I have a 2001 Ford Focus problem that has our local Ford dealer and two other garages totally stumped. My dad, being the great person he is, washed my car for me. He washed the engine off too. Then the problems started. Most days the Multi-function error light comes on, Theft Indicator light comes on, the temp gauge goes up, the car hesitates and when I stop, the engine quits. The Ford dealer found the water problem, dried it out and we figured it would be ok. I still have lights coming on, the hesitation and the stalls. This is a Ford vehicle. The Ford mechanics should be able to figure out what the problem is. They can't and two other garages can't. I miss my '96 F-150. When there was a problem and the check engine light came on, any garage could find and fix the problem. Newer cars are so full of computerized crap it's almost impossible and expensive to find some problems! I have had Ford vehicles in the past and was very happy with them, but this one is getting very aggravating! This is a problem that many other people are apparently having problems with across the U.S. I searched the internet, found too many posts with this problem and too many different solutions or no solution. This is a very disappointing and disturbing problem with a Ford vehicle. After this problem, I think I actually want my '74 Mustang back. There was no computerized anything on that. If there was a problem with it, it was found very quickly and fixed very quickly. The problem with the Focus has been going on for a few weeks and no answers to what it is. Just an expensive search, and I can't afford much more. I think the next vehicle I get will not have computerized anything on it and I'm starting to think it won't be a Ford with all the problems with this one and how even the Ford mechanics can't find the problem.

My car started with a kicking when slowing down or driving at a low speed (around 20/30km) about 5 months ago. My car trouble has slowly gotten worse. It now starts to run very rough, kick and come to a stall when I drive at a low speed or come to a stop and some times when it is idling in the drive before I even go anywhere. When it threatens to stall on me I try to press the gas pedal to get it going and there is a grinding feeling on the pedal and doesn't have much power.

Recently I have also noticed I some times get a gas smell in the car when driving and in idol . Other times there is more of an exhaust smell. the smell comes and goes and only last for about 5 minutes. When this problem occurs my heating, AC, or Defrost has been on.

Any idea's of what's going on?? ALREADY HAVE REPLACED: Fuel pump, fuel / air filter, coil, battery, pc valve, spark plug, wires (can't remember what there called)

Update from Dec 8, 2009: I took my car into the mechanic's yet again and it finally acted up fro them. They hooked it up to the computer and it said there was a problem with the number 4 cylinder in the engine. It wasn't always dropping causing it to stall. They said they are 100% sure this is the issue. I hope so. I get my car back tomorrow. I will keep everyone posted. I really hope this info will help everyone who is having the same issue as me.

We bought this Focus used in 2004. After driving it for about a year, we began having the engine sputtering problem on the highway. After spending hundreds on repairs that didn't correct the problem, we finally found out about the fuel module recall and had the local Ford dealer fix it. It worked fine for about a year and a half, now it's sputtering while idling. We had our non-Ford dealer mechanic check it out, he replaced plug wires & plugs, worked fine for 3 days, now it's much worse. Any idea if this is a return of the fuel module problem? Or maybe electrical this time? Who knows. I look forward to the day when I can unload this piece of work.

My wife was at a stop light when the car sputtered and stopped. We had just had the car at the mechanic, but this is not the kind of problem that surfaces at the shop most of the time. In 2004 the fuel pump module was replaced, and this solved the problem for a while, but the problem is back. What the Ford dealer rep said was that it the module has been improved since 2004, so hopefully this kind of dangerous thing won't happen again. If you call Ford, there was a recall on the 2000 and 2001 module, but they didn't send out any notices. Still, your car should be under warranty. I ordered one online from a Ford Store. I don't know if Ford will pay for it or not, but I need to be safe first, then worry about the money situation. The module costs about $228.

My issue initially started with the car idling really rough at stop lights, then progressed to it stalling but starting back. I took it to a shop and they advised to have the fuel system cleaned and see if this cleared the problem up. It made it worse. They then advised that my vacuum hose was busted and replaced that which improved the rough idle but I still had the problem with it stalling. They had me drive it around until the engine light came on. It indicated that my fuel pressure regulator and fuel injector #3 needed to be replaced. Had this done and now the car doesn't want to accelerate properly. ARrrrrrghhhhhh!!!! Any help from anyone who had this issue and has resolved it would be greatly appreciated.