Ford Focus - Difficult first start

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Mon 19 Sep 2011 23:45
Ford Focus - Difficult first start - olivier74

This is about my girlfriend's car, Ford Focus 02 petrol 1.6 zetec 100bhp, 105k miles

It seems to struggle to start (4-5 seconds) when turning the ignition the first time. You stop the engine straight away and turn the ignition again, the engine starts instantly.

I changed the spark plugs and leads about 2 years ago and it didn't help at the time. Now back to the challenge! We got the car serviced for brake fluid and general look around the vehicle... the mechanics changed the sparkplugs again, saying they were black. The car starts the same. I changed the crankshaft sensor and camshaft sensor with new ones, no change.

This engine doesn't seem to have a MAF, not sure how the air flow is monitored though, if another sensor to look for?

The engine is even not warm when starting second time straight after cutting off and then it starts perfectly, so it couldn't be a cold start valve and no problem with the idle. No fault was shown on diagnostic at local mechanics, not sure Ford dealer would show more. Not sure where to look now?!

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Tue 20 Sep 2011 18:15
Ford Focus - Difficult first start - chairmanmatt
It's a problem that my car seems to suffer from. Diagnostics have come to no avail. I'm begining to wonder if it's an ECU problem after searching the internet, however, I have no mechanical knowledge, so would discuss it with someone who has a level of competency, something I sadly do not.

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