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Intermittent cutting out 2001 x-reg 1.8 petrol Focus

Had this problem since summer, seems to be getting slightly worse as weather gets colder. Symptoms are going along quite OK, then suddenly engine seems to lose power and you notice speedo has dropped to zero. If you have to come to a stop it will stall. Restarting seems to cure it. It can just disappear and you'll quite OK for rest of trip. Just did 600 mile round trip to Lakes district from south London and it never missed beat. Current mileage just over 57,000. Most miles now are crap short journeys in 'lovely' south London traffic jams.

Any suggestions?

Martin J.

Reply to
martin j
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Very common Focus problem - it's failure of the Vehicle Speed Sensor.

Bottom line? 25UKP and a fairly fiddly 45 minute DIY job, or around

100UKP at a dealer.

If you have the tools and skills to DIY it, search Google Groups for VSS in the archive for this group; you will find all the info you need to change it.

In the meantime, the fault will not cause any further problems, and it will not leave you stranded.

HTH

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thanks, thought it might be this!

Reply to
martin j

If the speedo is dropping to zero, I would suspect that there is a problem with the computer that controls the engine. Are there any OBD II codes (from the check engine light or whatever you Brits call it)?

Find out if there is a check engine light on and any OBD II codes.

Reply to
dr_jeff
[...]

I'm afraid that you suspect incorrectly!

As I have described in my previous post, this is a *very* common (European) Focus problem; it has been mentioned in this ng numerous times, as a search in the archives via Google Groups will show.

On-line retailers even sell the sensor in a kit complete with the retaining pin (which is always destroyed by removal).

(In Europe, we use EOBD, which is an extension to the original OBD system.)

VSS faults will not be stored in the ECU, therefore the engine warning light will not be illuminated.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Thanks for info. According to wikipedia, EOBD is a version of OBD II, though.

Reply to
dr_jeff

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