Hi all,

My car has developed a hesitation when accelerating lightly and when lifting off. It is most noticeable when crawling along in slow traffic in first gear. When depressing the accelerator lightly the car will hesitate a little and then pickup ok. The hesitation seems worse when lifting off. It does this on the overun also in all gears. My car is a focus 1.6 petrol on a 57 plate. Does anyone have any suggestions what it may be?

Thanks

Hi all,

My car has developed a hesitation when accelerating lightly and when lifting off. It is most noticeable when crawling along in slow traffic in first gear. When depressing the accelerator lightly the car will hesitate a little and then pickup ok. The hesitation seems worse when lifting off. It does this on the overun also in all gears. My car is a focus 1.6 petrol on a 57 plate. Does anyone have any suggestions what it may be?

Thanks

have a look under the bonnet at the ht leads/spark plugs.. have a look for any signs of water

Everything looks nice and dry, no sign of water. It has a new coilpack and ht leads.

Everything looks nice and dry, no sign of water. It has a new coilpack and ht leads.

have you just changed the coil and leads? have you changed the plugs also?

Yes those too.

Could it be time for a fuel filter change? Then again, being a 4 yr old car it might be a bit soon.

I'm not sure where it is on a 57 plate, but you might want to check your PCV valve and hose for cracks or collapse

Is your air filter clogged?

I changed the air filter a couple of months ago. I was thinking of doing fuel filter but there are no instructions for this in the Haynes manual. Is it easy to do? What is the PCv valve and where would one find it? Thanks

I have a 2002 and I've done both the fuel filter and the PCV valve and hose using the Haynes manual. (Un)fortunately things change with newer cars and perhaps the fuel filter is now maintenance free and integral to the fuel tank.

I couldn't tell you where the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve is on a 57 plate.. I mean it changed in location between my 1999 Focus and my 2002 Focus! The 1999 focus PCV was behind the exhaust manifold on the front of the engine block. The 2002 focus PCV is next to the Cat and thermostat housing.

The PCV valve lets the crankcase breathe and a collapsed or cracked hose to it or a stuck valve can cause running problems. You may be able to find it by tracing a hose connected to the air intake pipe (from the clean side of the filter). The PCV would be at the other end of this hose and it should just pull out. However my 1999 Focus just had a T-Piece (three short pipes) that pulled out of the front of the engine block.

You say you have a Haynes manual, look under emissions control section. If you cant find it perhaps they've done away with it in later models

Hope this helps