About a year and a half ago I moved from Chicago (500 feet above sea level) to Morelia, Mexico (6,200 feet above sea level). My gas mileage on my 2000 Ford Focus has plummeted, I used to get anywhere from 22 to 26 miles to the gallon around town in Chicago but I am lucky to get 14 or 15 here. Is it simply a function of altitude? I have a good mechanic, keep everything tuned up and in good shape.
View 6 RepliesI've got a 2000 F350 crew cab with a camper I bought in Chile and I'm going to be driving it from the tip of south america back to the US. It's a 9 month epic family road trip. It'll involve crossing the Andes several times and going over 15,000 ft. There are roads up to 19,500 ft in various places.
My question is am I going to have problems with the altitude? What can i do about it? I've got another truck which is a unimog, it's slow as hell but has a special kind of booster gas you can inject in to the engine to get it started in very cold weather and at high altitude. I chose the F350 for the truck instead of the unimog because a unimog is slow as hell (think 40mph max speed), but it handles extreme conditions well.
We're currently RV camping in the Wyoming Wind River Range at 8500 ft and is getting to freezing at night. The past two mornings the truck has been very difficult to start and I got quite a bit of smoke. This morning it took two or three tries but I got it going.
View 3 RepliesI recently took a trip up .and I noticed that driving up long inclines my battery just drained to practically nothing.
When I got to level terrain it'd charge but to not to full level. and for my entire trip it didn't ever really charge much. However once I got down to lower altitudes and drove to my home It charged right up and has retained its charge.
I have a 2003 Acura MDX with 120,000 miles on it. I live on a mountain road that goes from 5,200 feet to 7,400 feet in 7 miles. When I head up the mountain and go around switchbacks, at the higher altitudes the power steering goes out when it's very hot outside and I usually have the air conditioner on. I've had the power steering and sensors replaced twice and it hasn't worked.
View 2 RepliesI drive a 2010 Toyota Corolla, 1.8L vehicle. We recently went on vacation to Colorado and somewhere around Fairplay, CO, which is about 9500 feet above sea level, our relatively new car with only about 47K just died in the middle of the road where there was not shoulder or cell phone service. I pulled over the best I could and popped the hood after several attempts to restart to no avail. I removed the decorative plastic engine cover and looked at it long enough to realize I did not know anything to do or try, reinstalled the cover and closed the hood. I was then able to restart the car and go a little further.
It did happen to us one more time and again after a few minutes on the side of the road with the hood open I was able to start it. I was very surprised that there was no check engine light when I was able to restart the car. I would expect if the engine just dies in the middle of driving that it would at least produce a code where I could have some idea of what was going on. I have read about vapor lock, but it sounds like it is more likely to happen on older cars with a carburetor and with the fuel pump under the hood instead of in the fuel tank. Should I try higher octane fuel?
After air filter change our 2004 Honda Pilot mileage was reduced by 50% (got about 11 mpg on interstate and we used to get 24 mpg). I checked tire pressure and they were low, so I inflated them. I have a code reader, and the car is showing no error codes.
View 2 RepliesShe was driving and she turned onto another road this morning and the Prius started making a popping noise which lasted about 30 seconds. She normally averages about 42/43 mpg but it is down to 37 mpg. She said she has noticed since yesterday the Prius did not drive the same (I am assuming she means the power). The Prius is a 2006 with about 105,000 miles on it. Nothing has ever been done to it since we purchased it new in 2006 except oil and tires.
View 4 RepliesI bought a used 2008 Sonata GLS with 65K miles 2 years ago. It's been a great car so far. For the first 25K miles that I drove it, it had good pickup and got ~30 MPG for my highway driving. In the last ~5K miles, the fuel mileage has dropped to 25MPG highway and it has some hesitation when accelerating, especially on lower RPM's. I changed the spark plugs with NGK Iridium, but it is still having the issue. What to check?
Some possibilities: ignition coils, sensors, timing belt, etc?
my 2000 focus se, 2.0L SPI, with 82k began to recently run rough at idle then progressed to stalling at longer lengths of idle. The condition starts once the engine warms after 2-5 minutes. I 1st tried gas treatment. I replaced the ignition coil as suggested in the other threads, but it has not improved the problem. I had the fuel pump recall-replaced 2 years ago. I would guess that a bad fuel pump would exhibit loss of power at all engine speeds? Before I proceed to replace plug wires and plugs.
View 14 RepliesWe gave the Prius a good workout in the rain for the first time today. Central Florida has been having serious amounts of heavy rain, creating water covered roads in our area. Normally the digital fuel mileage display shows around 55 MPG for most of our driving. However today it dropped to the upper forties very quickly.
We were running the wipers on continuous (low and med speeds), the AC (defrost) was running to keep the condensation off the windows, and the headlights were on. I wonder if the extra resistance of the water on the road also had an effect on the fuel mileage.
Even though we hit some fairly deep water and created large amounts of splash, the car tracked straight, the brakes worked well, and the power was totally uninterrupted. Other than the poor fuel milage we were impressed.
I've switched the fuel pump on this car more than once and made sure the fuel line isn't crimped yet it still hesitates. Also, the temp. shoots up when idling and appears to need either a fan or temp. switch?
View 4 RepliesI have a 2002 Ford Focus ZX5 with about 108,000 miles on it. It's driven far distances, about 700 miles round trip, a couple times a month. About about three times since last summer, approximately halfway through one leg (at around 200 miles in), the engine starts jerking when accelerating. It doesn't happen on every trip, and seems to only happen on hotter days.
(Driving around town short distances, even at high RPMs doesn't present a problem at all, it's specifically after a couple hundred miles.) The engine light has flashed, but not every time the jerking occurs and hasn't stayed on, and the code that was pulled doesn't seem to be telling either the mechanics or Ford know what the deal is. I'm looking at having the whole transmission swapped for well over a grand, but with the disclaimer that it's not a guaranteed fix.
We are looking at buying the new style Escape, either new or a few years old, but I'm worried about the life of an Eco Boost motor (a 4cyl. turbo scare me).
We drive around 25-30k miles a year, and would like keep it past the 200+k mile mark. I'm concerned about a turbo charge motor holding up that long and what type of issues would i have to look forward too?
We have a 2008 Mariner AWD with the V6 it has 200+k miles on it and it's been an awesome little SUV. i want the same quality in my next vehicle too.
Recently I was driving on the highway, about 70 miles into my trip, when all of a sudden my cruise control kicked out and the rpms went high and then I lost acceleration. I pulled over to the berm and tried to take off. Problem is I could not get the car past 30mph because the accelerator pedal could. not be pushed down more than an inch or two no matter how hard I pushed. What could be wrong???
View 1 RepliesI have a 2000 Ford Focus that vibrates more at idle. The previous owner replaced the top passenger side motor mount when I bought it in Nov. I just replaced the bottom and then the other top drivers side mount two days later. 75% improvement but I wonder if there is some thing in the engine like an adjustment of some kind. I have only had it a couple months so I don't know when the last time it had a tune up. I can replace the spark plugs my self but would need a computer diagnosis to determine if there is something else that needs some adjustment of replacement.
View 2 Replies03 focus SE Wagon, Automatic Tran, has a bit of a problem. Whenever it gets driven through a puddle (big, small, paddling pool, etc.) it will make this high pitch squealing noise, and then when it gets shut off after driving through said puddle, will have trouble starting. (It will turn over, catch, run for .2 seconds & then the engine will cut out, but all the electronics will work) THEN! if you can get it started, it needs to be reeved constantly or it will stall when it idles. Lastly, if the conditions are ridiculously horrible, & you need to go some place, you have to '2 foot drive' the little beauty to whereever you're going. Now, she's been in to see the Ford mechanics and has 'stumped' them.
View 4 RepliesI have a 2000 Ford Focus Wagon with 114,00o miles on it. I'm having a problem determining why it is stalling in reverse and also sometimes while it is idling. I've had the idle speed motor replaced, hoses checked, etc. After we had these things done the car seemed a little better but I could still feel the car hinting at wanting to stall.
I also noticed it usually stalls in reverse when I'm turning the steering wheel but not if I'm backing up in a straight line. It also feels like it wants to stall when it sits at a long traffic light. Before I had the idle speed motor replaced it stalled more often - several times a week. However, now it stalls a little less.
On another note, the car seems to idle a little rough. It almost sounds like a diesel engine. It seems to simmer down some once the engine is warm. I had a new water pump installed and a timing belt put in and now I can hear a squeaking sound coming from that area of the engine. I'm not sure if any of these symptoms are related.
My heat shield was loose and my dealer said it should be fine, but then it stormed and driving home I ran over a branch and when I got home I noticed the heat shield was ripped and dragging on the ground. It is pretty torn up and I'm thinking of just taking it off. Am I allowed to take it off? If so how should I go about taking it off?
View 1 RepliesAs I'm driving my ford focus I hear a growling noise from the right front. It goes away while turning left.I jacked it up and feel no play in the wheel. I'm thinking it is either the wheel bearing or the drive axle. How could I tell which one?
View 2 RepliesI bought my girlfriend a 2000 Ford Focus with 150k Miles on it to drive for the summer in Oregon. The car is physically in great condition with no noticeable leaks on it. After a week or so of driving, my girlfriend complained that a couple of times she would be driving the car and while going up a hill "nothing would happen" sometimes when she punched the accelerator. I asked her if the engine revolutions were going up and if the engine made a "vroom" sound (to try to see if the transmission was slipping) and she said it did not.
On a long trip driving from Seattle to Portland, she was driving again and we were climbing a long hill and she suddenly complained that "nothing was happening" when she punched the accelerator. She panicked and pulled off to the side of the road quickly. There was no shaking or vibration. I did not hear the engine wind up when this happened... so I am assuming the tach was not going up when she depressed the gas pedal. I opened the hood and looked inside and seeing nothing obvious, I switched to the drivers' side. No codes were thrown. I drove the car up the rest of the hill and to a flat area and we let the car cool off for a few minutes. I drove the car for the next 75 miles to Portland without event. When we got to her grandparents house, I changed the spark plugs (which were pretty fouled up), and changed the fuel filter (which actually looked pretty new.) and it seemed to satisfy her for awhile. Being that I havent experienced the issue, I just assumed she is not used to driving a small hatchback with a fairly wimpy engine.
In the meantime I had the entire front end redone, control arms, etc and alignment because she had had a slight shake...which is unrelated here but i figured I'd mention it. So, the other night she calls me on the side of the road, slightly shaken. Her latest incident was as such: at the bottom of an on-ramp to the highway, she punched the accelerator and "nothing happened" when she hit the pedal. This time the check engine light briefly came on, and the "OIL" light came on. She was able to pull off to the side of the road somehow and then pull to an exit. She turned the car off and let it sit for 5 minutes.
Here's the weird part: She started it up and claims she put it in "Drive" and pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened and the car actually started creeping backwards. She hit the brake and turned the car off. She started the car and drove away 5 minutes later without incident and drove it 20 minutes home. She said her gas was very low when this happened, close to the gas light coming on.
She took the car to a reliable mechanic in seattle the next day, and they said there was no issues and they thought the car was actually in great shape. Unfortunately no codes were logged and no codes have been logged at all! My only other weird observation about the car is that the tach seems to fall kind of quickly after acceleration... almost comically compared to my volkswagen 1.8 which has a gentle rise and fall to it. It kind of bounces up and down but the ride is smooth. Random, but i figured i'd mention it
Should she just make sure to keep the gas level above low/empty?Should a fuel pressure check be on the docket? The previous owner claimed the timing belt only had 25k on it, but he could have been lying.