let's brain storm

[Shun]

Perhaps I have been looking in the wrong place, so instead of being so narrow-minded, I'm going to explain the symptoms. After driving, I have abnormal under-hood temperatures. also, once in a while I will get the smell of something burning in my air vents. it's not radiator fluid because it doesn't smell sweet. It smells of either burning oil or perhaps it's just the steam coming off of my engine(no, the steam is not visible, but you can see the heat coming off of the engine) the CHT sensor doesn't pick up anything above normal and i'm more than certain that the coolant is way too hot, as just recently my bypass tube cracked.

Things that I have recently replaced are the CHT sensor, the cooling fan resistor pack and the bypass tube that cracked. I checked the fan relay by turning on the A/C and that works. I'm going to have my radiator pressure tested as well as tested for exhaust gasses when I get paid on the 16th, but maybe I wont have to if I can find the problem before then. So if anything like this has happend to you, or if you have a clue as to what may be going on, then please share

[RallyRacer]

Did you get all the air pcokets out when you replaced the bybass tube and refilled?

[Shun]

actually, I don't know. I did flush it before refilling it, after replacing the tube.. but I don't know if that would've taken care of any air pockets. Either way, I'm about 85% positive with the thermostatic fan relay wiring.. the other 15% is point towards the thermostat. A new symptom showed its self today, or rather I may have finally whitnessed an old symptom. Today after driving my car down to street to my aunt's(not even two blocks) to go finish adjusting my shifter cables in their parking spot since it is a little more safer, I took my car for a drive to try out the new shift cable setup.

During the course of my test drive I decided to go drive about 3 miles down the street to my local autozone as my brake fluid has been low. Got there, parked, poped the hood to check the fluid level. once again I saw the heat rising from my engine and smelt something burning, but this time I saw, only for a breif second, some smoke coming from my engine. I pulled out the fan relay and ran my grounding wire from one of my 40 amp fuses to the fan relay socket to force the fans on so I could drive home, but needless to say I am now getting severely worried.

[gibot]

I think you should check your valve cover gasket (I think that's what it's called).
I had the same oil smell coming out of the AC Vents for a few months. I thought that was weird but couldn't figure out what it was.
Then one day smoke came out of the engine bay too. Panicked as hell, so I just drove to the dealer and tell them to find out what's wrong.
They told me it was just the valve cover gasket.
Save yourself some money and try that first and do it yourself. I really wished I had done it myself and save a couple hundred $$$
Here's a link http://www.focushacks.com/index.php?modid=83

Let us know if that fixes it

[Shun]

I have really been fearing the possibility of bad piston rings or valve seals.. but the gasket is also a strong possibility too, as that is the general area of where the smoke had come from. I can't do much of anything until payday, but that will be high up on my list. also, I am pretty positive my engine has been over heating at low speeds and idle because the thermostatis fan relay wiring.. so i'm going to by a kit and try that, along with a water temp gauge

[Johnny_P]

Probably valve cover gasket. Oil leaks out of it and burns up on the block. Common thing with the Zetec Focus.

As for overheating, that's probably a broken thermostat housing. Can you see any fluid or residue on the driver's side of the head? Or maybe running down the block?

[Shun]

I do believe that you are correct about the valve cover gasket, there was some oil on the engine just a few minutes ago. As for over heating, I am still convinced that I need to re-wire my fan relay as I can turn them on via the A/C relay but they wont turn on by the regular relay which the pcm uses to turn on the fans. I'm probably going to replace my thermostat and at which I will inspect the thermostat housing and replace the gasket all. I will also be installing an AutoMeter water temp. gauge all for good measure

[Liquid_02_ZX3]

I bought my 02 focus used with 98k miles on it, changed the oil and used Mobil 1. The first start up the engine ran for a couple minutes the valve cover was leaking like there wasn't a gasket on there.

Just goes to say that synthetic oil will make old gaskets not currently leaking, leak.

[Shun]

lol I suppose that could be what happened. don't know what oil was used before me, but once I got it I started using motorcraft 5w20 synthetic. though i'm going to switch over to valvoline 5w30 fully syntheti high mileage.. unless anyone has any better suggestions to take into consideration

[BUR_ZX3]

My sister in law's car had the exact same symptoms. Put my valve cover gasket in place of hers... no more symptoms.


Its a $16.00 part @ autozone. Go get yourself one, and swap it. Worst case scenario, you're our $16.00 and a half hour of your time, and you've eliminated the simple thing as being your problem.

[Shun]

Yea, I'm pretty sure that the valve cover gasket is cracked.. but that's not my entire concern. is there any way to -actually- test to see if the fan relay wiring is good? like I've said, in addition to that gasket, i'm rather positive that my radiator fans aren't coming on and my coolant gets too hot at low speeds and complete stops(first suspected when the plastic bypass tube cracked)