Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks
View Threaded
Wed 17 Mar 2010 12:51
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

Here I am, another stalling person looking for advice! Problem is that the car will stall if you bring it to a standstill at traffic lights/roundabouts etc - and once when coming off an A road, bit scary. It does this when you put the clutch down - the revs drop very quickly to very low levels. Another issue (poss related?) is that the dials on the dash (odometer, revs and petrol) all sit at zero for about 10 seconds after you start the car. Obviously the speedo should be at zero when the car starts but what about the rest? They do eventually rise to the correct place but it's a bit odd that they take so long.

The car has recently been serviced with new brakes, spark plugs, oil change, air filter blah blah.

I've just had the idle control valve cleaned, a new clutch has been put in (after 150k it needed one!) and the speed sensor has been replaced. Apparently the vacuum hoses might have sprung a leak but I can't see anything obvious...then again I don't really know what I'm looking for.

The car doesn't stall as much now. In fact it only seems to do it when you're driving slowly in traffic in 1st gear and then put the clutch down. It still has the dials problem.

I've run the self-test diagnostic test by holding down the trip button with ignition. It came up with error code 9359. Could mean an instrument cluster failure?? Would this be related? Should I just put up with the occasional stall? What next? Argh.

Apologies for length.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Mar 2010 13:39
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

Also the driver's side lock won't unlock the car. It does lock everything though - and you can unlock it by using the key in the passenger door. Any quick fixes for that? This car is a lot of fun!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Mar 2010 15:06
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - adam f

The 9359 code relates to an Ignition Run/ Accesory circuit failure. Give that a google and you should be able to get some more info on it.

My car was almost doing the same as yours but never actually stalled. I had the crankcase ventillation pipe replaced and also had my ECU updated by the local Ford garage ( I believe they are the only people who can do a ECU update as they only have the software)

The cranckcase vent pipe is a very common issue. If you google "Ford focus keeps stalling" it will bring up hundreds of things from people who are having / had the same problem.

Good luck in getting it fixed and also give us an update of how its going.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Mar 2010 19:53
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

Thanks for advice :) 2 things:

I looked into 9359 and weird dial behaviour and several people on the focal site mentioned fuse no. 50. I checked in my manual and yes, fuse 50 does look after the instrument cluster, radio and clock. So I took out the glove box and had a look. Much weirdness - fuse no. 50 was missing!!

picasaweb.google.com/113760297615657066324/Focus#5...4

Why would this be? The previous owner has put in a shiny and powerful Alpine stereo - would this necessitate removing a fuse? Also it might explain why my clock never shows the right time....Should I buy a new 7.5A fuse and put it in?

Second thing - the stalling problem has decided to get worse again..in the space of a few hours. I want to take the PCV tube out to check if it's ok but I'm not sure which one it is.

Apologies for crapness of picture (night time) but can someone identify it for me?

picasaweb.google.com/113760297615657066324/Focus#5...4

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 17 Mar 2010 22:10
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - adam f

The pipe i had replaced was behind the inlet manifold (the inlet manifold is the 4 big tubesin the pic) Bit of a pain to get to. Basically what happens is when the enginge gets warm the inerds of the pipe collapses.

You may want to replace the fuse but it was taken out for a reason and i think the previous owner may have done a bi-pass bodge.

A good site to join is ford owners club - some great guys on there and the chances are a lot have had the same problem.

Other then that the best thing to do is take it to a ford garage as you could end up throwing money at t the car on things that dont need replacing.

Edited by adam f on 17/03/2010 at 22:12

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 18 Mar 2010 20:55
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

I'll attack the pipes this weekend then!

As for fuse/radio issues...As far as I can tell the stereo's been wired in for permanent power (still works with key out of ignition). I don't know what else might be wrong though!

Schematics of the radio install are here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22596358/Alpine-CDE-9801R

wires:
grey, grey/black, white, white/black - front speakers
black - ground
blue - power antenna
blue/white - remote turn on lead

violet, violet/black, green, green/black - rear speakers

yellow - battery lead

red - switched ignition?

But here are some pics of what's been done:
http://picasaweb.google.com/11376029...7066324/Focus#

If red is meant to be switched ignition do I re-connect that to the other red wire? I'm not sure they're for the same thing other than guessing from their matching colour!

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 11 Jun 2010 16:37
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

Just to update - the wiring was as I had thought. Red needed to be connected to a switched live. I also replaced a missing fuse for the accessories circuit. All fixed now, radio only turns on with ignition and dials all spin up at the same time. Woo for me and my wiring.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 11 Jun 2010 16:43
Ford Focus - 2000 Ford Focus 1.4 stalls at idle, dial probs - mouton

<p>As for the idling problem...that was improved slightly when I gave up and took it to Ford. They charged me £££££££ for a diagnostics test I didn't want. They then replaced one of the vacuum tubes as apparently it was collapsing. I checked under the bonnet afterwards and couldn't see any new tubes though....</p><p>The car continued to stall until I replaced the ICV altogether. Since then it's run perfectly. This could be due to the improved weather as intake air is now much warmer than a few months ago. I guess I'll find out when it gets to November!<br></p>

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

We give you the low down on how to save on insurance, little-known tricks and tips, what insurance groups mean and how to use insurance aggregators to beat insurers.

Insurance group finder and how to save on insurance

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....