Hi Guys,

I'm new to the forum but have just acquired a piece of knowledge I wish I had a couple of months ago when I bought my Ford Focus LX.

The car started stuttering when my son borrowed it for a day. I drove it next day for about 15 minutes and no problems - then it started doing the same to me.

My neighbour recommended a local Ford system expert who fixed it for me at a cost of £171. After reading a lot of stuff on various forums I was quite relieved actually...

It seems that he'd had the problem before on another Focus - water ingress to the spark plugs (caused by the dealer I bought it off) jet washing the engine compartment to make it look better prior to purchase!

He guessed that the dealer had left the car to stand for a long time with the plug socket access tubes full of water before I bought it, and it had begun to corrode the plugs. He showed me the old leads and they were well watermarked.

He said that another Focus he had once worked on had the plugs seized in so tight because of a similar problem that the spanner stripped the plug nut and they had to remove the cylinder head to get it/them out.

Of course I am not a mechanical expert, but he's got the car running sweet as a nut again so I am happy. I just wondered if any other people have washed the engine down and accidentally filled the plug access wells up with water and suffered for it later?

Edited by Jules80 on 03/08/2012 at 16:48