Ford Focus rough tickover

dusty207

Hi all
Have a 2000 1.4 Focus with a rough tickover problem. It'll be OK on start but drops back 100-150rpm when it warms up, kind of hunts. That's not too bad apart for the annoyance but recently it's begun to cut out, not nice in traffic. I can keep the revs up using the pedal but that's a pain. Could it mean the ecu is dodgy? I saw somewhere that a vacuum pipe may also be an issue. I can't afford to go to a main dealer as I'll be ripped off (not working presently) so any advice or input from somebody who knows their stuff would be appreciated.
Thanks

Drummerboy08

Coils? Common enough on that car to go, and it would cause the car to run rough.

Plug

As Drummerboy08 said and also there is a T-piece pipe behind the inlet manifold called the crankcase ventilation pipe that can give bad idling etc when its split.
Is the engine light on?

dusty207

Hi drummerboy
Thanks. I've had to replace a coil pack before (and the HT leads only a couple of weeks ago as well!) but that rough idling is different. This is a kind of rhythmic hunting.

Hi plug, thanks for that, it ties in with what I've read on some websites. When the engine is cold it gets a richer mix then leans off, a small crack somewhere would draw air, lower the rpm and hunt. Or so they say! There are no lights showing when this happens till it conks out and all light come on.

Plug

Pop the bonnet, start the engine, listen to it and get someone else to switch it off. Listen for a hissing sound, if there is it could be that pipe!

dusty207

Will most definitely do first thing in the morning, thanks!

dusty207

Hi Plug
Had a listen as you suggested but couldn't hear any hissing.
Had a poke around the general area you suggested and, weird thing, it seems to be OK now!
Done a couple of days driving and all seems smooth. Thanks!
On a different note, I may need to have the timing belt changed, been on a fas course for 6 months so cash tight and have put it off but it's 70k miles since the last. So 2 questions if you don't mind. 1/ Does it really need changing? and 2/ Ford main dealers are quoting 380e for the full job inc. water pump, can I get it done any cheaper elsewhere?
Cheers

Plug

Its due every 100,000 miles or ten years which ever comes first. You will get the timing belt done cheaper than that, which county are you?

dusty207

Dublin.
I like the 100,000 period, it's about 4 years since the last one was done, about 70,000 as I said. That'd give a lot of breathing space. There seems to be various different ideas, for example, I had a Haynes out a while back to check out the coil pack and they reckon every 40,000.
I'll leave it be so, thanks.

Plug

Don't bother changing the coil pack till it starts acting up.

Muckie

Could be the cam sensor or MAF sensor at fault. Did any engine management lights come up on the dash.

dusty207

Coil pack had gone, it was chugging badly, fixed it.

No lights come on.

Muckie

Great stuff

dusty207

Hi Muckie
Sorry for the brief response, I had to replace the coil pack several months ago before the issue with the tickover, chugging badly then, the new pack fixed that problem.
Hi Plug, doing nothing much last night (no funds!) I dug out the Haynes. They say that when you disconnect the battery it resets the ecu. Fair enough. It also gets rid of all the fault codes built up over time. A ford dealer would save these and reapply. If you dont they say that the tickover can suffer from surging, hesitation and erratic idling. These will sort themselves out over time which I think is what happened to my yoke. They recommend, after reattaching the battery is to start, run as close to normal tickover as possible till car hits normal working temp, raise it to 1200rpm for 2 minutes then go for a 5 mile drive of varied conditions. This completes the learning process.
Cheers

dusty207

p. s. I have absolutely no intention of trying this, let sleeping dogs lie!