Focus Pinging Issue (again!!!)

Curly · 23-01-2007, 05:29 PM

After complaining to our Ford dealer and FORD Customer Service about our LS Focus pinging badly on 91 octane and occasionally on 95 octane we were given a case number and they were looking into it. (and yes, the specs say it can run on 91-98 although the manual that comes with the car says you will get better performance on 95) Since then a "supervisor" at Ford of some sort has contacted us and has informed us that pinging on 91 octane is NOT considered a performance issue and will not damage the engine therefore the car is performing within the specifications and as far as pinging on 95 is concerned we need to contact our dealer. The dealer has said there is NOTHING more they can do and that Ford need to address the issue. We have now found out that Ford have closed our file. (without telling us) Ford also deny they have had similar complaints although the dealer says it is a problem with other cars. So Ford believe that pinging is NORMAL. In other words, they can't fix it. Good one Ford. You are useless. If your LS Focus pings please let Ford know on their customer service phone number. Thanks.

kenny21 · 23-01-2007, 05:51 PM

You can fix it by spending **** loads of money and put a motec ecu in it and change the ignition timing and fuel map haha but its waste of money unless u wanna do it up heaps so yea. I dunno why they dont change they ecu mapping.

Is there the same problem with the maxda 2L cause they basically got same engine dont they. What ford should do is bring compression down and find another way to make some power cause it is pretty silly i think that they seem to be havin so many problems.

Btw pinging is a performance problem and will cause damage cause if it detonates too much say goodbye to piston and rings, maybe thats why ford are saying wat they are saying cause it will make them money i dont know

eXtremist · 23-01-2007, 06:08 PM

I wonder if Mazda/Volvo owners with the same engine are getting the same issue??

Piotr · 23-01-2007, 06:22 PM

The car is tuned for 95ron, just because it will run on 91ron doesn't mean you should be using it. The poor fuel quality in Australia(Compared to europe) and the heat is the likely culprit. Use 98ron.

The mazda engine on the other hand are tuned for 91ron.

Curly · 23-01-2007, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piotr

The car is tuned for 95ron, just because it will run on 91ron doesn't mean you should be using it. The poor fuel quality in Australia(Compared to europe) and the heat is the likely culprit. Use 98ron.

I accept that I will need to use 95ron but I refuse to use 98ron. It is far too expensive and not readily available where I live. (rural area) A car like a Focus should not need 98. The fuel requirements of this car should be advertised openly before you buy the car, not kept like a dirty little secret until you actually buy the thing.

FOCUSonTHIS · 23-01-2007, 06:59 PM

Says what petrol it uses on the website

Curly · 23-01-2007, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FOCUSonTHIS

Says what petrol it uses on the website

That's right. It says 91-98ron. And when you say that it pings on 91ron they say "Yes, but it still runs. Just use 95". We were told when we test drove the car that they run fine on 91. That was a lie.

FOCUSonTHIS · 23-01-2007, 07:36 PM

Well thats the fault of the Salesman not Ford. When I bought my Zetec I was told it would be better to use 98ron and I haven't gone back. Also you can buy some Octane booster when you fill up with 95 and see if that makes a difference

Curly · 23-01-2007, 07:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FOCUSonTHIS

Well thats the fault of the Salesman not Ford. When I bought my Zetec I was told it would be better to use 98ron and I haven't gone back. Also you can buy some Octane booster when you fill up with 95 and see if that makes a difference

Thanks for the tip. You were lucky you had a decent salesperson. My point is that they shouldn't claim on the specs that it runs on 91 when even Ford themselves will tell you on the phone or at the dealership that they usually ping on 91. They blame their "marketing" people for what's written in the specs.

eXtremist · 23-01-2007, 08:03 PM

Curly, how many kms has your car travelled?

Bucknaked · 23-01-2007, 08:07 PM

My 04 SR Focus pings on 91. Starting ot use 95 and its better. Manual said in the 1.8 litre manual, you can use 91. Mechanic says to use on 98. I found it odd ford told me to run it on 98 when the book says otherwise.

Curly · 23-01-2007, 08:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eXtremist

Curly, how many kms has your car travelled?

4000 kms

Piotr · 23-01-2007, 08:31 PM

Try to use 95ron fuel as much as possible and if you experience pinging try using less throttle. People don't beleive these card need premium fuel because they are not performance cars but what they fail to realise is that 95Ron is the base fuel in Europe.

Ford advertise that the car can use 91Ron because while the car won't stop working it will run worse than it is ment to.

Curly · 23-01-2007, 08:48 PM

Yep. 95 it will have to be. Just wish they were up front about it.

kenny21 · 23-01-2007, 11:18 PM

yea its not a performance car but the engine has bl00dy high compression for a standard car cause in europe as everyone is saying they do have much better fuels and colder more dense climate which helps as well.
Thrash ur car on a stinkin hot day and then a cool day and u might notice a difference cause i dont think the cars have a MAP sensor to change the fuel map as the barometric pressure changes.
Oh btw the new shell fuel is the same as the old optimax crap lol its a smidge diff but basically the same. try using mobile or bp 95 for a week and then see how it goes after that cause might take a tank or 2 to fix itself

zetec · 23-01-2007, 11:57 PM

Mine's recommended for 95, in fact it's compulsory, the older 20 litre LR Zetec 96kw version. I've recently started to run on 98 RON and I swear m life on the stuff, I go further per dollar than I did on 95, thus it's actually cheaper to run my car on 98 RON because I go further per tank and recoup the extra cost of the fuel.

This doesn't work for all cars but I know for a fact that mine goes 5% further per tank in the city and that's with fuel that's usually only about 4% dearer.

Piotr · 24-01-2007, 12:04 AM

Without getting to off topic.

Shell V-Power racing is a substantially differnt fuel from Optimax. There is nothing wrong with the fuel.

I would have to agree that the heat of Australia is likely the cause of the problems.

Curly · 24-01-2007, 10:15 AM

You are right. The problem does seem worse on hot days. We have used Mobil 95, Caltex 95 and have just tried Shell 95. They all seem about the same. Probably Mobil is the best if I had to choose.

Curly · 24-01-2007, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curly

Since then a "supervisor" at Ford of some sort has contacted us and has informed us that pinging on 91 octane is NOT considered a performance issue and will not damage the engine therefore the car is performing within the specifications and as far as pinging on 95 is concerned we need to contact our dealer.

I got my wires crossed. He said pinging is ONLY a performance issue and will not damage the car etc etc...

kenny21 · 24-01-2007, 04:02 PM

lol if it happens enough dw it will damage ur engine haha, hes just tryin to make them look not so bad lol

More revs · 25-01-2007, 10:01 AM

I've always used 95 RON 10% ethanol blend from United. It costs 4c / L less than 91 RON non ethanol unleaded and mine has NEVER pinged on that stuff.

If you have a United servo nearby give it a go.

The last 2 fills however I've used their 98 E10 and of course no pinging at all but I reckon I get another 50Km per tank which makes it almost economical enuf to use every day.

The only time I used normal 91 RON didn't go so well. Pinged when WOT @ low revs and it knocked the edge off perfomance and I only got 500 Km per tank.

We also have a Renault Scenic II and it MUST run on 95 RON minimum or fault codes come up on the ECU.

I guess any Euro tuned car should be using 95 or higher.

eXtremist · 25-01-2007, 10:29 AM

http://www.ford.com.au/servlet/Conte...1024&c=DFYPage

It says that all the performance data was measured using 95RON fuel when you put your cursor over one of the small numbers on the engine performance data.

MikGan · 25-01-2007, 01:48 PM

Funny I was just fumming and came here to start another pinging thread and I found this one.

Our car is still pinning. When I last spoke to 13FORD they said next service get them to try these new plugs that have been recommended, so when I booked it in I said, 'apparently there are new plugs that ford are recommending to remedy the pinging' the bloke gave me a blank look and corrected me that they have not been advised of any such thing. So I ring 13FORD back, got a call back today from some twat that was talking down the phone like I was some punk trying to stir up trouble.

I reitterated the problem that the car pings with 95 and he told me that mine is an isolated problem and that their records from my 7 previous services that the car has no noted faults or problems. I've taken it back 7 times specifically to get the pinging fixed each time, how can there be no record of a pinging problem!?

He said that I'd have to get the dealership to submit an EDSR (?) report to engineering before anything would be done about it. When I asked why one hasnt already been sent, I mean its been there 7 times, I was berated about how they are privatly owned and Ford have no means to make them submit defect reports.

At the end of the conversation I was told that mine was an isolated incident or there would have been a notice relased already if the problem was wider spread.

**** I was ****ed off, if I didnt recieve the phone call at work I wouldnt have held my temper. The whole phone call sounded like I was an issolated trouble maker that wanted my money back or something, I just want to know when its going to get fixed, and if its not going to get fixed if its going to cause a problem.

GRRRRRRRRRRR............ **** Ford.

I should problaby add that we are now starting to encounter the problems others have noted, the door alarm sounds like its dying, the car is often hard to start sometimes taking 3 long cranks to get it running, all yet to be addressed.

Curly · 25-01-2007, 03:21 PM

MikGan, We have been treated poorly by the Ford customer service people too. They claim ours is an isolated incident and there hasn't been other complaints about pinging even though the dealer say they have heard of other cases. The "supervisor" that was very unhelpful and closed our case on us has since left. They claim it was his last day. Ford have since reopened our case. It seems we have to wait for this new flash for the computer that MAY help our situation. You are not alone on this matter. We have been really fed up with them too. Please keep at them from your end and we will too. In all fairness, the dealership has their hands tied. They claim that the car's computer shows no error codes. Obviously, pinging doesn't create an error code on the computer. Makes you wonder what it does show....It is up to FORD now. (Choice magazine and the RACV are both aware of this issue too.)

eXtremist · 25-01-2007, 04:21 PM

I know this might sound silly, but have you guys tried running some injector cleaner in your fuel tank to clean the injectors?

MikGan · 25-01-2007, 04:32 PM

Narr thats not silly, I know carbie cars, f/inj isnt my thing, so no I havent. The car is in for its 45K service later this month so I might get them to check that out when its in.

But im getting sick and tired of paying Ford service prices when Im starting to wonder if the cheap place down the road that claims to be able to do a service book repairs may have better results.

Curly · 25-01-2007, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eXtremist

I know this might sound silly, but have you guys tried running some injector cleaner in your fuel tank to clean the injectors?

No I haven't tried that. It's only done 4000kms and has had the problem since new. Surely it's too new for that.

eXtremist · 25-01-2007, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curly

No I haven't tried that. It's only done 4000kms and has had the problem since new. Surely it's too new for that.

All it takes is dirty deposits in your fuel tank to partially clog them.

Give it to Ford and tell them to clean the injectors under warranty which might solve the pinging issue.

kenny21 · 25-01-2007, 11:57 PM

correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure that these LS focus is running a knock sensor. Now this should stop pinging thats wat it is there for. If these are causing a problem which might not be but if it is then it might be that the table that ford set up for it in the ecu was just dodgy and maybe thats wat the new flash is for to change the setup of that and the advance curve but also that maybe ppl are getting pinging because maybe the sensor is too sensative and picking up other noises and doing strange things to the mapping. This would make sense to why it does it to some ppl and not others and on some petrols and not others.
I dunno i thought i would just throw this idea into the air to maybe think about.
Cheers
Alex

eXtremist · 26-01-2007, 12:08 AM

Maybe the question we all should be asking is "Are you sure that's a pinging sound?"