[Vwdiesel] 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 Help needed

William J Toensing toensing at wildblue.net
Tue Oct 25 04:13:48 PDT 2011


I know it is not a VW & it is not a diesel (wish it were) but after working on it, the engine turns over but it won't start. You guys have been good in the past at answering automotive questions on other than VWs so hear goes.
The car has set in my garage with the battery disconnected for about 2 weeks while I replaced all 3 engine mounts & radiator & cooling system hoses along with the thermostat housing along with a new thermostat. The car, which I bought new now is 10 years old & has 143,000 miles on it. I wanted to start it while still up on stand to check for oil leaks as I changed the oil & filter while still up on the stands. The car ran fine before I started to work on it this time & fear I might have disturbed something in the ignition or fuel system that I can't see or else has lost its computer memory from having had the battery disconnected so long. Is computer memory loss  possible? It hasn't happened in the past but I have never had the battery disconnected so long & don't understand this electronic ignition system. The car has a full tank of gas & I changed the 100,000 mile spark plugs & wires a few years ago. If I let the car set several minutes the engine fires a couple of times, acting like it doesn't have gas. I do have both the  Chilton & Haynes repair manuals for the 2000 & 2001 Focus for the USA & Canadian Focus but it appears to have been written in the UK as it refers to fenders as "wings". I also have the official Ford shop manual as well but haven't been able to find any answer to any problems that might arise with the battery disconnected & removed for two weeks to a month or more. I also have an OBD-2 code reader & plan to hook it up tomorrow after studying the manual on how to use it to see if I can get any codes.
Bill Toensing, Nevada City, CA


More information about the Vwdiesel mailing list