Intermittent cutting out and eventually no start - 03 LR Focus

[Cobra]

Hi guys,

My wife's 03 LR Focus was cutting out intermittently over the last week. I'd promised to look at it this weekend. I was left with no choice but to look at it this weekend when it wouldn't start yesterday morning. It would crank over, but not fire. I quickly eliminated spark just to be certain, but I'd suspected that it was a fuel issue from the outset. I disconnected the high pressure feed line from the rail and switched the ignition on and established that there wasn't any fuel coming through the line.

I jacked the car up and disconnected the line going into the fuel filter to ensure that the filter wasn't blocked. There was still no fuel coming through, so I bit the bullet and dropped the tank down. I disconnected the plug and checked for power. There was power so I knew that it had to be an issue with the pump. I took the pump out and straight away I saw what was very obviously causing the car to cut out intermittently and eventually cause it to not start.

I'm not sure whether this is a common problem or not, but I thought it was worth noting. Hopefully this info helps other early Focus owners. These cars aren't new anymore and more and more problems are bound to arise over time. I've gone ahead and replaced the pump and sender and that has fixed the problem. I don't believe that the sender can be replaced separately, but either way it's safer to just replace both, as well as the fuel filter while you're at it!

[Timbo_021]

Bit hard to see man, what is that in your fingers?

[Cobra]

Sorry, I thought that the picture was clear. It's the earth wire on the plug going from the sender unit into the pump to power it. The insulation looks to have disintegrated and the wire started to come apart. It explains why the car cut out intermittently, with the wire sporadically going into open circuit.

[Cobra]

If anyone plans on tackling this job at home, I highly recommend that both the feed line hose (white clips) and return line hose be replaced. On a 12 year old car, they were as brittle as all hell. As a result of the hose being extremely rigid and inflexible, I kinked the feed line hose when trying to reposition it temporarily when refitting the fuel tank. Having said that, replacing the fuel filter would also be a good idea, too.