mjeff87 Posted December 5, 2019 Author Share Posted December 5, 2019 LOL...even my Jeeps didn't leak quite this much. I think this car had been just sitting, not being driven around much (or at all) for quite awhile before I got it and since I've been driving the paint off of it, some old seals are just giving up. The PO did just replace the radiator in it before he sold it to me, along with the water pump, so at least I'm not dealing with coolant leaks. If I was parking on asphalt/grass, or was able to pull it into my garage to park it I wouldn't worry so much about leaks. But the KJ is still sitting on my side of the garage (hopefully will get to work on it again this weekend), and my driveway is nice concrete......I won't tolerate oil stains on it. Can't park it up on the street either (technically that violates HOA rules, although most of my neighbors don't seem to care about that ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COM86 Posted December 8, 2019 Share Posted December 8, 2019 Question, has anyone on Comanche club, Ford focus owner, ever heard of a fog light mod? What I'm saying is if you have the factory fog/driving (f.d.) lights, when you turn the light switch to parking /marker lights. You can pull on the switch to turn the f.d. lights on. But they won't come on until you turn on your headlights as well. But there is away to turn the f.d on without the headlights. I hate daytime headlights. Because they don't turn on the taillights as well. So you have these dumb @ss California drivers who just use the daytime lights at night. So I use the fog lights as a daytime light. And they look cool too. So if you want to know how, I will be happy to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 21 hours ago, COM86 said: Question, has anyone on Comanche club, Ford focus owner, ever heard of a fog light mod? What I'm saying is if you have the factory fog/driving (f.d.) lights, when you turn the light switch to parking /marker lights. You can pull on the switch to turn the f.d. lights on. But they won't come on until you turn on your headlights as well. But there is away to turn the f.d on without the headlights. I hate daytime headlights. Because they don't turn on the taillights as well. So you have these dumb @ss California drivers who just use the daytime lights at night. So I use the fog lights as a daytime light. And they look cool too. So if you want to know how, I will be happy to share. that's how my Liberty came from the factory and how I drive around. I can kick on the fogs without the headlights. I even replaced the bulbs with LEDS so they stood out a bit more in the daytime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 9, 2019 Author Share Posted December 9, 2019 My KJ is the same way. You have to turn on the low beams then pull the end of the stalk out to turn on the fogs. Only took me 2 years of owning it to figure that out lol. Stupid Focus....I just spent pretty much all weekend figuring out the oil leak. Turns out about half the oil pan bolts were loose (don't overlook the obvious....), which sealed up the backside leak. Thought the A/C compressor was leaking so I grabbed another one from the junkyard Saturday morning for $30. Got back home, unbolted the old one and went to swap the new one in and saw a small puddle of fluid on the garage floor. Turns out the compressor wasn't leaking after all, but the power steering pump directly above it was. So, back down to the junkyard in my wife's car to grab the pump off the same vehicle I robbed the compressor from. Got back home, spent an hour swapping pumps out and went to put it back together and the damn high pressure line was leaking from the flared fitting underneath. It was cold, getting dark and I was tired so I just put it all back together enough to get it out of the garage for the night so I could get the wife's car back in and shut the door. Today I pulled it back in (on ramps) and tore it all back apart and redid everything. It's still leaking from the POS flare fitting, but not as bad. Put it all back together again and parked it up on the street. After googling it a bit, I learned there's a .50c nylon washer that goes on the fitting that you have to replace every time you take that line off....I vaguely remember the remnants of one on the line when I took it off but didn't think too much about it at the time. My local Orileys has them in stock, so I'm taking off work tomorrow and going up to grab a pack of them. I'm taking my wife to work at 0530 so I can keep/use her car to go get them. Hopefully that will solve the problem and I'll finally have NO LEAKS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Oh man. This is a gift that keeps on giving. I have my fingers crossed for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 10 hours ago, mjeff87 said: My KJ is the same way. You have to turn on the low beams then pull the end of the stalk out to turn on the fogs. Only took me 2 years of owning it to figure that out lol. edited my post for clarity. My 06 allows me to turn on the fogs without the headlights. I wonder why Jeep changed that aspect in midstream production? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derf Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 My JK lets me pull the end of the stalk out when I have the parking lights on only. I don't have to turn on the low beams. When I turn the lights off, the stalk pulls the end back in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COM86 Posted December 9, 2019 Share Posted December 9, 2019 Congratulations Mjeff87 on no leaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 1 hour ago, COM86 said: Congratulations Mjeff87 on no leaks. Ahhhh....that's a big NOPE. Got the nylon washers, boogered up one of them installing it and had to go back and get another set. Got them both on successfully, and the damn thing is still leaking. Not as bad as before, but not sealed. It's all put back together (again), I have to go to work tomorrow. It's our office Christmas party and I'm making 20 lbs of bone-in chicken and a 10 lb ham. I've got a fresh quart of power steering fluid in the cab, should be enough to get me there and back for a few days (the leak is only a small drip every couple minutes). I need to order a new high pressure line and just replace the whole damn thing. That flared fitting has obviously failed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 9 hours ago, Pete M said: edited my post for clarity. My 06 allows me to turn on the fogs without the headlights. I wonder why Jeep changed that aspect in midstream production? Newp. I can't turn the fogs on without at least turning on the low beams. Once they're on, I can shut the headlights off though and the fogs still stay on. They do cut off when I switch to high beams, per federal regs. Like I said, it took me 2 years of owning it to figure that one out. Also, I do have a headlight sentry too (probably all KJ's do ). If you cut off the ignition with the headlights still on, they stay on for a minute. Another learning curve for me. I know, RTFM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 10, 2019 Share Posted December 10, 2019 I wonder if a later style switch can be installed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 10, 2019 Author Share Posted December 10, 2019 New high pressure hose ordered off Amazon, $33......it should be here by Friday. Noone local has it in stock. I need to stop by the auto store and grab a couple quarts of power steering fluid to get me a couple of days, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 13, 2019 Author Share Posted December 13, 2019 Lol....got my high pressure line today (a day early). Holy over-packaging Batman.. I'll swap it out Saturday, and *hopefully* fix my last leak. Then I can get back to fixing the KJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 13, 2019 Author Share Posted December 13, 2019 THIS is the problem child. It's a swivel joint/flared fitting that is not separately replaceable. What a stupid design..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COM86 Posted December 14, 2019 Share Posted December 14, 2019 On 12/12/2019 at 4:15 PM, mjeff87 said: THIS is the problem child. It's a swivel joint/flared fitting that is not separately replaceable. What a stupid design..... Its called money. Cars aren't supposed to last beyond 10 years. The manufacturers of cars and trucks are hoping that people will purchase them new. Use them for 10 years or so then throw them away. Then go buy a new one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted December 15, 2019 Author Share Posted December 15, 2019 Yeah, I guess....but we're not most people Got the line swapped out today. Not too bad of a job, but one I'm not fond of doing again anytime soon. Had a heck of a time getting the pump/system bled afterward, took about 30 minutes until I got all the air out of the system. But, nothing is leaking now, lol. Got all that done, then putzed around with the KJ a bit. Got the whole engine stripped except for the front timing cover. Orileys had the correct sized puller I need for the harmonic balancer but it was rented out when I went to get it. Got one from Autism-zone but it's too big to fit and I quit trying to make it work after 30 minutes or so. I might get to it tomorrow, but my wife and I are meeting friends for lunch an hour away and then we're all going to the range to kill some paper. We picked up a new pair of 9mm's (for CCW) on a Black Friday sale as early Christmas presents to each other and we need to run a couple hundred rounds through them to break/sight them in. Might not have time for the KJ after all that, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 Welp, sadly the Focus is down...... Was cruising it to work this morning. Stopped at an intersection, checked for cross traffic, then started to pull across and dropped a cylinder. Luckily I was close enough to work to limp it into the parking lot and into a space next to my office. No bad/ugly engine sounds, pulled all the plugs and they are fine (no deposits from bad running or mechanical damage). Oil and coolant are fine (was thinking head gasket blew maybe), plug wires are new (along with the plugs), timing belt (new) is fine and everything is spinning under the valve cover.....so I'm suspecting a bad ignition coil. It looks fine, but it's been on the short list of things for me to replace just out of caution, and I think my time is up. It's a fairly common problem on these engines, especially with high miles. Mine has 170K on it, and I'm pretty sure it's the OEM coil. They are a waste-spark coil, not individual COP's (that would make troublshooting so much easier....). I'm not going to drop $100 on a new one just yet, though. I'm going to leave it here in the parking lot tonight, and probably tomorrow night too, until I can get down to the junkyard and pull a coil for $15 or whatever they charge. If that fixes it, I'll pony up for a new one in the box. I'm catching a ride home from work from a co-worker tonight. Was planning on going to the shooting range after work today, but this puts the kibosh on that, LOL. edit: this engine is NOT the 2.0L that has a fondness for dropping valve seats.....that is the SOHC engine. I had one of those in an older Escort that did drop a seat. I just threw a junkyard head on it and kept on driving it just fine. I don't *think* mine has a dropped seat (there's no noise typical of that), but it darn sure feels like it dropped one. If I had it home in my garage I could do a leakdown test on each cylinder to figure that out, but for now it's sitting in a parking lot. If the new coil doesn't fix it (I'm just spitballing that, hence the planned trip to the junkyard), I'll have to get it towed/dolley'd back to my house and dig into it deeper). My fingers are crossed that it's just a junk coil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 10, 2020 Share Posted January 10, 2020 can't catch a break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted January 10, 2020 Author Share Posted January 10, 2020 Well, that wasn't too hard to figure out once I really looked at it. Went to take the old coil out today (still in the work parking lot, I'm rolling the KJ) and pulled the plug wires off. That's when I noticed a HUGE ball of electrical tape wrapped around the wiring harness to the coil connector. I couldn't see it with the plug wires in the way.......I unwrapped the hidden present the previous owner left for me and found one broken ground wire, and the other ground wire replaced with the wrong gauge wire, spliced into it and jammed into the coil. The whole 3-pin connector was even put back into the coil upside down. I have no idea how or why this thing has been running the whole time I've owned it. I'm going to hit the yard tomorrow morning and still grab a spare coil, and I'll just leave the connector attached and cut the wires to it as long as I can so I can splice it into my existing harness. I'll just keep the coil as a spare, just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 Gonna have to put a new throw out/slave in it.....its been grumbling when cold and is now sounding like a can of marbles even when warned up. It's still shifting fine, but it's not gonna get better, only worse. I'd rather replace it now before it craps the bed completely. Looking at utube videos, seems like a mildly pain-in-the-azz job, yay. ill need to put the KJ back into daily service for a few days while I fix it. Probably over next weekend. 175K miles on all the originals....I can't really complain too much lol. I'll throw a new clutch in it while I have it all apart too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 no, no. you should wait until it strands you on the side of the road and then call me to come rescue you even though I told you to fix it when it started making noise 2 weeks earlier. oh wait, I might be having a flashback... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted March 6, 2020 Author Share Posted March 6, 2020 There's a backstory to this that I'm not privy to, but I think I can figure it out. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minuit Posted March 6, 2020 Share Posted March 6, 2020 18 minutes ago, Pete M said: no, no. you should wait until it strands you on the side of the road and then call me to come rescue you even though I told you to fix it when it started making noise 2 weeks earlier. oh wait, I might be having a flashback... I relate to this on a deep level. I think all of us "token mechanically inclined friends" have been there before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted March 8, 2020 Author Share Posted March 8, 2020 I've still been chasing a mystery oil leak on this thing, from the back side of the block. It leaves one little drip every night and it's been driving me insane. But I think I might have finally found the source, way up high on the engine. It's all so packed in there it's hard to get a good look at anything, but the highest point on the engine that's wet underneath is the cam position sensor that is bolted into the back of the head on the driver side. Everything around and under it is covered in a film of oil, so I ordered a new one from AA that will be here tomorrow afternoon. I spent about an hour getting the old one out this afternoon due to the fact that the bolt holding it on was a torx, set at a weird angle. The entire EGR system plumbing is directly in the way of getting it out....why in the heck didn't ford just use a regular hex bolt to fasten it??? I used about every tool I had to finally get that bolt to turn out, and even drew blood on one finger. Rest assured, the new sensor will be going in tomorrow with a hex bolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjeff87 Posted March 20, 2020 Author Share Posted March 20, 2020 I changed the cam sensor, still getting an oil drip off the back side of the engine. I finally threw in the towel and dropped it off at a local indy shop yesterday and asked them to charge me an hour of diagnostic, stick the thing up on a lift and figure out what keeps still leaking. They just called me.....it's the back rear corner of the valve cover. I honestly never even bothered to check the VC gasket, because I put a brand new one on it a couple months ago when I put the new timing belt in it. Sucker wasn't cheap either, like $40 worth of gasket. So now I get to take the VC back off and see if the gasket is pinched or broken, or if it slipped out of the slot it rides in. Hopefully I can reuse it, I really don't want to shell out another $40 for a new one. Grrrrr...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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