Ford Focus (1998 - 2004) - 04 1.6 Air conditioning and engine stop

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Fri 3 Jul 2009 10:04
04 1.6 Air conditioning and engine stop - Tiki
My Focus has done 80000 of trouble free miles until now.
Air conditioning works well but when sitting in traffic with the engine idling the RPM sometimes starts to hunt up and down accompanied by a lot of clicking from the compressor clutch. Sometimes the engine stops. This can also happen when slowing down to enter a driveway etc. This can be disconcerting as then power steering is lost.

The garages cleaned the system and replaced the gas but the problem persists. As it is only an intermittant problem I have not been able to demonstrate what happens (Sods law!).

Any idea what the problem could be and how to fix it?

Tiki

{typo in header corrected}

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/07/2009 at 11:13

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Fri 3 Jul 2009 10:18
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - L'escargot
I can only assume that the work was carried out somewhere other than at a Ford franchised dealer. A Ford franchised dealer would have extensive experience of your model and variant and would be able to diagnose the problem.
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 17:14
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Dave N
Is the fan running when the a/c is on?
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Fri 3 Jul 2009 20:43
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - elekie&a/c doctor
This may not be an a/con fault,but switching the a/c on may worsen the problem.I would be looking at the idle control system,especially the idle control valve and the rubber breather pipes that often collapse/split under inlet manifold.hth
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Tue 7 Jul 2009 23:34
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - AlastairW
Ive been having a similar problem with my Focus ie: when a/c on the engine tries to stall when coming to a halt.
At the week end I gave the car a bit of an Italian tune up and it has been much better since. A/cstill needs a regas, but that is a separate issue.
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Thu 9 Jul 2009 12:01
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Tiki
Thanks for all your replies.
What is an Italian tune up.
I also think the problem is not with the AC but with engine management system, i.e. it does not manage the load properly at idle speed. Will check out the tubes as suggested.
Yes the fan does kick in very soon after stopping (with the AC on) thereby increasing load on engine.
Heat wave now over so not so critical!!!!
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Thu 9 Jul 2009 13:26
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Dynamic Dave
What is an Italian tune up.


A forum search should reveal all:-

www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/search.htm

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Mon 13 Jul 2009 13:11
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Dave_TD
The compressor clutch will be clicking on and off once the aircon is down to temperature to stop the evaporator from freezing - ie at the first sign of ice forming it will cut the aircon off until the evaporator temperature rises enough to melt it.

I second the ISCV or EMS as a probable cause of your idling problems, my 97 Escort 1.8 has a slightly erratic idle but the cheapest method I've found is just to expect it and declutch when necessary...

Dave TD
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Mon 13 Jul 2009 14:10
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Tiki
Comprendi.

Millie grazi

Tiki



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Thu 16 Jul 2009 17:11
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Statia
This could well be symptomatic of the throttle position sensor (TPS) being at fault. Doesn't show up as ECU fault code, but can produce symptoms which are increased by aircon being on. Unfortunately the only way to check if it's knackerd is to change it.

~£60 from ford dealer for part. Always ask for a discount at the counter.

Cleaning the idle control valve won't hurt.
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Sat 7 Nov 2009 10:18
04 1.6 Air conditing and engine stop - Tiki
Belated thanks for all the replies but the problem was eventually traced to the AC cooling fan. This either runs at low or high speed. On my car the low speed never cut in so as the pressure built and eventually the high speed cut in placing a sudden load on the engine which at times caused it to cut out. The guy who found the fault had never seen this before.
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