1. Home
  2. Car Maintenance
  3. my new focus tdci

my new focus tdci

I got my new (to me) Ford Focus today. It's quite a remarkable drive for me, having come from a non turbo diesel 306. I'm quite pleased with it in fact. Perhaps due in part to my over zealous driving I found the engine stalled when I did a rather rapid stop in 5th gear (to avoid a horse that ran in front of me) I wander

  1. did the ecu do this on purpose, I would have normally felt a juddering and known to apply the clutch in my 306 . I can't think of any other explaination really, I found an old thread that said somthing about this.

  1. how bad is this for the turbo ? I started the engine again within

10 seconds or so and I guess it would not be spinning that fast in top gear ( would it ?). I hope I haven't hurt it's feelings !

I've been reading the Haynes book, it all seems very clever stuff indeed. It makes me wander how the 306 manages it's 50+ mpg. I've noticed also that the revs. dip until you lift completly off the clutch.. and yes, there is not even a throttle cable.. it's all new technology to me , great stuff.

Reply to
mr p
Loading thread data ...

I can't answer your question, but you might like to wander over to alt.autos.ford.focus and ask there.

HTH

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Maybe I'm reading this wrong but from what you are saying you expect to feel a 'juddering' to remind you to stamp your foot down on the clutch pedal? The fact that you didn't feel this judder meant that you didn't floor the clutch pedal? Sure, modern electronics have changed many things in cars but they haven't yet come up with a totally idiot-proof car. I don't know what the driving test is like these days as I passed mine 20 years ago but the fundamental basic I was taught in an emergency stop situation was to press hard on the brake AND clutch pedal!

As a one-off probably fine.

Yep, this is definitely a wind-up or an idiot of the highest order. Well done.

Dave

Reply to
Dave

actually the horse could not make up its' mind, it stopped and I thought it would be ok, then it started walking again.. I think it stalled when I let the clutch up, anyway..

hey ? I was just saying how good it is, sorry mate, free speach and all that.

Reply to
mr p

I was told not to press the clutch until almost stationary as the engine would stop the wheels from locking up. ABS was rare 20 years ago, too.

Reply to
fishman

Me too actually.

When I was learning to drive 5 or so years ago, it was a case of brake then clutch - not brake and clutch.

As for the mr p's feeling's about the car.. I'm with you mate. I got a 05 tdci focus in April and it really is a revalation. Before that I'd driven a non-turbo 1.8 Fiesta diesel (L reg. 189,000 miles!) - that too would do 50+ mpg if you drove it at low low revs - the car didn't have any acceleration anyway, so it didn't matter chugging along at nearly engine-stalling revs.. Thing is, with these fancy tdci engines the turbo means you don't wanna drive with your foot off the throttle :)

Throttle-by-wire, the ECU making you stall all the time - it certainly is a learning curve. The Fiesta would hardly ever stall or stop randomly*. With no throttle it used to creep along in first gear. The Focus just stalls - or rather cuts out - when the revs drop very low.

  • - one time in the Fiesta, the fuel cut off solenoid failed, so the engine wouldn't stop when you turned it off at the key. You could take the keys out of the ignition and it happily carried on chugging away. Totally mechanical. You get the feeling in these new cars if something goes wrong that it's gonna be a very expensive fix. Heh.

paul.

Reply to
paul.groves

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.