My son has a 2008-9 1.6 litre Focus. 2nd generation.  Seems to be one of the rarer models in New Zealand.   Just recently it has developed idling issues where it will die at intersections.  Its an Auto transmission.  I'm old school growing up working on my Anglias and early Cortinas so this modern stuff with electronics throws me.  Going back to the basic symptoms.  When starting from cold all is ok and moves into drive or reverse without loss of revs.  However after driving for a minute or so the bad idling kicks in where it splutters a bit at an intersection.  Gets worse the warmer it gets.  Get back home with a warm engine and stop.  Restarts ok and idles ok but as soon as it goes into drive or reverse, that small amount of load will kill the engine, no chance to even splutter.  Went to the local mechanic and he put an OBD meter on but there were no fault codes showing and suggested we go to an Auto Electrician.  You Tube suggests a sticky Idle Air Control valve however other sources suggest this model does not have such a thing.  Anyone have any ideas.  Heres the Vin number as I know this helps you guys with models.  WF0SXXGCDS8D48309  Thanks in advance.

 

There's a vac hose or breather hose or something, somewhere on these engines which are prone to splitting and causing these symptoms.

Someone will be along in a minute to tell you exactly I'm sure

1 hour ago, Nigel Fookes said:

 Anyone have any ideas.

Regarding your problem, sadly no idea but @TomsFocus knows a lot out these models. In the mean time you might like to top up the power steering fluid before it starts getting air in the pump.

1 hour ago, Nigel Fookes said:

My son has a 2008-9 1.6 litre Focus. 2nd generation.  Seems to be one of the rarer models in New Zealand.   Just recently it has developed idling issues where it will die at intersections.  Its an Auto transmission.  I'm old school growing up working on my Anglias and early Cortinas so this modern stuff with electronics throws me.  Going back to the basic symptoms.  When starting from cold all is ok and moves into drive or reverse without loss of revs.  However after driving for a minute or so the bad idling kicks in where it splutters a bit at an intersection.  Gets worse the warmer it gets.  Get back home with a warm engine and stop.  Restarts ok and idles ok but as soon as it goes into drive or reverse, that small amount of load will kill the engine, no chance to even splutter.  Went to the local mechanic and he put an OBD meter on but there were no fault codes showing and suggested we go to an Auto Electrician.  You Tube suggests a sticky Idle Air Control valve however other sources suggest this model does not have such a thing.  Anyone have any ideas.  Heres the Vin number as I know this helps you guys with models.  WF0SXXGCDS8D48309  Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like a similar problem to what I had previously. Had to change the breather pipe and the spark plugs and the ignition leads. Then it worked fine. Guy from AA breakdown cover came and said he used to be a Ford mechanic when the MK2 first came out. Most common problem he said he got was the breather pipe and the ignition leads. 

Yes, as above, the PCV hose regularly splits on these.  It's right underneath the plastic manifold so not easy to see, or reach if you've got big hands.

 

Thanks to everyone so far.  Will look into it when the rain stops. Well spotted on the Steering fluid.  I have beaten my son severely with a shrubbery.  Happy for more ideas.  Any confirmation around whether this model has either an O2 sensor or Idle Air Control Valve.

38 minutes ago, Nigel Fookes said:

 I have beaten my son severely with a shrubbery.

😄

3 hours ago, Nigel Fookes said:

Thanks to everyone so far.  Will look into it when the rain stops. Well spotted on the Steering fluid.  I have beaten my son severely with a shrubbery.  Happy for more ideas.  Any confirmation around whether this model has either an O2 sensor or Idle Air Control Valve.

It does have 02 sensors. 

It does not have an idle control valve.

It's not often we see a 4 Door focus, mostly they are all 5 door in the UK.

There must be a leak in the system somewhere for the steering fluid level to be low.

14 hours ago, AntonovAN12 said:

There must be a leak in the system somewhere for the steering fluid level to be low.

Not really, it can lower over time, just depends how long since it was last checked

the pic in the first post is superficially the same as her's - but with no VVTI - and the fly-by wire throttle body she has isn't there...

I would check clean the air intake system - few bother but in the corner of her air box is a soggy worn out mess that’s part of the engine breather system - when you buy a filter at ford they give you a free new chunk of foam - which allows the engine breather to function - its meant to be changed every time - but on most it hasn't allowed any air to pass for the last 100k miles

PCV valve on the inlet side is built to last about 6 minutes before its spring gives up and a replacement is almost as useless - but did help the idle stability

her mid 2007 coil pack died around 125k miles about 6 years back - in stock and cheap enough

stumbling and stalling coasting to idle and getting worse with more engine heat is often a CPS dying

 

 

 

 

Have just purchased an OBD scanner. My first one and trying to understand it.  Certainly no fault codes are coming up however when I selected ECU1 then O2 sensor test then Bank1-Sensor2 then #91, I get a fail with a zero volt test value.

Could this be a hint and if so where the hell do I find this sensor 2.  Once found can i test it.  Don't really want to purchase a part on the off chance.

the O2 sensor (often called CAT sensor) sits in the exhaust pipe near the engine just before the CAT

in the old days you had only one sensor before the Catalytic Converter that sniffs out spare oxygen in the exhaust gases - if it can't find any, it leans off the fuelling till it does.  If it finds too much 02 it richens it up till there's too little again - and cycles round the madness every few seconds... 

the first sensor playing up should bring up the EML (and throw a code), later emission control regs (euro 4) decided it ought to sniff out if that pre CAT sensor was actually doing its job to protect the CAT from over fuelling damage by adding a post CAT sensor too - A post CAT sensors sometimes doesn't throw the light on cars 2000 to 2010 - all this got more and more complex with newer designs  I think euro 5 just added the EML warning if the second sensor fails

a later emission standard (euro 6) threw the old world O2 sensor design in the skip and on new stuff a better more sophisticated design came along (stupidly called) a wideband sensor, these actually measure what they should have done all along - and this later design looks at the actual air fuel ratio (AFR) from the mess left in the exhaust

to burn petrol properly we use an AFR around 14.7 bits of air , to 1 bit of petrol by wt - thus 14.7 : 1 , but actually hard acceleration works better at 13.6 : 1, (which is why old carbs got accelerator pumps). The wideband idea became necessary because 14.7 : 1 is only what actual petrol needs to burn correctly. When some r5tard added 10% Ethanol death fuel to the mix, the 14 .7 changes to something more like stoichiometric 14.11 : 1

All of which is yet another reason a Mk2 Focus runs like a pig on E10 Ethanol infected fuels as the mixture is incorrect but the car doesn't know this !!!!! - I find adding Dipetane brings the world back to normal https://dipetane.com/

its dead normal for crappy Bosch sensor junk to die anywhere from 7 year / 100k mile area - so a CAT sensor misbehaving is quite normal - that said hers is on 162k and still going

 

might be wrong with the emission labelling above - Bikes run 1 number behind cars and in a different timeline and it muddles my brain -  2016 bike's brought in std ODB2 sockets, AFR sensors, and wrongly called it euro 5 - whereas AFR wideband sensors was euro 6 on cars at an earlier timeline

During the early 2000s, Australia began harmonising Australian Design Rule certification for new motor vehicle emissions with Euro categories. Euro III was introduced on 1 January 2006 and is progressively being introduced to align with European introduction dates.

4 hours ago, Nigel Fookes said:

Have just purchased an OBD scanner. My first one and trying to understand it.  Certainly no fault codes are coming up however when I selected ECU1 then O2 sensor test then Bank1-Sensor2 then #91, I get a fail with a zero volt test value.

Could this be a hint and if so where the hell do I find this sensor 2.  Once found can i test it.  Don't really want to purchase a part on the off chance.

Are you using Forscan?  Generic scanners don't pick up Ford specific codes.

Sensor 2 is fitted after the cat.  Awkward to access as it's right next to the bulkhead.

They can't be tested effectively without an oscilloscope.

Sounds like this getting beyond my old school abilities.  Starts and idles OK but as soon as any load goes on it dies unless caught with the throttle to keep it going.  Even park or neutral and engaging the air con will kill it.  Is there an idle sensor, its like it doesn't pick up the drop in revs and therefore compensate.

You probably won't find a forscan at a warehouse maybe try dicksmith.

3 hours ago, Nigel Fookes said:

Sounds like this getting beyond my old school abilities.  Starts and idles OK but as soon as any load goes on it dies unless caught with the throttle to keep it going.  Even park or neutral and engaging the air con will kill it.  Is there an idle sensor, its like it doesn't pick up the drop in revs and therefore compensate.

 

you need a decent tool to ensure there is no real faults - freebies like the torque app and a Chinese crappy dongle aren’t worth the effort
as a standby for real tools - I use the very affordable version here as it does all cars properly https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.wgsoft.scanmaster&hl=en

You could try what sounds like an old wives tale - but on hers it did make a difference.... (only concern is yours fly by wire ? - hers, its beside the air cleaner and is the modern madness with ability to do cruise control - on your picture it looks hidden under the inlet manifold so maybe a different design)

hers - 1.6 petrol vvti - if the battery has been disconnected the throttle body is meant to get a relearn procedure

disconnect the battery terminals and short them together for a minute, to drain capacitors
reconnect the battery
turn of all interior & exterior lights, ac blower motor, heated screens, radio, and any other consumer toys
car in neutral, start the car without touching the throttle pedal
leave to idle without touching anything till the coolant fan cuts in
turn it off - throttle relearn set

I have over the years gone it twice - the first time throttle pedal feel was transformed and it was much peppier around 1/3 throttle (but note they do die - so it might need a new one)