Hi all,
 
My Focus ST170 has been playing up over the past week and I am having difficultly diagnosing the issue. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice...
 
Last weekend I was out driving about and the car starting dying whenever I tried to give it a boot-full, I decided to fill the car up with petrol and go from there. Unfortunately this did not make a difference. I got about 20kms toward home when the car decided to completely die. I primed pump by turning the key on and off several times and eventually I was off again, although I could barely get the car over 30kms and hour. Long story short I eventually limped home.
 
I got a mechanic who lives down the road to check the fault code and it registered P0190 - Fuel Rail Pressure Sensor Circuit Malfunction.
 
Apparently fuel pumps are common to die in these things so I automatically jumped the gun and bought a new aftermarket fuel pump. I put it in the next day and I was away again.. until 4 days later when the same symptoms began to re-appear. It has not got bad enough to register another fault code, but I am nearly certain it is the same issue.
 
I might also add that I had changed the fuel filter about 2months prior to the main event as the car seemed to be suffering from fuel starvation sometimes when I was driving it hard. I changed the filter with the pump again last weekend.
 
I got a lend of the diagnostic scanner from the mechanic again yesterday afternoon. I went for a drive watching the fuel pressure (The focus runs a returnless fuel system and the fuel pressure is regulated electrically by a sensor on the fuel rail - from what I understand) and as soon as I got on the throttle the fuel pressure would go from about 300kPa to just about nothing. So it definitely appears to be a fuel issue.
 
What I can't quite decide is if the new pump I got is faulty or if it is the fuel pressure sensor that is faulty. The figures I was getting from the diagnostic tool makes me believe that the fuel pressure sensor is working correctly as the readings it was giving were plausable, although there was a fuel pressure sensor voltage reading that was constantly zero, so I am not sure if that points to an issue or not. Unfortunately I have been unable to track down a workshop manual as yet.
 
I have checked the wiring as best as I can and everything seems ok. I really hope the ECM is not at fault.
 
Sorry for such a long post. As always any help would be appreciated!
 
Cheers,
 
Damion

sorry to hear about the dramas,
 
I have a manual for the mk2 focus, whi probably have some similarities.
 
In the manual if the motor stalls it says that it could be
-Vacuum leak at the throttle body, intake manifold or associated hoses
-fuel pump faulty or delivery pressure low
-Fuel tank vent blocked, or fuel pipes restricted
-blocked injector/fuel injection fault
-faulty injectors
 
I'd say check the fuel tank vent & hoses, as one may be perished or cracked or simply come off. This happened once to me on my old laser it had the same symptoms, one mechanic wanted to rebuild the carby when a friend noticed the vacuum hose had come off.
 
If that doesnt work I'd run an injector cleaner through & see if that does anything. These would be the cheapest things to check & may solve the problem. If it doesnt check the expensive things to fix.
 
Hope this helps
 

Hi Damion
I used to own a ST170 before it got smashed into on Boxing Day, the only fault(s) i had was the electric throttle intake runner pivot to snap on the inlet leaving it to run on the short runners. I found this site that may help in some way http://www.fordst170.co.uk/known.php
BTW, mine had 115,000km when the power steering pump blew up...none in Aust and to rebuild was $1500 thru Ford!!!!! , ended up buying a recon unit from a UK RS dealer at  140pounds($250). 
If you need new parts, ie brake rotors , pads, etc etc  i suggest buying from USA, their Focus is called SVT (ST170) .
 

I agree with checking the lines but i would also be checking them for blockages or dents/kinks, any thing that could restrict the flow badly before shelling out more cash.
I don't know what the fuel lines on your car are made of but worth a look ( a rock may have come up and hit it ).
Sound a bit silly but also double check the filter you put in is in the right way , A lot filters are one way directional.
 

Definately worth checking the Orings etc around the fuel pump/filter module, a pinched or leaking oring on the pressure side of the pump will cause the same symptoms.

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies.
 
Neale, I had the tank out and it couldn't obviously see anything that would suggest that there was a blockage in the vent system. I have checked all the vac hoses around the tb and the inlet manifold, but I will look over everything again. I have tried injector cleaner as well.
 
Marty thanks for the info, yeah parts for them over here are pretty riduclous price wise. The inlet runner problem seems to be common with them.
 
Mickos, will check the fuel lines closer, probably should have checked that first. The first thing I checked when it started playing up again was if I had the fuel filter around the wrong way. It would have been nice if it were that simple.
 
Phil, that is something that I have been wondering about. Everything looked ok when I was putting the new pump in, but i may have missed something. I can buy the whole intank assembly from ford for $1175! I am just chasing up a price on an aftermarket bosch unit now.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
Cheers,
 
Damion

What are the symptoms of blocked injectors?
 
Interestingly, the issue isn't as apparent when the car is cold.
 
Cheers.

Hi
If you have the old fuel filter you can cut them open and check for any dirt also try popping the injectors out and they have a filter in the top of them. Could of picked up some bad fuel

Hi everyone,
 
I cut open the original fuel filter and it was fairly clean. I also jacked the car up tonight and checked the fuel line down the length of the car, it is undamaged.
 
I checked the tank breather system and it appears ok. I guess if I go driving around with the fuel cap off I will soon find out if it is a breather related problem?
 
I will check the injectors on the weekend when I have better light, although I don't think it is the injectors as the fuel pressure is low in the rail prior to getting to the injectors.
 
Another question, is it likely that the ecu will have a failsafe for the fuel pressure sensor? If I were to disconnect the fuel rail pressure sensor (electrically) would the ecu bump up the fuel pressure to some known safe pressure? Just trying to find a way to rule it out.
 
Thanks.

Hi all,
 
The saga continues..
 
I checked everything I could think of and finally gave up and took the car to Ford for a diagnosis. They told me that they believed the issue was in the tank. At $1175 for a pump from ford, I decided to order the genuine part (the complete intank assembly) through a parts supplier in the UK. I receive the pump this week and fitted the pump yesterday.
 
Took the car for a run today and it ran spot on for about 130kms and then the symptoms returned. First started with a nervous jerking type thing when I was lifting off the throttle and then the same issues as before reappeared.

I let the car sit for a few hours before attempting to make the trip back home (another 100kms) and it would run ok for a while and then it would start stumble and eventually stall. Then I would restart and be fine for another 5-10mins and then it would start to stumble and eventually stall again. After slowing traffic for nearly the whole trip home I eventually limped it home.
 
The car threw two codes, 1 was the same P0190 as before and 2 was P0300 - random missfire. 
 
Another thing that seemed odd is that the first time the car cut out today the battery light was flashing on and off on the dash.
 
Any advice would be appreciated as always.
 
Damion

I am wondering what my next plan of attack should be? After two pumps, I hope I can rule the pump out.

Cheers.