Ford Focus: Help, 2001 zx3 check engine light on

"shelma" <com> wrote in message
news:talkaboutautos.com... 

My quick guess is a sensor, which is not horribly expensive, but it is
impossible for anyone on a newsgroup to remotely diagnose something like
this.

The warning light means that your computer will contain a trouble code,
which will help a technician diagnose the problem. The first stage is to get
the code read, at a dealership or good repair shop, and they can then give
you an idea what repairs are needed. Good luck.

Ah, thank you very much. I made an appointment at the dealer to get it
checked. I'll cross my fingers! Thank you.

"shelma" <com> wrote in message
news:talkaboutautos.com... 

Or, if you're feeling slightly ambitious, take it to AutoZone, for free,
they'll plug in and tell you what their code reader says.

John Cairns

shelma wrote: 

Dave Gower is right, we can't remotely diagnose it. But, given the
history of the Foci, the odds are at least 2 out of 3 that it's a bad
DPFE sensor. That's $42 bucks from Ford, plus installation.

If they are going to charge you $80 or something for a diagnosis, I'd
tell them to change the DPFE and make sure they agree on the labor
charge ahead of time. I told my mechanic to do the DPFE if he'd charge
no more than 1/4 hour, or else I'd do it. He agreed, and it the DPFE
took care of it.

BTW, those code don't necessarily pin it down to one component. You
can get a code like P0401 "Insufficient Exhaust Gas Flow" and it's
probably the DPFE.

See
http://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/generic/p0401-insufficient-exhaust-gas-recirculation-flow-egr.php

So, I'm not sure, but on my car, I went right for the DPFE. Wasn't the
much of a leap of faith, that was the third bad one in 100,000 miles.

One of my friends was telling me that he thought auto zone did do the free
diagnostic check, so I will take it to them just out of curiosity to see
what the code says. I may just go ahead then and have thwm change the DPFE
sensor then if that seems to be a Focus problem. Just out of curiousity
Tony was your car having similar problem?
Thanks again for all and everyones help.

Hi Shelma...if it's code number 402 that is the DPFE in the EGR
valve...got a notice from Ford in Jan. '03 telling me that they were
extending the warranty on that part an additional 2yrs or 24k
miles...had mine fixed free of charge about 10 days ago on my '01 ZX3.

Steve

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 01:18:10 -0400, "shelma"
<com> wrote:
 

shelma wrote: 

I have the check engine light on, good idle, good open-throttle, really
rough in the middle. I couldn't put the cruise control on at 45 mph
without the car bucking. But I could drive with cruise just fine at
freeway speeds.

That's my third bad DPFE. First two were under warranty. They didn't
all behave the same way. I suppose they have different failure modes.
I seem to remember the first bad DPFE gave me a real bad idle.
 

Good luck and please post what the final outcome is.

NOT spamming, but I would take it to PeP Boys, and they might charge
you a few hundred dollars, but the one here in GA will do it in 1 day,
and do it right, and they should give you an estimate first. I despise
PepBOYS for their tire service, but they are very good at things like
this.
Precision Tune ripped my wife off for a lot of $, and so does Midas,
and Just Brakes.
Hope they sue me, 'because it's true! :+)

It sounds like it could be any of the other posters' ideas, but most
of our troubles have been a bad injector and/or needing a new fuel
filter, egr, etc.
This stuff could be done much cheaper - I dunno...
btw- the "check engine light" comes on if the gas cap isn't screwed
tightly on (!), and never overfill the tank...
timing belt MUST be replaced at 60,000 miles...
good luck - Paul 2000 Focus