Minnesota Focus Owners Club

I am in real need of some help with the timing belt on a 2000 Focus with the DOHC engine. I acually have replaced the belt already but I cannot get this thing to run correctly. I have a very bad stumble/hesitation on light excelleration and a lack of power when driving.

Anyone that can help in person or on the phone would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

612-618-6761j

My guess is your timing is off.

Easy way to check, pull your valve cover and you #1 spark plug. Stick a long screw driver or something down the cylinder. Crank the motor over by hand on the crank pulley. When the screw driver comes out and is at maximum height (before starting to go down again) both of your cams should be lined up (as in - the slots should be level on the end near your coil pack). If all of this is right, it is something else. But my guess is your timing is a degree or two off.

Redid the timing this afternoon so I know timing is good( I used the special tools). I do get a mass airflow sensor code. Could this cause the car to not go into overdrive? Should I look at something else for that? I did change the tranny filter.

Thanks for the help guys I'm not a Ford guy and am a little lost on this thing.

Thanks again,

Paul

Did the car run a lil ruff before? Mybe your mass airflow is bad.

A couple of guy's have had similar driveability problems one turned out to be a bad fuel pump and clogged filter the other was a throttle position sensor. What are the particulars on your car age, mileage, etc.? If you can drive it and have a precision tune or other shop near by that can run a scan for you you can help to rule out many of the sensors and systems tracked by the ECU. It could be something as simple as a bad electrical connection if you had to remove any harnesses or "bumped" any, you can try taking all of the electrical connectors apart and connecting. Check the connectors for corrosion if you do take them apart. Hopefully one of our resident Mechanics will chime in here instead of us weekenders, we can be dangerous!

B

If your throwing a code for a maf, odds are its your maf.

Running a bad maf absolutely messes with driveability factors on our cars. Try putting on someone elses and see if it fixes the problem, since its an easy 2 min switch.

I told you this would be a good place to ask.

If the timing is right and you have an MAF code then start with the MAF.

I don't think that could affect the shifting but I could be wrong, Auto trans issues are not my stong point.

As luck would have it my brother works for a chevy dealer and has a snap-on scan tool that his going to let me borrow. Is there anyone who would be willing to swap MAFs with me to see if that is it before I buy one? I only took one connector apart during all of the work but I will double check the connections anyway. I think the car ran good when I started on it but I didn't drive any farther then into the garage, they dropped it off at my house.

Thanks guys I will let you know what I find out.

Paul

The car is a 2000 with 75,000 miles

If it hasn't already been changed then I would change the filter soon not that it is, or contributing to the problem at the moment. Depending on the scan tool you may be able to get a reading off the MAF, I think there are also cleaning kits available for the MAF sensor if I remember from one of the other threads.

B

ive got an extra one

i got a few spares in my tool box. the over drive MAY be a simple button or a shift selinoid. i had my overdrive fail like this , it ended up being a bad selinoid. easy fix, its right under the trans pan and the tan wire is the what you look for.