#3 Misfire on 01 Focus ZX3

Tiny
USAF_AMMO
  • MEMBER
  • 2001 FORD FOCUS
OK the problem started all of the sudden one day. The night before the car was fine then I start it up the next day and it ran like crap. The symptoms were: Loss of power, Stumbling or studdering at low RPMs and high throttle loads, some white somke (no sweet anti-freeze smell), lots of compression (air) coming out of the vlave cover when the oil fill cap is taken off while running, rich fuel mixture smell form tail pipe and more than normal water vapor, high idle RPM, RPMs dont settle back down to normal idle speed when reved, and a Check Engine Light (CEL). I took the car to the local auto skills shop and ran the CEL code. It was P0303 Missfire in cylinder #3. I started going through the ignition system and found some corrosion on the coil. I replaced the Coil, Plugs and Wires and reset the CEL. Of note when I took out the #3 plug it and the piston were wet with fuel. After I got it all put back together I started it up. It ran good for about 30 seconds. It then set another CEL and started running crappy. I checked all the wires and all of them were getting good spark. Ok not the ignition system. I would like to do a compression test to see if there is a loss somewhere but someone stole it form the shop. The only things I can think of are bad rings, head gasket (but there is no anti-freeze in the oil or unusual temp readout), messed up injector or faulty ECU. I have run out of ideas and getting close to running out of money. Any help or input will be greatly appericated.
Thursday, February 9th, 2006 AT 4:18 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
PEPPERMRJ
  • MECHANIC
  • 1,158 POSTS
I would think that if the plug was wet with fuel only on #3 that the fuel injector is the culprit.
Is the PCV valve working properly?
Good luck and let us know.
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Friday, February 10th, 2006 AT 2:21 PM
Tiny
USAF_AMMO
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I have not checked the PCV valve. I am going to do a compression check Saturday just to make sure. I dont think there is an issue there being that there is no oil loss or blow by. But im not sure if there was a leak in the top end like in the vlaves would it leak into the vavle cover? I will check the PCV valve while I am at it. Thanks for the reply!
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Friday, February 10th, 2006 AT 3:09 PM

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