Won't Start

Hi porthos1. Welcome to the forum. I saw your post a few days ago and have been thinking about it. Have you replaced the broken spark plug yet? I can only offer a guess that with a broken insulator, the spark is jumping between the elctrodes too easily and the Engine Computer is detecting the excessive coil current as a shorted condition and shutting the coil drivers down to protect them. If I'm right, you should be able to prove it to yourself when the engine is running by back-probing one spark plug wire between the wire and boot, with a grounded pick. Shorting the spark plug would cause the same condition as the broken insulator and should cause the engine to shut down. You will likely have to cycle the ignition switch off, then restart the engine to reset the computer.

Sorry, but that's the best I can up with right now. The egr part you mentioned is an amplifier. They can fail if they get moisture inside.

Caradiodoc

Sometimes that's the best thing if you want to keep your sanity. I'd be interested to hear what they find.

Caradiodoc

Sorry for the delay of my previous reply. My Verizon e-mail system keeps going down, often for a day at a time. Without e-mail, I can't get the automated messages that direct me to your last reply.

I would definitely recommend a second opinion before you go with a different engine. It is common for valves to get bent but not to damage the pistons. Bent valves don't seal so there will be no compression. A valve job will take care of that and is a lot less expensive than another engine. The test that will confirm this is called a cylinder leakage test. This involves forcing regulated compressed air into each cylinder, one at a time, through the spark plug hole and observing where the air comes out. Tail pipe means a bent exhaust valve. Air intake means a bent intake valve. Bubbles in the radiator indicates a leaking head gasket or cracked head. If the piston is damaged, you'll hear a lot of air coming from the oil fill cap or dipstick tube.

Caradiodoc

My car will not start and shows the battery sign.

Do you mean it cranks or it cranks and refuses to start?

If engine is in good condition-it leaves fuel or spark problem. Try checking the fuel pressure for a start and comeback with the readings. This is where we start.

Fords have way more than their share of timing belt trouble but I haven't heard anything specific to the Focus. The Contour and Mystique are notorious for chewing up their belts. The belts do wear out over time, and some just snap, but it is common also for the bearings to become sloppy in the idler pulleys and tensioner pulleys. When the belt becomes loose, it can jump a tooth or two. One tooth off will definitely be noticeable as a loss of power and throttle response.

It is real hard for a belt to jump on a Chrysler product because the cover is so close to the crankshaft sprocket that the belt can't lift up off the sprocket teeth far enough to jump. They also have controls built into the Engine Computer that will shut the engine down before the belt can jump enough teeth for the pistons hit the valves. The problem is they have more trouble with the sensors than the belt.

I haven't heard about Ford doing something similar but I would have to guess they don't have that protection because I read a lot about bent valves on their engines. To get back to the engine damage issue, valves are very easy to bend. It takes a lot to bend a connecting rod or punch a hole in a piston. To put it in perspective, if the timing belt is not installed correctly, you can bend valves by turning the engine by hand. To bend a connecting rod will require a hammer significantly heavier than your typical carpenter's hammer. The pistons are pretty tough too. They get pounded with rapidly expanding fuel millions of times every month and come back for more. A sad little weak valve isn't going to phase it. Unless the steel head of the valve breaks off, (very rare except for NASCAR engines), and gets stuck, that valve is going to be nothing more than an irritation to the piston.

To recommend replacing the entire engine, your mechanic is either 1) inexperienced in engine repair, 2) setting you up for the worst case scenario, then hoping to pleasantly surprise you with a much lower bill if it only needs a valve job, 3) doesn't want to be bothered by the care and accuracy that must be taken when reassembling a cylinder head, or 4) justs wants to produce a bigger bill. A used engine could just as likely have a worn timing belt too so you might have the same problem a month from now. Unless you hear about some common "pattern failure" that happens often to your engine, a valve job which includes a new head gasket, and a new timing belt should be all that's needed. If the water pump is one of the idler pulleys, it is customary to replace it too to prevent future trouble. It is just as big a job to replace the water pump as the timing belt, so you might as well do it while you're already there.

Caradiodoc

Probably the least desirable course of action would be to have them replace parts you supply. That's like bringing your own food to a restaurant and asking them to cook it. If one of your new parts is defective, you can be expected to pay the labor a second time to replace it. When the shop supplies the parts, they have to cover the cost of getting a replacement and installing it if one is defective. That's part of the purpose of marking up the price from wholesale to retail. The profit on the part doesn't cover all of the possible extra labor but not every job requires doing things a second time. Another part of the parts profit goes to buying expensive specialty tools. If you need to buy any, you might spend more for them than the labor charge you saved. That wouldn't be an issue if you knew you were going to use them again but how often do you plan on replacing a head gasket?

The next best option would be to do the work yourself but I would invest in the service manual right from Ford for your car. You should also discuss your plans with a professional engine rebuilder or the place you got your new head from to find out if there are any unusual things to look out for. The service manual procedures will take you through the steps to get the job done but there are a lot of procedures that are just understood by professionals and not repeated in the manual.

Some people like to use a copper colored spray adhesive made for head gaskets. Surface prep for aluminum heads is critical for the gasket to bite into and seal. A right angle air tool with the proper grit scuff pad removes all traces of old gasket and sealer and produces the correct texture on the head and block as specified for the new gasket, not necessarily the engine. Many engines now use "torque-to-yield" head bolts that stretch as they are tightened. They must be replaced every time they are removed. A tap should be run through all of the head bolt holes to insure no thread locker, sealer, or gasket material is in them. Blow those holes out with compressed air. The head bolt could crush any debris left in there and reduce the clamping force at the proper torque value. The head and block should be checked for flatness. Maximum warpage in any direction is typically.002" in any direction. You'll need a feeler gauge and a precision straightedge for that one-minute test.

If the camshaft is already installed, some of the valves will be open. The mating pistons must be down so the open valves won't be bent when you torque the head down. A problem can arise when you have to turn the crankshaft to line up the timing marks. A simple trick is to put the crank at TDC first with its timing mark set correctly, then turn the camshaft to its mark and check that the valves are closed for the pistons that are up. Do that before the head is installed. When you install the timing belt, the procedure will specify turning the engine two revolutions in the normal direction to get the slack on the back side by the tensioner pulley and to insure no valves are hitting the pistons.

Caradiodoc

Rats. Sorry to hear about the pistons. I still maintain they don't usually get damaged but seeing is believing. Before you head to the junkyard, there are a few things you might consider. First of all, to me, a 2000 model is not old. My daily driver is an '88 Grand Caravan with 378,000 miles. After three weeks of warning and leaking, the water pump gave out which is run by the timing belt. Found out that even though the belt was real loose, it was designed in such a way as to be almost impossible for it to jump a tooth. It isn't an interference engine so nothing would have been damaged anyhow, and it still got me to where I was going. Bought an '89 Caravan a few years ago because it needed an engine rebuild. Total cost of parts including a remanufactured crankshaft, was only $300.00. Labor was free which brings me to my next suggestion.

Look for a community college with an Automotive program. We were always looking for live cars to work on for the real world experience after we got done experimenting on donated cars. Parts were marked up a little to fund our "breakage fund" and labor was normally a few bucks per hour. If they are willing to repair or rebuild your engine, it will likely take a month or more to get the car back, and they will most likely not give a warranty although we always tried to correct any problems, but the trade-off is the very low cost. Most of these students are very conscientious and they are always well supervised.

There isn't as much learning value in just installing a used engine as there is in removing and rebuilding one, but that is an option that might be available. Rebuilding your engine would be preferable to installing the dual cam version. Besides the computer and harness, there are always a lot of other differences that drive the final cost way up. Different exhaust manifold and pipes, for example, and different air intake system and sensors too. The many other computers on the car are designed to work with your Engine Computer. Unless you know someone who has done this modification before and knows what is involved, I'm pretty sure you're going to run into a pile of unexpected problems.

Caradiodoc

If the sensor is bad you wont have spark, if you would still like to test it post back and I can dig you up the process.

I would try dumping gas in the throttle body and cranking it.

It fire or no? You sure your getting spark on all cylinder? Bright blue and well defined

Did you have the fuel pressure checked? What computer? Was there a code? If there was, what was the code?

Bad grounds will cause all kind of issues. Get them checked, cleaned and tightened.

Roy

If timing belt was replaced make sure it is correctly timed. see picture then try resetting security system. See link.
https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-reset-a-security-system