[Paul]

Some extra information, might be useful 🙂

Just tried the same test on my dads Focus 2007 1.6 Zetec, his throttle sensor doesn’t show any info until the engine is running, so could only do it with the engine on.

The graph shown a straight line, no dips or raises at all until I pushed on the pedal.

Slowly starting to think my sensor might be OK, but the butterfly valve could be a little stuck, or a vacuum leak is letting air in ….. or this is normal for my type of engine (Duratec).

Edit – And a little bit of extra info, I notice when I turn off the engine on mine, there is what sounds like a “whir down” noise, very obvious from inside the car, this doesn’t happen on my dads car, but again, not sure if its specific to mine, being a different/bigger engine.

[Paul]

Here are a quick couple of graphs from my lunch break with the car. Could be normal for all i know, certainly the engine off graph looks fine to me, but with the engine on it goes up and down quite a lot while idle (which could be normal ?). What do you guys think ?

Engine off, completely flat line when not touching pedal, very smooth climbs when playing around with it –

Engine on, running idle, didn’t touch the pedal, kept rising and dipping –

[Paul]

Here are a quick couple of graphs from my lunch break with the car. Could be normal for all i know, certainly the engine off graph looks fine to me, but with the engine on it goes up and down quite a lot while idle (which could be normal ?). What do you guys think ?

Engine off, completely flat line when not touching pedal, very smooth climbs when playing around with it –

Engine on, running idle, didn’t touch the pedal, kept rising and dipping –

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies 🙂

Did have that idea with the TPS graph, wasn’t sure how to do it but figured it out with the Toque app I’m currently using. The only option i could find however was throttle position sensor (manifold), rather than at the pedal. Even so, the graph looked normal, no spikes or dips, very smooth curves under slight pressure, and a big quick raise with quick heavy pressure.

I will have to hunt a bit more to see if I can find a reading from the accelerator sensor, and if so see how that goes.

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies 🙂

Did have that idea with the TPS graph, wasn’t sure how to do it but figured it out with the Toque app I’m currently using. The only option i could find however was throttle position sensor (manifold), rather than at the pedal. Even so, the graph looked normal, no spikes or dips, very smooth curves under slight pressure, and a big quick raise with quick heavy pressure.

I will have to hunt a bit more to see if I can find a reading from the accelerator sensor, and if so see how that goes.

[Paul]

Sadly wont be able to get to the route cause of this now, car had been part exchanged for a more recent Focus (buyer fully aware of AC issue) 🙁 Thanks for the help anyway guys, I’m sure it will bug me not knowing what it was now !

[Paul]

Sadly wont be able to get to the route cause of this now, car had been part exchanged for a more recent Focus (buyer fully aware of AC issue) 🙁 Thanks for the help anyway guys, I’m sure it will bug me not knowing what it was now !

[Paul]

Hey everyone

Been a long time since I posted this. I still haven’t managed to get round to doing this (wasn’t doing this during the winter !), but now Summer is on its way back, I am going to give it another go, and have a game plan.

I have a brand new orifice tube, and I will get a new set of O-Rings. I am going to have the AC discharged by a specialist, and then when I get the chance, replace all O-Rings in the system, along with the orifice tube (and do some visual inspections while under the car). I might try cleaning the condenser (doesn’t sound too hard to remove).

Once I have done this and got it all set back up, have the specialist then recharge it (new oil, filled with fresh refrigerant, and also include some leak dye).

See how the AC goes from there basically, and see if I still have the same problem.

1 thing I think might be worth noting, is that sometimes, when using AC, should I need to come to a stop at a roundabout/lights etc, the car might stall. Could this possibly be another issue, maybe electrical ? The car does take a hit when I start the car, turn on AC, I see the revs drop by about 100/200, and the car gets a little bit shaky.

[Paul]

Hey everyone

Been a long time since I posted this. I still haven’t managed to get round to doing this (wasn’t doing this during the winter !), but now Summer is on its way back, I am going to give it another go, and have a game plan.

I have a brand new orifice tube, and I will get a new set of O-Rings. I am going to have the AC discharged by a specialist, and then when I get the chance, replace all O-Rings in the system, along with the orifice tube (and do some visual inspections while under the car). I might try cleaning the condenser (doesn’t sound too hard to remove).

Once I have done this and got it all set back up, have the specialist then recharge it (new oil, filled with fresh refrigerant, and also include some leak dye).

See how the AC goes from there basically, and see if I still have the same problem.

1 thing I think might be worth noting, is that sometimes, when using AC, should I need to come to a stop at a roundabout/lights etc, the car might stall. Could this possibly be another issue, maybe electrical ? The car does take a hit when I start the car, turn on AC, I see the revs drop by about 100/200, and the car gets a little bit shaky.

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies guys 🙂

Looking into what you said Eric, I find many places saying my car would instead have an “orifice tube”. I’m really not hot on A/C stuff, so I would definitely pay a shop to do it for me, but I always like to have some knowledge on what I would be asking them to do. I assume the expansion valve and orifice tube do the same task, with that being controlling the amount of refrigerant going through the system ? If what you say about it sticking is true, it all makes sense (in my head !).

Looks like trying to solve this could be expensive ! But I’m not one to give up 🙂

My Focus does have a cabin air filter, I replaced it recently 🙂

I will of course let everyone know how I progress with this, I like sharing stuff like this as you never know who it may help in the future.

[Paul]

Thanks for the replies guys 🙂

Looking into what you said Eric, I find many places saying my car would instead have an “orifice tube”. I’m really not hot on A/C stuff, so I would definitely pay a shop to do it for me, but I always like to have some knowledge on what I would be asking them to do. I assume the expansion valve and orifice tube do the same task, with that being controlling the amount of refrigerant going through the system ? If what you say about it sticking is true, it all makes sense (in my head !).

Looks like trying to solve this could be expensive ! But I’m not one to give up 🙂

My Focus does have a cabin air filter, I replaced it recently 🙂

I will of course let everyone know how I progress with this, I like sharing stuff like this as you never know who it may help in the future.

[Author]

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