Focus ST MK4 sport mode

[shawty1984]

Anyone with a Focus ST (MK4) experience this. 

When switching to sport mode, I can feel it switching as the throttle becomes more responsive. This happens all the time but sometimes the pops from the exhaust don't happen and when you accelerate fast/hard and quickly off the accelerater, it doesn't seem to jerk the car, like all the power isn't there. 

Sometimes restarting the engine fixes it, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes going through the drive modes and back to sport fixes it but sometimes it doesn't. 

[alexp999]

It won't pop and bang until the engine and exhaust is hot enough. It's also a bit more "natural" in that it doesn't do it every time in an artifically pre-programmed way like the Fiesta ST. Mid range pulls seem to set it off more for me, than really pushing it.

[colinmcg71]

35 minutes ago, shawty1984 said:

Anyone with a Focus ST (MK4) experience this. 

When switching to sport mode, I can feel it switching as the throttle becomes more responsive. This happens all the time but sometimes the pops from the exhaust don't happen and when you accelerate fast/hard and quickly off the accelerater, it doesn't seem to jerk the car, like all the power isn't there. 

Sometimes restarting the engine fixes it, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes going through the drive modes and back to sport fixes it but sometimes it doesn't. 

Yeah, now that you mention it I’ve noticed this too. The engine was definitely warmed up, accelerator pressed to the floor, over 4000rpm then lift off and sometimes no exhaust pops in Sport mode. It still does this occasionally even after I installed the mountune map.

[shawty1984]

12 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

It won't pop and bang until the engine and exhaust is hot enough. It's also a bit more "natural" in that it doesn't do it every time in an artifically pre-programmed way like the Fiesta ST. Mid range pulls seem to set it off more for me, than really pushing it.

Yeah I make sure it's hot. This is different. It won't even do it when just revving when this problem happens. It's like something isn't engaging properly. 

[alexp999]

It wouldn't surprise me if it's got some sort of protection built in, so it doesn't do it too often and cause damage.

There isn't anything mechanical which changes in sport mode, it's all done at a software level, the PCM just tweaks the timing to trigger it.

[shawty1984]

10 minutes ago, colinmcg71 said:

Yeah, now that you mention it I’ve noticed this too. The engine was definitely warmed up, accelerator pressed to the floor, over 4000rpm then lift off and sometimes no exhaust pops in Sport mode. It still does this occasionally even after I installed the mountune map.

Does it feel like a slight loss of power, such as if you lift off quickly, no jerk of the car? When it works, it works fine. But when it doesn't work, it won't even pop and bang by revving in neutral when it normally would.

[shawty1984]

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

It wouldn't surprise me if it's got some sort of protection built in, so it doesn't do it too often and cause damage.

There isn't anything mechanical which changes in sport mode, it's all done at a software level, the PCM just tweaks the timing to trigger it.

Whatever it is it seems so random. It's happened for ages, but I've been trying to figure a pattern to it and there doesn't seem to be one.

[alexp999]

Just now, shawty1984 said:

Whatever it is it seems so random. It's happened for ages, but I've been trying to figure a pattern to it and there doesn't seem to be one.

I think that's by design.

Like I say, it felt way too artificial in the Fiesta ST. It was so perfectly programmed, it made the same 3 pops all the time.

I think there may be some randomisation built in the Focus, so it's a little more natural. As cars which used to do this, wouldn't do it perfectly and sound exactly the same everytime.

Now they are recreating it deliberately. The engine doesn't make these noises normally.

[shawty1984]

8 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

I think that's by design.

Like I say, it felt way too artificial in the Fiesta ST. It was so perfectly programmed, it made the same 3 pops all the time.

I think there may be some randomisation built in the Focus, so it's a little more natural. As cars which used to do this, wouldn't do it perfectly and sound exactly the same everytime.

Now they are recreating it deliberately. The engine doesn't make these noises normally.

So if we take away the noise for a second, is it not a concern that the car doesn't seem to pull/Jerk when accelerating hard and suddenly pull off the accelerator sometimes? This only happens when the pops and bangs don't work. 

[colinmcg71]

10 minutes ago, shawty1984 said:

Does it feel like a slight loss of power, such as if you lift off quickly, no jerk of the car? When it works, it works fine. But when it doesn't work, it won't even pop and bang by revving in neutral when it normally would.

No, I don’t think I feel any loss of power, just the missing pops.

Thinking back it’s probably done this now and then in the year I’ve had the car and I didn’t pay much notice. I just thought for whatever reasons conditions weren’t right for pops/bangs.

[alexp999]

Can't say I've experienced lack of power or a lack of throttle response in sport mode.

I think Ford said it did have a "sort-of" anti-lag. I wonder if that too has limits

[shawty1984]

Lack of power might not be the best way to word it. In sport mode when it's working (the pops and bangs) if I accelerate hard and quickly let of the accelerater, the car will jerk and produce the pop and bangs. 

When the pops and bangs don't work, that Jerk to the car is also missing as though it's not accelerating as hard as it could.

I can tell sport modes engaging straight away as you can tell by the throttle response. 

Maybe it is by design, but it seems totally odd and random. 

[alexp999]

Could well be an emissions response.

Abruptly letting off the throttle is one of the worst scenarios for emissions, it's why rev hang is a thing.

[shawty1984]

28 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Could well be an emissions response.

Abruptly letting off the throttle is one of the worst scenarios for emissions, it's why rev hang is a thing.

But it also happens in neutral when revving the car, would that be the same?

[colinmcg71]

Been thinking about this again today. Could it be that the pops and bangs aren’t available if the GPF is in regeneration mode?

I’ve no idea, just thinking out loud.

[shawty1984]

21 minutes ago, colinmcg71 said:

Been thinking about this again today. Could it be that the pops and bangs aren’t available if the GPF is in regeneration mode?

I’ve no idea, just thinking out loud.

I don't have a clue what that means 🤣

[Trinzion]

I am literally having this issue now as well, were you able to resolve this or did it sort itself out over time?

[colinmcg71]

19 hours ago, Trinzion said:

I am literally having this issue now as well, were you able to resolve this or did it sort itself out over time?

Nobody has found any reason for randomly missing pops & bangs. I and others were able to get them back by either cycling through the drive modes or turning the engine off and back on.

[Trinzion]

That works but then It goes away very quickly after doing so. Hopefully it rectifies itself over time, I wonder how shawty went.

[shawty1984]

43 minutes ago, Trinzion said:

That works but then It goes away very quickly after doing so. Hopefully it rectifies itself over time, I wonder how shawty went.

It's just the same as before.

[Trinzion]

17 hours ago, shawty1984 said:

It's just the same as before.

Do you mean it went back to normal?

 

[shawty1984]

8 hours ago, Trinzion said:

Do you mean it went back to normal?

 

No, it's the same as it's always been, it's done it from new. 

[alexp999]

I'm still 99.9% certain it is by design.

[Trinzion]

Cheers guys thank you very much.