Lack of acceleration

Something just started happening today that kind of upsets me. I have a '01 Focus with 41K miles and an auto transmission. I just bought it 4 months ago with 32K miles. As you can see, my wife and I put many miles on it. Today, it started sputtering while accelerating on the highway from a standstill or on-ramp. I don't know if the air filter or fuel filter was changed at the recommended mileage of 30k. The dealer probably wouldn't know either. When I did a VIN check before I purchased it, it showed the dealer bought it at an auction. Possibly at a Ford auction. I'm going to take a look at the air filter to see if it needs changed. Any suggestions? The vehicle came with a 3 year 100K mile powertrain warrenty.

Thanks

You've gone 9,000 miles without checking the filter? You should check it every oil change at a minimum... that could be a reason. I'm assuming that you kept up with oil changes though during that time. I would run a scan on it to make sure that the computer hasn't picked up any codes which would cause the engine to perform poorly. If that reveals nothing, then I'm at a loss, except for to have the dealer take a good look at it. The plugs, PCV valve, and anything else that could cause a lack of acceleration shouldn't be going for a long time yet...

I only changed the oil once since I bought it. I purchased it at 33K (not the 32k I mentioned above) and the oil was crystal clear. I just changed it at 38K (3k miles ago). The book recomends every 5k, especially since we put many highway miles on it (65 mile round trip to work ever day). As for the air filter, the book says to change it at 30k. I could probably check the 4 plugs and change the PCV myself. It seems pretty easy, eventhough I am not "car literate." lol

Thanks for the suggestions!

One other thing I forgot to mention. 5-10 miles before I noticed it sputtering on acceleration, I noticed that when I accerlated from a red light it had a "rough" shift from one gear to the next. I wonder if that would be related to the lack of acceleration.

You could check the plugs and the PCV, but like I said, those should be good for many miles to come. The PCV is also behind the exhaust manifold on the Zetec, thus, it's a PITA to get at. The rough shift could be from the rough acceleration, but I'm not sure. There's a whole bunch of things which could effect the acceleration. Anything from something major in the engine to bad gas. I would give the plugs a check, and if you're feeling adverterous, the PCV. If you find nothing with that, then I would run a scan on the comp to see if the car's picked up any trouble codes. That could reveal some other problems that are hard for you to pick up, or notice. BTW-Do you have the Zetec or SPI engine?

The fuel filter should have been changed at 30k, the air filter is an annual item or 12k miles, (as is the PCV valve), if the car is a 2.0 Zetec engine. If it is the regular 2.0 SPI engine, there is no PCV valve. A hint: If your car IS a ZX3, you have a Zetec engine. If it is a ZTS sedan, it is also Zetec powered. On any other model of Focus (SE,LX) the Zetec was an option for 01. It will say Zetec on top of the engine if it is, if not you have the 2.0 SPI engine.

Check the filters of course, the spark plugs if you want( they should be good to 60k at least, the 100k that Ford has listed is a bit too long for me). The Focus is not immune to fuel system problems. My car is an 01 ZX3 with a manual transmission and 39k, and it has been acting strangely. There is a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB 3N01) for the fuel system on certain 01 Focus models.

I have the SE model with the Zetec motor.

Thanks for the help!!

did you saya new fuel filter was put it , make sure that the ingoing lines and the outgoing lines are not cracked allowing a small amount of air and fuel to go trough the filter at the same time this will cause sputtering and air bubbles to be ingested during heavy acceleration :)

No, no fuel filter was installed by me since I purchased it 9,000 miles ago. I haven't noticed the problem since the last incident last week. I beleive a piece of dirt may have been in the fuel line. Thus, I will be changing the fuel filter on my next oil change in less than 2000 miles.