Have you verified that it is in fact SPARK that you are losing?

The possibilities are bad injection, blockage in the intake or exhaust tract, cylinder rough running moniter is causing the cylinders to shut down, ECU is initiating limp home mode possibly due to faulty CHT signal.

those are my initial thoughts.

 

Have you verified that it is in fact SPARK that you are losing?

The possibilities are bad injection, blockage in the intake or exhaust tract, cylinder rough running moniter is causing the cylinders to shut down, ECU is initiating limp home mode possibly due to faulty CHT signal.

those are my initial thoughts.

1. c. Rough idle, cylinders 1 + 4 not firing, tested with spark tester

It definitely stops firing cylinder's 1+4 (coil A). I'm curious about the "cylinder rough running moniter is causing the cylinders to shut down". Wouldn't this result in some sort of a DTC code that tells you that? Is there any other way you know if to check if the ECU is doing this itself? Thanks VERY much for the suggestions.

I don't suppose anyone knows how to check the mode 22 PID for the CHD sensor? I can check it with my ELM reader, but it's giving hex readings, and I'm not sure of the scalar that Ford uses for that PID.

 

I dont know about the focus but on BMWs, rough running shows up as another code, misfire - injection stopped.

in order to check for it, you'd have to have a good scanner and moniter the live data of the rough running moniter.

A simpler way to check is to do a cylinder leak down test.

 

Well, unfortunatly I'm not set up to do a leakdown test. (gotta put that on my "to buy" list)
I may be able to monitor the misfire sensor, just gotta find the mode 22 PID and the scalar used on it.

Has anyone ever had a problem with the ECU itself under similar circumstances?

 

Could be a faulty ecu not giving voltage to your coil packs

 

SInce the code changed to P0352 when you switched the coils, I would say that the ECU is OK. Check the wiring between the ECU and the coils for an intermittent connection. Anywhere along the wire, not just the ends.
I am looking for information about the special PID's as well.

 

Can you give us a hint as to what model year and engine this is??????

 

SInce the code changed to P0352 when you switched the coils, I would say that the ECU is OK. Check the wiring between the ECU and the coils for an intermittent connection. Anywhere along the wire, not just the ends.
I am looking for information about the special PID's as well.

That was my thought when I saw the new code as well. However, I did run a brand new wire between the IC and the PCM, which completly bypassed the harness. Symptoms still persisted even after replacing the coil while the alternate wire was still routed. So something UPSTREAM of the IC seems to be frying the coil. I've just NEVER heard of an ECU being able to fry an ignition coil.

On the special PID's... I do have a list of all the ford enhanced pid's (from the factory service manual), and I have succesfully retrieved readings from them by chaning the header message on an ELM 327-based code reader. However, values like 1900 for voltage just don't make much sense. Obviously Ford performs some kind of math on these, and I have yet to figure out the conversions. If anyone knows more about this, let me know.

 

Can you give us a hint as to what model year and engine this is??????

Holy freakin crap I'm an idiot. I HATE people like me.
2001 Ford Focus SE/SE Canadian
5 - Speed Manual
Zetec Engine
68,XXX km (42,000 mi)
LFQ0 PCM

Sorry again for not mentioning that earlier.

 

Here's an update to all who are interested.
In 2 hours, this car is going into the Ford dealer. (shudder)
I've never owned a car that I've taken to a mechanic, nevermind a bloody DEALER. But I've got no more time to spend with this problem.
Once I hear back from the dealer, I will post ALL the results here, as someone with a similar problem may stumble upon this thread in the future. Thanks to all who gave suggestions, I'll let you know.

 

**** too bad, thanks for taking one for the team

 

Here's an update to all who are interested.
In 2 hours, this car is going into the Ford dealer. (shudder)
I've never owned a car that I've taken to a mechanic, nevermind a bloody DEALER. But I've got no more time to spend with this problem.
Once I hear back from the dealer, I will post ALL the results here, as someone with a similar problem may stumble upon this thread in the future. Thanks to all who gave suggestions, I'll let you know.

O god you have my best wishes. I place Ford dealerships one rung below godless credit card telemarketers and one above the bowels of hell. Well its an early focus, you can never expect it to run fine anytime.

 

any update to this?

 

I'm wondering if the plug gap was too small.

 

im thinkin bad puter, i just havent heard of anyone having a bad puter, oh wait, the svt had some computer issues, but havent heard anything on zx3. im wondering if the cyl head themp sensor may be faulty.

come to think of it, have you had your fuel pump replaced, their is a recall on them.

 

i have pretty much the same problem only i got spark.. its kinda weak tho

 

Have the two coils been tried in a known good car?

Got a buddy with a Focus that would mind swapping in one of your coils on his ride and seeing how it works?

 

Was there any update on what happened at the dealership?