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Dead Focus

A bore scope camera is the way to go to see inside. If any of the plugs are damaged you'll know the piston probably bent a valve and the valve got pushed up against the spark plug. If the plugs look ok, then your head may be ok. I think if you pull the valve cover, this should expose the top of the timing belt to see if it broke. I can't remember the layout of these engines off the top of my head, There may be a plastic cover over the timing belt too.
 
A broken timing belt or chain doesn't guarantee damage on an interference engine. There is a small chance that you got away with it.
 
Most likely need to get a smaller scope. The one we got doesn't quite make it through the spark plug hole.,

Anyway. The latest. Started pulling plugs. Damn wires are hard to pull off this thing, BTW.

Got #2 off. Looks okay. Little dirty. Look inside, best we can. Nothing looks out of place. Remember, 1. I'm looking through an LCD that isn't quite going all the way through and 2. I'm not really sure what I'm seeing through this little hole.

Got #4 off. Pulled the plug. Oh SH*T! Plug is busted. The part that goes over the electrode is completely broken off the plug. This is not good. Head has to come off. We're gonna need to find that little f'ing piece before starting the engine up again. Still the inside looks okay....

Got #3 off. Oops plug wire came apart. So we're gonna need a wire kit too. Least of our worries after #4. Plug is good. Dirty, but good. Maybe I should say 'intact'. Inside, still looks okay.

#1. Off. Out. Intact. Looks good inside.

Explained to Wayne that #1 is where the alternator is and #4 is in the distributor side of the engine. #4 is also where the bell housing is.

So, like I said, this is way over my head. I've tried it before and right now, I don't have the time, and my son has the resources to have it fixed, as long as it isn't replacing the entire engine. So tomorrow, he's calling a shop, I have a number, and he's going to have it towed there to have them really look at it and get an estimate.
 
You might get lucky, but the plug thing still worries me...Wish I had the time to help you Harold.... but I don't :booo:
 
Who wants an update? Too bad, yer gittin' one anyway!

Okay, so Son had it towed to the shop last night. Nice thing is, they waited for it to show up, after hours. You may have heard of them. Waggle Creek Automotive? Seen them at Reiter a couple times.

Anyway... They are looking at it, and scratching their collective heads. Remember cylinder #4? Broken plug? Well, for some reason, it's full of coolant. Now, the car has no over heating issue, that we know of. Exhaust is clear and all. Doeasn't seem to be any reason for this to have happened, unless it's directly related to very recent events, See Friday's first post.

My son hopes it's gas, due to the plug being broken, but we all know, gas and coolant don't smell the same.

More updates as they pull the head...

No news on the timing belt...
 
hwcurtice said:
Who wants an update? Too bad, yer gittin' one anyway!

Anyway... They are looking at it, and scratching their collective heads. Remember cylinder #4? Broken plug? Well, for some reason, it's full of coolant. Now, the car has no over heating issue, that we know of. Exhaust is clear and all. Doeasn't seem to be any reason for this to have happened, unless it's directly related to very recent events, See Friday's first post.

My son hopes it's gas, due to the plug being broken, but we all know, gas and coolant don't smell the same.

More updates as they pull the head...

No news on the timing belt...
Click to expand...

Could very well be related...staying tuned.....:corn:
 
Better a head than an entire engine.

I think it's still within his budget. If it, the cost to repair, goes too high, he's gonna just push it down the hill to the scrapper and go buy a temp car off the side of the raod to last until Spring.

So far, I think he's only into it about $100 for diagnosis... Including head scratching. But I did that on Friday too....
 
So it turns out, after they redid all that we did on Sunday, pull plugs and look in the cylinders, and find the coolant in #4, along with confirming the toasted timing belt, they pushed it out until tomorrow, Wednesday, to pull the head to see just what is going on with the car. :mad:

Oh this is frustrating. Hopefully, they can find out sooner, rather than later. If Wayne needs to go car shopping, I'd rather do it this weekend, instead of after work all week....
 
skinny_pedal said:
After you pull the plugs and if they are all intact. Just go buy a timing belt and see if it runs. Friday I had two vehicles towed in as no starts that died. A PT Cruiser and an Escort. Both interference engines. Both drove away. Buy a $30 timing belt and give it a go.
Click to expand...

PT's aren't interference i've seen lots break timing belts at highway speeds (3krpmish) and we just put belts on never a problem
 
Here's what I figure: Belt broke at speed. Piston smacked valve and snapped it off. Said valve got caught between piston and cylinder wall. Piston came up smacked the head and pounded the valve into the water jacket. (I've seen that twice in 30 years as a wrencher)
 
junkyard jim said:
Here's what I figure: Belt broke at speed. Piston smacked valve and snapped it off. Said valve got caught between piston and cylinder wall. Piston came up smacked the head and pounded the valve into the water jacket. (I've seen that twice in 30 years as a wrencher)
Click to expand...

The only problem with that is: he was coming to a stop, from a slow speed already ( Ben Howard Road to Mann Rd) so the engine was most likely below idle speed. Still above 1500 rpm, no doubt. But whatever speed the engine is turning below 15 mph in a Focus. Yes, it was running when he stopped. He stepped on the gas from the stop and nothing...

So I don't know if it happened while he was stopping or when he was stopped at the three way there.

I suppose someone wants to know, right?

No update yet from the shop. Hopefully by noon....
 
Truely dead. :booo:

Shop says the engine is gone. Details when I talk to Wayne when he has lunch.

So, anyone want a 2000 Focus Wagon with a strong automatic transmission that just needs a good engine?

Transmission was just serviced a couple weeks ago....
 
hwcurtice said:
Truely dead. :booo:

Shop says the engine is gone. Details when I talk to Wayne when he has lunch.

So, anyone want a 2000 Focus Wagon with a strong automatic transmission that just needs a good engine?

Transmission was just serviced a couple weeks ago....
Click to expand...

How much?
 

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