2002 Focus LX 1.4 Running Rough
 

Hi

Pretty new here (5 minutes in fact) and just wanted to ask advice really.

So a couple months ago my 2002 Focus hit 100,000 miles which I had been told was the time to get the timing belt done. I've heard since that Ford recommend getting this done around 75,000 instead as they have a tendency to give up the ghost well before 100,000 but never the less I trusted my girlfriend's mate to do this.

He messed up basically. Brought the car back running so bad it cut out every time I stopped at a junction and felt like the engine was literally ready for jumping through the bonnet.

Needless to say I took it straight to a qualified mechanic the next day and the timing was apparently way out. So he timed everything up for me and got it running smooth.

I did notice however that it was still idling a fair bit rougher than it previously had been doing so took it back and the mechanic gave it another once over and just checked nothing unnecessary had been disturbed by my girlfriend's mate (who shall be referred to as the cowboy from now on). He adjusted a few things and it was running a little better, but he did say the ECU could take a little time to adjust after the work so I'd be better off leaving it a little while and seeing if the problem came back.

I've noticed recently that when the car's first started on a morning it will tick over at around 1,000 rpm and over the course of 5 minutes drop to around 800 rpm, which I know is fine, but the car still runs rough after that 5 minutes (only when idling though, and has almost cut out on me as I've dipped the clutch when approaching traffic lights). However, after a 15 mile blast down the motorway to work I've noticed the problem almost disappears the next time I'm sat with it ticking over.

There's also a huge drop in rpms when auxiliaries such as heated windscreens, heaters and especially lights are turned on. I've had the alternator checked and no fault was detected there so I'm just curious what you guys would consider to be causing the rough idle problem I'm experiencing.

I have had one or two other possible problems mentioned, these being the idle control valve (which I was going to take off and clean out tonight, but I don't want to damage the seal and not have a replacement handy), or the power steering switch?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for banging on, but telling you the whole story now saves answering questions and tying myself up in knots.

Thanks in advance guys

Simon

If he had the timing out by much you would have bent valves!

Fords reccomendation is 100K or 10 years, however it is good practice to change it before this!

The ECU does not adapt to a cam belt change!

Won't be power steering switch, that being a pressure switch, this tells the ECU to increase the engine speed when the PAS applies a load, you have a permanent issue.

You are on the right track however, i.e. cleaning the ISCV, the other thing I would check is the vacuum hoses, these can split which causes these issues as well, they are located on the front under the inlet manifold.

Martin

Thanks for that Martin.

I've had the idle valve off to give it a clean out. It wasn't sticking and there wasn't much dirt in there either. There doesn't look to be a vacuum leak from what I can see, but the next step looks like checking it on the computer and seeing if it throws a fault code up. Hopefully it will, just so i can finally get this annoying problem sorted. It drives well enough, it's just idling with the odd auxiliary that the problem occurs.

Thanks for the reply though, I appreciate your advice

Simon