Intermittent Poor Starting 1.6 Duratec

[chrisannesam]

Hello all. Hope someone can help. I have a 2007 Ford Focus 1.6 Duratec. Completely standard. Recently it has developed a poor starting problem when completely warm. From cold it is generally ok. The battery turns over the starter no problem. The engine has maybe one or two brief catches but no more. By 'catch' I mean what appears to be just one spark. There are no trouble codes in the system. Two garages have looked at it abd cannot see the problem. Any ideas?

[artscot79]

is it the 100bhp or the 115bhp ti vct?

it sounds like a temperature sensor of somekind did you take it to a ford garage as most garages are useless without a dtc code ford can test each sensor individually if its the 115bhp model then it can be the ti vct solenoids not returning to there correct position for warm starting and sitting in the cold start position

[chrisannesam]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. It's a 100ps Zetec Climate. I should add that once started it runs sweetly. I did not take it to the Ford garage. I took it to a very good electrical specialist and an other local general garage. Both interrogated the on=board and there are no codes. If the temp sensor went wouldn't that show up as a code? This car is NOT the Ti VCT model. Thanks.

[artscot79]

the sensors can be faulty but still show that they are in range therefore you wont get a code it will need tested not via the onboard but through the obd port using ford software they can see what each sensor is doing and where the fault lies it can be an o2 sensor a temperature sensor quite a few things to be honest even plugs and leads or a coil pack going bad i had my old mk1 at 3 auto electricians they couldnt find an issue my local ford found the problem in 30 mins

[chrisannesam]

Thanks. Is the ODB reader any different at Ford's. Both garages had wheeled computers that read the chip on a computer screen. Both said they ran a full diagnostics and pulled blanks. If Ford's have something different it'll be worth the £90 they charge to connect up. Chris

[artscot79]

they checked the ecu for fault codes they havent checked the sensors these issues can be a pain to find im afraid theres no easy answer but it sounds like a temp sensor is telling the car the engines cold when its warm enabling the choke to come on flooding the engine with fuel

[Paul-S]

Hi, I've got the 100hp 1.6 and had various warm/hot start problems and all these were fixed with ecu updates. The car had been dealer serviced for a year but then independent garages had done the servicing, So none of the fixes that Ford dealers should apply at service time were getting done.

The fixes really made a difference, there were fixes for cold/warm and hot start problems and some power steering problems.

Cheers

Paul-S

[mobily]

Is there anywhere that shows the ecu updates Ford have released so we can check if we have received them?

[chrisannesam]

Update. Took car to Ford main dealer and they had it 3 days. Could not find anything wrong with it. They updated the ECU software to latest version. No trouble codes present. Car still gives occasional problems when warm. So, to recap, car will turn over but does not catch when warm (sometimes). Cold starting is never a problem. If the car is then left for a few 10s of seconds it'll start ok but non instantaneously. Ideas?