Ford - Focus :: Will Not Start In Heat When Turned Off For A Short While
Jun 30, 2012
After two repair shops telling me there is nothing wrong with my car, I'm at a loss. My car is in great condition except when it decides not to start. On hot days, if I am doing several errands I need to worry about if my car will work after the first stop. After driving for a bit, when I turn off my car and return a short while later it will not start. The car will attempt to turn over and the battery works just fine, it just won't start. Also, another issue I think is related and connected to this is that on car trips lasting more than 15 minutes, the air conditioning will stop working. The air will blow but the cool 'conditioning' aspect will fail and I will be stuck with hot air blowing at me. The catch to this is that after waiting 2 hours for a tow, the driver was able to start my car on the first try, thus making the tow unnecessary. Obviously my car is not 'perfect' like the repair shops are telling me....
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2009 Ford Focus. Six months ago got in car returning from 60 mile trip. Turned ignition key heard fuel pump hum but no juice to ignition. (Not anti-theft lockout--security light behaved normally.) Would not take jump. Ford Roadside assistance tried everything else possible. Nothing. Towed to nearest Ford dealer. On arrival, car started immediately. Took to local Ford dealer who found absolutely no problems but ran TSB 10-21-8 reprogram PCM--test OK. Had no further problems with car until a week-and-a-half ago--same thing happened. Car towed to dealer again. Started immediately at dealer! Picked up from dealer, that night same thing happened. Did not phone roadside assistance--after 45 minutes car inexplicably started. That was a week ago. No problems since then. Feeling a little panicky w/car that may fail at any time--winter coming.
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Problem: Vibration together with a noise that sounds abrasive and destructive. Mechanics have failed me.
It feels like driving over the intense short rumble strips that are meant to tell you when a wheel is outside the traffic lane. I feel and hear it in any gear, whether I am moving or not, but hardly at all in Park or Neutral, and hardly at all when cruising at high speeds. It is worst on the first drive of the day - much less on subsequent drives, even if the engine has been allowed to cool fully.
History: When this began, less than 600 miles ago, I had the transmission checked, where I had warranty coverage.
Found: No transmission trouble but a broken engine mount.
I had the engine mount replaced (and two gaskets replaced because they had started to leak), together with Virginia's mandated annual inspection - passed.
Vibration lessened but continued and started to worsen. Within 3 days the engine stalled in traffic and THE NEXT DAY the "check engine" light came on. I went back to the same place. The ignition coil and spark plugs were replaced. Power returned, and no stalling or warning light, but the vibration persisted.
One mechanic baffled: "What do you expect with 101K mileage and 16 valves?" - But this came up too fast to be ordinary wear and tear. What should I do?
2.0L Zetec E engine.
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2003 PT Cruiser won't start immediately after short trip with a short stop. Always does start after turning the key and holding it to start position. The check engine light is often on and the code is for a cam shaft sensor or resistor sensor. A companion problem is the cruise control. If the check engine light is OFF and I use the cruise control, it works fine for a while and then the check engine light comes on at the same instant the cruise control turns off. Are these 2 issues connected? How much should it cost to have the sensor replaced? The car always stays running once it starts and the problem occurs randomly. What are the consequences of not repairing it?
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I have a 2008 Ford Focus. The heat in my car stays hot while I am driving but when I stop at a light or slow down the heat goes very cool.
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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?
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Recently the temp sensor on my car goes all the way to H and then the light comes on saying I need coolant. It only seems to happen when I have the heat and/or defrost on -- if I turn the heat off the temp goes back to normal within a minute or so. (no problem using rear defrost)
First time it happened I pulled over, checked coolant level and added a little. The next time it happened I looked under the hood the next morning and coolant level was just fine.
Happens more often when I'm driving around town than on highway. Usually within about 5 minutes of driving in the morning the engine temp is all the way to H.
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When I turn on my a/c, it gives this short hissing sound for a second or two before it goes away. Then along the road i heard random hissing sounds (not often nor consistent, just happens every now and then) that lasts for a sec or two. Could this be a future problem or is it normal?
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Was having some issues with my 2000 Passat not starting after only being turned off for a short period of time (long periods of time no problem). My check engine light came was on along with the Emissions Workshop message in the display. I took it in and had it serviced at my local repair shop. They said it was something with a temperature gauge or something to that effect that was causing it to lose a temp reading. Anyways, after the repair the car starts fine, runs great, the check engine light went off and so did the Emissions Workshop display. Then a few days later it came back on...still not having any issues with it starting but what's going on??
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Yesterday driving home the heat/AC turned on full bore by itself and would only blow warm air. It will turn off. The rear control works correctly but the front will not blow cool air.
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I have a 2002 F-150 and started making terrible noise when turned on heat/ac. The fan cage was full of acorns and pieces of insulation in it. How can the squirrels get in there? I have looked and see no entrance, maybe just don't know where to look.
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I have been having a problem with my 2002 F250 Super Duty 4x4. It started about 2 months ago. I was in traffic (truck hadn't even been on for 15 minutes). The temp gauge spiked, so I pulled over and turned the truck off. I turned the ignition on and the gauge was normal so I started it and all was fine.
Fast forward a little and every so often about every 3 weeks it would overflow (coolant) but not get to the point that it would overheat. I changed the thermostat and all seemed good to go. Fast forward to yesterday morning. Got in the truck and left to go hunting, and I didn't even make it 10 minutes down the road when I turned the heat on and it blew cold.
I started to see the gauge creep up so I pulled over and shut it down. Upper hose was cold, lower is cold and both heater hoses are cold. After some time of waiting, I started it but the gauge kept creeping up and no heat, so I kept shutting it down. After about 5x of this, the heat worked and the upper hose got hot and all was right with the world. SO I drove it home. Coolant is new, flushed about a month ago and was running great since then. Thermostat is new. Do I have a blockage somewhere? Water pump bad?
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I bought this Escape used in Dec '10 with 29,000 miles. It is now at 36,500 (Sept '11). I have had it in for service 3 times in 3 months.
The passenger airbag seems faulty- if the seat is empty, the light will flip off (meaning airbag is on). If I sit in it, the light will go on and off intermittently. I'm 135 lbs- and the serviceman saw it happen as we drove around- yet when the car was given back to me after a week and a half, they stated they could not duplicate the problem and that no issues were found.
Now, I'm having starting issues. Once over Labor day weekend- I had driven my car, parked it, and went to get in it 5 minutes later- no start. No cranking, no clicking. All lights/radion come on. After sitting for about 20 minutes and attempting to start every couple minutes, it roared to life and was fine. Took in for service, and again- no codes, could not duplicate, so they sent it home.
Car sat for a week (I'm a student- it doesn't get much action except on weekends). Then yesterday, I drove it about 15 minutes, parked, came back 10 minutes later and it wouldn't start again. Again, after about 20 minutes of sitting and attempting to start, it started.
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I have a 5.0 Explorer 1998 and it has a problem for which I cannot find a definite solution, everyone says a different thing. The problem is that when the weather is hot, sometimes the engine does a strange thing. You ride the car for some time, especially if you do it on a high speed so the engine is really hot (but no overheating symptoms) - and then you kill the engine and leave it for a few minutes - to walk into a store, let's say.
After that you attempt to start the engine... sometimes it starts, but there were several times when it refused to catch, it cranks, at first tries to start, but stalls... then it just cranks without even attempting to start. And I had one occasion when it stopped working right in the middle of the road while crawling in traffic, but it was really HOT outside. Luckily, all other cases were in our town, so I could at least walk home. So, the problem seems to overheating of something, as in normal or cold weather it never happens. And every time, after the car is left to stay in place for some time, an hour or more, cannot say exactly - it starts perfectly!
I am really tried of this and want to eliminate the reason. But I am hearing so many different opinions about this problem. I thought that it could be the overheating of the fuel pump. But then it would stop working while moving, not after you shut the engine off and the pump cannot be still working and overheating. The only place where the heat can build up when you stop and turn the engine off is under the hood, as the fan stops, the coolant pump stops and the air isn't blowing as the car isn't moving. But the pump is in the tank! And I never ride on empty fuel tank, I always keep some level, lately I tried to keep it even higher, but yesterday it refused to start when the tank was almost half-full. Also, if it was just dying - a dying fuel pump gives certain symptoms like slow acceleration, engine shaking and trying to stall when you press the pedal, sudden stalling, uneven idling etc. In this case, nothing like this. The car's behavior is absolutely normal, acceleration good, normal idle. It happens ONLY under certain conditions, involving heat.
Other people say that it can be due to low pressure in the fuel ramp and the gasoline is starting to boil at some moment, when the temperature under the hood rises to a certain point. As a reason they name the pump (but as I said, I doubt it) or the fuel pressure control valve - don't know its exact name, it's a valve which maintains a certain pressure in the fuel ramp and releases excessive pressure by returning some fuel to the tank. However, when this valve gets stuck and doesn't maintain pressure, it mostly influences the cold start, as the fuel pressure drops and you have to crank for a long time while the pump is building the pressure again. But my car has never had any problems with the cold start, it's always instantaneous. Also, when this problem occurs and you start the engine after it cools down, it catches instantly which means THERE IS pressure in the ramp. So I don't believe in low pressure, gasoline boiling and resulting vapor jams.
And finally, I read that it may be caused by defective/dying engine temperature or crankshaft position sensors. As for the temp sensor, I will replace it tomorrow anyway. I am also thinking of having a look at the crankshaft sensor, where it's located on 5.0 V8?
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On occasion the heat on my mk6 golf will start to blow cold when turned to the max click. Turning it back one click will cause it to start to blow hot again.
Friend at the dealer said he thought there was a software update for the hvac controls ....
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Occasionally my 2004 Ford Focus will not start. I put in the keys and turn them. The lights and radio fire up and there is a click, but the engine won't turn over. To resolve this, I remove the key, open the hood, loosen the battery cable on the positive terminal, wiggle the cable around, and then tighten it back down. I then go back in the car and turn the key. The engine starts. Is there a bad connection somewhere? Should I replace the battery cable?
Long version of the problem: I've been having these problems intermittently for almost a year now. After the first or second time I had the car towed to a local shop. They couldn't figure out what the problem was because the car was starting just fine at the shop. The mechanic said that some of the cables might have shifted around in the towing process. So I tossed an adjustable wrench in the glove box in preparation for the next time. The next day, it happened again. Through some quick trial and error, I narrowed down the problem to be the positive battery cable (or something that's connected to it).
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My Sport Trac will periodically fail to start after shutting it down for a short period. It doesn't stall, but won't start after parking for just a few minutes to a couple of hours. I've had it towed twice, but it always starts after it gets to the shop and the mechanic can't find a problem or a code. It has happened 4 times and seems to start again after it sits for 3 hours or more, definitely by the next morning. A fuel system cleaner had been tried and the fuel filter has been replaced, but the problem continues.
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I have a 2003 Mazda Tribute that seems to have a bit of an idling issue. When my heat on my car is off, everything is fine as far as the idle speed. When I have the heat on, even when it is low, and I am stopped, the rpm's rise a bit, then go back down to normal idling speed. The car also gives a little jump when I come to a stop. I think all of this is related to turning the heat on and off, as it doesn't happen when the heat is on.
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I have a 2003 Ford Focus Sedan with 75K miles, bought used from a Ford dealership 3-4 yrs ago with 45K miles.
I spent Saturday driving around doing errands. Late in the day, it wouldn't start up again. This was after about 20 minutes of sitting in a parking lot right after a 10-mile drive. It would turn/crank but not actually turn over. Eventually, I had a tow driver come out, who also gave it a try, and then it made an awful clunking-grinding-crunching sound after a couple seconds of trying to turn. Towed to the local mechanics.
They did some compression tests and tell me that a spark plug is "smashed." They say only a major engine problem could smash a spark plug and recommend just replacing the engine. The alternative would be to take apart the engine to figure out exactly what's wrong, at a labor cost of $800-1,000, but they say there would be a good chance that whatever they find out wouldn't be fixable anyway.
Recent history: oil change about 6 wks ago, no history of oil problems, regular oil changes (at least since I bought it).
Recent problems:
(1) About 2-3 times in the past few months (including Saturday morning the day this happened), my car would sometimes take a bit more turning over to actually start. Those episodes would feel like it was "barely" starting, and then the car would kind of gentle buck for the first 20-30 seconds of driving, then be totally normal and start right up again afterward.
(2) For the past year or so, the speedometer and odometer would intermittently go to zero, usually after a sudden speed or lane change or big cranking of the wheel (e.g., reversing out of a parking spot)...this would last a mile or two then randomly come right back on.
(3) The weekend before my engine wouldn't start, my check-engine light came on while driving on the highway.
This happened to occur during one of those brief zero-speedometer episodes. I took it to the shop, they said it was a sensor issue, and it took nearly $500 to repair.
So....questions:
(1) any of the above history related to current engine problem? My shop says probably not, but I'm not sure what to believe.
(2) Recommend taking the engine apart at this point to diagnose the problem, or just replace the thing?
(3) If replace, get used or refurbished? (Shop recommends latter b/c they say history with used is totally unknown)
(4) Tow it to a different shop for the second opinion? (5) Or, just give up on the car totally and get a new car? I have minimal knowledge of mechanics.
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I have a 2005 Ford Focus ZX4. It is a stick. For the past month it has been having trouble starting, the example I will turn the key and it will try to start up, but doesn't. Then it will start but it is weak, sputtering, not wanting to really start, but I give it a little gas and it is fine. The last time it happened, It started after about 8 tries. I was driving a little ways and all of a sudden the radio/cd player quit working flashing a message that said low battery. Then all the lights in the car started to dim out. The headlights started dimming out too.
I did make it home, turned it off and when I tried to start it again all I heard was a click, click, click noise. It is at the shop now. I thought for sure it was the alternator, but they said the alternator is testing fine and once they 'recharged' the battery it is fine too. They drove it around for about a half an hour and they said it was running fine. What the what? They said they did have the problem getting it to start that I did, but only once. Now they aren't sure what the problem is. I don't want to get ripped off! I also don't want to have to fix something that isn't broken. I
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My 2006 focus just turned 100,000 miles. Last few months as it started to get cold outside its had issues with not "holding" a start. It seems to make all the normal sounds but won't continue to run. It is progressively getting worse, ie: more frequent and takes more tries to get it started. Yesterday I tried repeatedly and it wouldn't start until I gave it a LOT of gas-this is the worst its been. Previously it would either eventually start after repeated tries or with a little gas. Even on unseasonably warm days its happening now. Both autozone and tireman say the battery (2yrs old), alternator, and starter check out fine.
After lots of online reading here's what I've tried/paid attention to in hopes of narrowing it down.
-Changed spark plugs
-Fuel injector cleaner
-Spare key
-Don't notice security light flashing when it happens or any other random electrical issues
-No strange idle fluctuations
Once its running its fine and seems to start ok for next couple tries even at cold start. Trying to narrow down from IAC valve, PCV valve, throttle position sensor, wiring, ignition switch, fuel pump, etc. Can computer codes read even without warning lights? I have noticed for quite some time that idle has a slightly rougher sound (nothing obvious) but this seems to comes from muffler end and its been in for standard service and never been mentioned as an issue...? Its never stalled at idle or sounded like it was close to stalling/strictly issue with getting it going. I'm trying to determine if its logical that repeated attempts or giving it gas build up more fuel pressure? Or more logical that lots of gas is pushing open something thats clogged up?
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