Hi again guys hope everyone is doing well.  I've had my Focus ecoboost about 3 years its got to just over 72 000 miles on the clock.

Not had many problems other than a faulty injector harness, I did mod the coolant hoses with the Mk3.5 ones years ago just in case.🤣

I'm getting a starting problem with it in the morning and evening where it struggles to start and when it does it coughs and splutters (sometimes with a cloud of smoke and the whiff of rich exhaust).  The lumpy start goes after a 5 seconds or so.  The revs wander up and down during the lumpy start.

I haven't had the EML come up and I have a cheap OBD2 reader which hasn't come up with any DTC's so far.  

So far just to rule out the spark plugs I changed those out (no difference), also I cleaned the air filter (K&N).

I reckon it is loosing a bit of water as the res lowers to min after a drive, I can't see any obvious leeks at the hoses or the plastic res (which I replaced over 2 years ago due to old one cracking).  Oil looks in good condition as do the spark plugs.

If anyone has experienced similar or might have any ideas I'd love to hear about it. 🙏

4 hours ago, 0shiny1 said:

I have a cheap OBD2 reader which hasn't come up with any DTC's so far.  

....and there's your problem.

Get yourself a laptop and put FORScan on it: https://forscan.org/download.html

and the new lead to connect to the OBDii port: https://www.bmdiag.co.uk/forscan-diagnostic-cable-for-ford-vgate-vlinker-fs

You probably have a slight misfire, maybe a faulty coil pack. Don't guess, it gets expensive. Use FORScan and you will almost certainly find there is a DTC logged.

Cheers for the link mate, I've ordered one.👍

Yea could be quite a few things, will plug it in and see when it comes.  

15 hours ago, 0shiny1 said:

So far just to rule out the spark plugs I changed those out (no difference), also I cleaned the air filter (K&N).

When you cleaned the K&N did you re-oil it?

If so, how much oil did you use?

Try putting the standard air cleaner back in and cleaning the MAF sensor

Are the spark plugs genuine? 

23 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

When you cleaned the K&N did you re-oil it?

If so, how much oil did you use?

Try putting the standard air cleaner back in and cleaning the MAF sensor

Are the spark plugs genuine? 

Yes I did re oil the K&N, the problem came before that though, that's why I cleaned and re oiled the filter to rule it out.  I was aware how over oiling the filter can coat & bugger up the MAF sensor readings.  

Spark plugs were genuine Ford, I swapped those out to rule them out.

For the past day or so it seems to start better so I'll probably wait for the Forscan cable.  Yep will definitely be cleaning the MAF sensor when I get 5 mins.👍

1 hour ago, 0shiny1 said:

Yes I did re oil the K&N, the problem came before that though, that's why I cleaned and re oiled the filter to rule it out.  I was aware how over oiling the filter can coat & bugger up the MAF sensor readings.  

Spark plugs were genuine Ford, I swapped those out to rule them out.

For the past day or so it seems to start better so I'll probably wait for the Forscan cable.  Yep will definitely be cleaning the MAF sensor when I get 5 mins.👍

Mine ran rough on certain E10 fuels, especially Sainsbury's and Asda, Esso wasn't too bad but I am now running on Tesco 99 and it's running like a dream

2 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

now running on Tesco 99 and it's running like a dream

"Every little helps !" 🤣

Got the ForScan cable today, still no DTC's showing up unfortunately.  Still I'm sure it will come in very handy regardless!

Will clean the MAF sensor next week at some point since its a cheap one to rule out and could possibly be the culprit.

Have been keeping an eye on the water res and its definitely loosing somewhere, the res isn't cracked underneath and the hoses show no leaks.  Bit worried its the water pump O ring as it seems to be a common fault on the 1.0 ecoboost engine, looks like a big job to do on these engines as well, far beyond my abilities. 🙄 

5 hours ago, 0shiny1 said:

Bit worried its the water pump O ring as it seems to be a common fault on the 1.0 ecoboost engine

Whats the head gasket like ?

Have you had the coolant tested for hydrocarbons ?

On 2/5/2022 at 11:19 PM, unofix said:

Whats the head gasket like ?

Have you had the coolant tested for hydrocarbons ?

No idea but if it had a head gasket leak you'd have thought there'd be signs of it in the oil or the coolant res and there isn't.  Will wedge my head underneath at some point and have a look around for signs, never know might get lucky..

On 2/5/2022 at 11:19 PM, unofix said:

Whats the head gasket like ?

Have you had the coolant tested for hydrocarbons ?

It was still continuing with the lumpy starts and loosing coolant, weirdly only if it was left overnight or a whole day, when I didn't use it Sunday (left for 2 days) it would start no problem ...🤔

So I was thinking more about the head gasket and ordered a test kit, tried that yesterday morning and it turned green.  From what the instructions say green could be a combustion leak or contaminated coolant.

After that I put some K-Seal Ultimate head gasket sealer in the coolant res, pulled most of the coolant out first then put the sealer in.  Put it through a couple of heat cycles and so far so good.  Too early to tell but its not lost a drop of coolant and this morning it started without issue.  I'm going to continue checking the coolant daily though, fingers crossed might have caught it early.

I do suspect you have a very slight head gasket leak causing pressurised  air/fuel / exhaust gases to be forced in to the cooling system. It won't take very much to over pressurise the cooling system and cause it to vent the excess out the filer cap.

Yes I agree as that makes the most sense, might have been loosing coolant into one of the cylinders causing the lumpy starts, it was showing small amounts of white exhaust smoke (although that could be me being paranoid..), also the coolant did smell rank and there seemed to be quite a lot of pressure in the coolant res compared to now (after the K-seal HG sealer).

I've just finished 2 more tests with the leak detector (post HG sealer) and it looks hopeful, both tests stayed blue until after 5 mins they started to turn blue/green (which is normal as the liquid is heat sensitive apparently).  Yesterday the first test before the HG sealer went bright green within 3 minutes.

So for now it appears the sealer has filled in the problem gap, had my doubts about these HG sealers but it seems to have worked so far.🤞

 

Please who has a solution to revolution fluctuations when cold start the engine and stabilises after 5 mins.

Oshiny please do you have solution to unstable revolution when you cold start your engine and stabilises after 5 mins?

You have a problem with a Focus 2022 ?

It is brand new and still under warranty, take it back to the Ford dealer and get it fixed

On 8/23/2022 at 1:11 PM, Akin said:

Oshiny please do you have solution to unstable revolution when you cold start your engine and stabilises after 5 mins?

Lets hope you've got a different problem than my old banger has !

What's wrong with mine is either a small head gasket leak or possible cracked block which pushes a small amount of coolant into one or more of the cylinder bores causing wonky starting and misfiring from cold.  What I do now is every time I drive anywhere, I immediately open the bonnet and open the coolant cap which lets all the pressure out, next time I start it the car starts fine, I'm guessing because I've not let it hold pressure for it to push into the bore/s, that's my guess anyways.