would suggest as the tyre pressure drops, the profile changes, and it seals better on the rims lip, but with two different new tyres tried, and two valves, it kind of points at the wheel

 

Just finished reading through your thread mate. Love the car!

Random off topic question though...

Your name looks familiar. Did you used to frequent the TOC forum by any chance?

 

My st170 wheels were corroded where the tyre sits on the rim. I just scrapped all the crud off and they were OK.

 

Thanks for the complement, and yes I was a former member of the T.O.C. and great days they were.

I used to own a pretty rare Toyota Corolla T.T.E E11, which unfortunately I sold when I went to work at a Ford dealership.



I understand the car recently went back on the market, although I also understood it was parked up for a few years, and a few of the T.T.E parts had been replaced or removed . I did contact the seller asking to come and look at my old car despite it being some 37k + miles more than when I sold it but he never replied. We all learn from our mistakes, and maybe if things were better for me at home (at the time), I should of just stuck it in the garage and made it perfect, especially given that I had all the parts needed to make it 95% perfect.

 

That's an idea,

 

I've never heard of these corollas, were they turbo charged?

 

Sadly not, but a very nice car to drive.

 

Ah yea. I remember now. That was a very nice car. It's a shame people don't realise how rare the TTE stuff is. I had a PFL Corolla T Sport which I had to reluctantly sell. I still miss it to this day and would swap my Focus for one in a heartbeat (please don't hate me everyone ). Sadly they seem to have held on to their value more than ST170s have so I couldn't find one within my budget when I was looking. Such a small world it is though. We've both moved from Corollas to ST170s and ended up on the same forum haha!

 

Looks smart

 

It a big coincidence that we have both ended up here lol, and your Corolla sounded nice. I've owned my ST for just over 5 years now, which is a personal record for me.

When I first bought my 170 I set my heart on getting a powerworks supercharger, I put away a few pounds in the bank, and I've still not managed to get one . I also spent sometime talking with a German racing team that raced the ST in the ETCC, and also managed to chat with some of the drivers, but sadly nobody was able to give me any real photos of what was done, or any plans or specs for both the chassis or engine

I do still enjoy driving my Focus, and it still makes me smile on my way home from work