Ford Focus: Starting problem; dealer stumped.

woof <nb.ca> wrote: 

Sounds like what happens when you try to start the car with an
unprogrammed PATS key. As an experiment, I tried to start my 2000
Focus with a new key after it had been duplicated on the key cutter,
but before it had been programmed. I expected the starter motor to
turn but the computer to withold sparks, but what happened was
exactly nothing, the starter motor would not even crank.

I suspect either the chip in your PATS key may be interrmittently failing,
or there may be a loose connection to the telemetry coil surrounding the
ignition switch cylinder. You might try using the 2nd key for a while
and see if the problem goes away, if so, you could be pretty sure it
was the key itself.

Mark Olson wrote: 
can 
morning or 
turns the 
etc, are 
 

I agree. Once in a while, mine does that too. But only very briefly.
I've always attributed it to interference caused by my Mobil Speed Pass
on my keyring. I think I read somewhere (how's that for a reliable
source? <grin>) that Ford said not to keep the Speed Pass on the
keyring due to potential problems.

Do you have anything on your keyring that might possibly interfere?

In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <com>:
 
 
 

Needed to check what "Speed Pass" is about, never heard.
 

This happens to me perhaps once/twice a year, but as it starts
as usual on the second try, didn't really cared about it. The
only thing curious about it, rethinking it always happened at the
same place. A few meters next to a large river.

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 329: Server depressed, needs Prozac

Michael Heiming wrote: 
Pass 
 

http://www.speedpass.com/

An RFID chip in a little wand that lets me buy gas by waving the wand
by a Speedpass reader in the gas pump. The purcahse is charged to my
Mobil credit card.

In alt.autos.ford.focus Tony Wesley <com>:
 
[..]
 
 
 

Yep, found it asking google about the thing. Quite nice, but
found out, I'm much more comfortable paying directly, don't see
this way how often you need to fill it up unlike credit cards/etc
show you later exactly.;(

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 245: The Borg tried to assimilate your
system. Resistance is futile.

"Michael Heiming" wrote: 

The dealer replaced the starter, yet the problem continues. I replaced
the starter relay. No luck either. I am now about to replace the
neutral safety switch. Does anyone know where I can find this thing?

Thanks for your help!

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are 
had 
but 
stops 
It sounds like there are some issues in common with my posting:

I turned onto the on-ramp to get on the highway and the engine died
instantly. There was no coughing or hesitation, it just stopped.
I tried to restart it repeatedly, but didn't even get a click. It was
like trying to start with it in gear.
There were some other symptoms. ALL of the panel lights normally
come on when you first turn on the ignition, but most of them go off
after 1-2 second. In this case they all stayed on and the odometer
changed to "- - - - - " and nothing else seemed to work.
I pushed the car well off the road and started fiddling to try to start
it. It started immediately.
Since that was a dangerous situation, I took it in to the dealer. It
(of course ;>) didn't act up while in the shop, but they did the fuel pump
recall at no charge.
In the week since, it has stalled twice. I was inching forward to back into
a parking stall when it died last night. I tried several times to start it.
By the time I pushed it into the stall, it was back to normal again and
started repeatedly.
I was a bit dubious about the "fuel pump module" recall because of the
anomalies in the instrument panel displays.
I had an ignition switch problem about six months ago and ended up
having to replace the steering column. Since that time (whether or not
these are connected)
I have had several other "instrument cluster incidents" which did not result
in stalling. The glitches were associated with the radio suddenly going
dead. That hardly qualifies as "life threatening", but again the problem
soon "fixed itself". There was also an issue with the transponder keys
not working intermittently.
Any ideas as to what the common factor is in all of these symptoms?

PS If you have other RFID or transponder chips on your key ring,
they will BOTH be talking back at the time and can interfere with
each other. It seems that this would affect starting, but not stalling.
I wrapped my key in aluminum foil to disable it to see if that
duplicated the symptoms. It refused to start of course, but the
display remained normal. I should try wraping the key AFTER
starting just to see if they periodically interrogate it.