Minnesota Focus Owners Club

Okay, so I just put my stock intake back onto my car(im not sure if that even has anything to do with it) and my car starting acting weird. When I turn on any power options or even just sit with the engine running, my RPM's dip and the guages get dimmer. Did I mess with a wire or something? Help! If anyone can tell me please do!

double check the battery cables...

reset the computer? pop the negative battery cable for like 15 min, and put it back on

to reset your kam it only takes like ten minutes,, dis connect your pos cable for ten sec then put back on,,, it sounds like you may have pinched a power wire,, check the pos cable that is most likely the prob ive had them half ass break inside the insulation before. if not just post a reply asking for help and i can get you any ford factory shcematic you need.

Get a volt meter and check the power you're putting out from your alternator. IIRC 16v-18v is standard for what you should be running. If your alternator isn't keeping up, it'll definitely cause a problem with other power issues. Trust me, this happened to me last week. Once again Steve was able to help bail me out and still keep some money in my wallet.

Thanks everyone! I reset it and everything seems to be back to normal. We'll see what happens when I reconnect my subs though.

if you are runnin the stock batt and runnin any sort of real power through them subs you will incounter a dimming situation ,,, i curred it buy going to a ultima red top 900 cca with 9 hours of reserve. dropped from 100 watt bulbs to 55 watt sdiver stars seemed to help a bit also

I think the best thing you can do if you are encountering lack of power is this.

http://www.focuscanada.net/forum/index. ... topic=8122

Good quality 4 awg wire is high strand count wire, that is important.

I found out the foci had a 110a alt and I was like wtf, only 8ga wire from the alt to the bat....

I mean, in my old car, I had an 85 amp alt with an over drive pulley and a stereo system that could make my focus loose power from the alternator draw, and, it had larger wires...

I strongly recommend anyone that is running more then what your car came with for electronics upgrade this wire, and, then, also, wire your headlights and fogs to relays and run them from the battery or the alt, using thicker wire, preferably with a higher strand count, if anyone knows the basic principles of electricity, they know that electricity floes on the outside of the conductor, and, the more the conductors, the more freely it flows, thus, producing less resistance. Less resistance is less heat. Less heat means that your wires and fuses do not burn out.

Sorry for the blurb, I am a big electronics/stereo guru and try to inform the masses, I have seen far too many people wire their cars with high wattage bulbs using factory wire harnesses, then, they bitch because the bulbs took a dump, they are not meant to suffer the voltage variances that the low conductor/high resistance wire produce.