weird problem....BIT SUSS

73MTU · 14-02-2006, 12:33 PM

I had a few samll problems with the car which have been rectified, but the one major problem with the car, which hasnt been fixed, is that it doesnt start when park on a hill or weird angle. ford had a look at it and couldnt find anything wrong. so my question is Has anyone else had this problem? was it fixed? What was the problem?

ford told me just to keep an eye on it? what kind of ИИИИ is that.

any way if anyone has any feedback, it would be muchly apreciated.

cheers

whippet_zetec · 14-02-2006, 02:59 PM

is your Focus an auto or manual?

zetec · 14-02-2006, 07:44 PM

What angles and what direction left or right is the lean? Could be starving the pickup or fuel pump...

73MTU · 14-02-2006, 07:46 PM

its manual

and now i think about it, it only happens when the front left is raised and it happens a little when the front of the car is raised.

omg · 14-02-2006, 09:04 PM

I've had the same problem to the point that I had to leave my car after lunch last friday where it was and get a taxi back to work. From my very quick investigation it's a design issue where the engineer responsible for designing the fuel pump pickup appears to had a rather big night on the turps before doing the design work. Short of Ford issueing a recall I suspect there's sweet ИИИИ all you can do about it except watch where you're parking when you don't have much fuel in the tank.

pertuan · 14-02-2006, 09:40 PM

That is crap. Isnt this one of the basic things that a vehicle should be able to do? Start while its on a hill? Ford arent going to fix this either I bet. Its not a safety issue.

Teki04 · 14-02-2006, 10:03 PM

Safety issue when the wife needs to be rushed to hospital at midnight to deliver... and the *EDIT* NEW car won't start!

zetec · 14-02-2006, 10:20 PM

Come on now let's not jump to conclusions, it may be something as simple as a dirty fuel sender or anything, a hole or leak somewhere with the pressure in the fuel lines, anything. Just tell them more info and see if that helps.

pertuan · 14-02-2006, 10:32 PM

I've heard about this problem a number of times now so I think its more than a dirty part.

New2Focus · 14-02-2006, 10:40 PM

My LS (manual) took a few attempts to start on one notable occasion, so I mentioned it to the dealer at the Complimentary Service. Needless to say, they couldn't find anything, and said that there hadn't been any software updates or changes. Happily, it was a one-off, and hasn't happened since. I do remember that it was a hot day, the car was warm, but it wasn't on an angle. I can't remember how much fuel I had in the tank at the time.

omg · 15-02-2006, 02:38 AM

I've had it happen a number of times, every time parked on a hill nose high. On every occaision I was able to roll it back down to the flat and it started without a problem. A dirty fuel sender will cause problems with the fuel gauge, not delivery and a hole or leak in the fuel lines will cause much bigger problems than problems starting.

73MTU · 15-02-2006, 02:09 PM

ok well atleast i know its common and not ended up with a dud focus

thanks all

FocusLX06 · 18-02-2006, 01:22 AM

Mine fails to start sometimes, regardless of angle... It happens to my girlfriend more than me though, dunno why. It's happened to her at least 3 times and only once to me. Always starts second attempt though, with no problems, but this is unacceptable. It's a new car ffs..

73MTU · 18-02-2006, 06:57 PM

yeah well just in the last week it wa sdoing it whilst on flat ground so i took it back today and got right up them and they said they'll look at it first thing on monday and i asked for some free ИИИИ as comp. and they told me to ring ford aus. and let em have it so i will.....

FocusLX06 · 19-02-2006, 01:02 PM

Let us know how you go. Ford just needs to develop a "fix" and ask all Focus owners to get the "fix" done. It can't be that big of a problem if it's intermittent.

dazza_1011 · 19-02-2006, 07:59 PM

have had the exact same problem and no help from my dealer... let us know how you go with ford aus cause i wouldnt mind giving them a piece of my mind aswell

73MTU · 21-02-2006, 02:19 PM

just dropped the car off to them this morning and they gave a nice CLEAN hire car unlike the other day i droped it off and they gave a old camry which was filthy, full of cat hair and dust, i didnt feel like touching anything. so i rang them and told them to have a nice clean car ready for me when i come back on tuesday. so at least they have done something right.....

FocusLX06 · 22-02-2006, 07:08 PM

I'm nearly up for my 3000, should I mention it to the dealer?

zetec · 22-02-2006, 08:16 PM

Only if it's a problem yeah. By all means.

MikGan · 27-02-2006, 11:22 AM

Ive had the same problem, happened about 3 times that it didnt start but kicked over on the second go at it.

But once when we had (according to the screen dealy) 75K's of fuel left and on a hill it wouldnt start untill I rolled it down the hill and into someones drive way using the handbrake (not the best feeling in the world) then it started.

73MTU · 28-02-2006, 04:48 PM

well got it back and again they couldnt find the problem. and it hasnt happened since so maybe its fixed it self so i'm not goin to persue any further but if it happens again they'll know about it...

maybe if enough people complain bout the problem they might fix it.

and if nothing gets done in the future i will be taking my story to a current affairs and we'd get more of a response if all of us put our 2 bod bit in

dazza_1011 · 28-02-2006, 06:27 PM

i dont think it will just fix itself!!!! how long did they actually have your car only to return it and say they dont know what the problem is?????? so much for "nobody knows your ford like we do"

73MTU · 01-03-2006, 12:57 PM

the first time i returned it to them they had it for 3 days and this time they had it for 4 and it happened last night so i'm gonna ring them now and rev the **** out of them. i'm sick of this ИИИИE

WASP · 28-03-2006, 01:25 AM

Everybody, before you go getting your car pulled apart by your dealer, stop using standard unleaded and use premium. Ford claim the car can use it, and it can ....as long as you don't mind starting issues and average fuel economy! Switch over the premium and the car is much happier, no low down pining and much better on fuel (economy wise). Even performance is better down low now. In general European cars hate 92 RON fuel.

amlohac · 28-03-2006, 01:38 AM

thats a very good point, the guy who sold me my car said "if you get totally desperate then fill the car up with normal unleaded fuel, and try to do it with only one tank or your car will run like total crap"

Basically i cant understand why people are so tight with fuel in thier cars, ИИИИ fuel = ИИИИ car. Expect problems especially with aussie fuel its not rated very high.

dazza_1011 · 28-03-2006, 05:26 PM

i have used only bp ultimate from day one and i still have the starting issues so this is not the problem!!!!

WASP · 28-03-2006, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dazza_1011

i have used only bp ultimate from day one and i still have the starting issues so this is not the problem!!!!

lol..no need to yell Dazza..:Reverend:

dazza_1011 · 29-03-2006, 06:34 PM

ford really need to sort themselves out on this one i have complained numerous amounts of times and im sure so have others... there is a fault somewhere so they should just pull finger, find the fault and fix it, seriously how hard can it be???

WASP · 29-03-2006, 07:48 PM

I have to agree there. Apparently it's too hard to fix so far... Just wonder if it's due to the car being European and made for a global market. Its a much bifgger exercise making a ECU update on that scale rather than what Ford do with their local cars here. I'm not sure.

73MTU · 02-04-2006, 03:00 PM

hey guys i finally got the internet back on and i have hade SOME progress.
I left Byrne FORD caus they are completelt incompitent and went down the road to my local ford dealer TORQUE ford and they have been wonderful.

they listened to what i had to say, took the car the next for a service after having trouble wit the other mob. once it was serviced they sent me a courtesy txt msg saying that my car was ready to be picked up. they had a full report on everything they done and looked at and what they did about it. what blew me out of the water was that i told them bout the starting problem, they looked at it and of course it didnt fault on them but they still wnet ahead and found a computer upgrade and instlled it. now whay couldnt the other mob have doen that uin the first place???

with regards to replacing a few parts, tehy orered them in and again sent me a txt letting me know they have arrived and to make contact with them to arrange a day they can fit them.

now if that aint service what is. very happy with TORQUE FORD.