thegenuwineone
New member
I have a 2000 ford focus zx3 with about 160k miles. It is an automatic and has the zetec motor in it. I have replaced the timing belt within the last 20k miles. It had been running fine up until about three weeks ago. I had to leave the car sitting for about two months because of snow and, with the chaotic life I live, was unable to start it and let it run like I should have. It began to idle rough when I started it after and I added some gas treatment to the tank. This did not cure the problem. I was then removing and checking the spark plugs to make sure they looked ok and noticed two had some oil on them around the threads. Not sure if that is awful or could be the cause of my misfire but I know it's not normal. I drove the car on a trip that was about 50miles one way and as I returned the check engine light came on. I went to Advance Auto and they ran the OBDII and found the code to be the EGR valve. I went home to do some research and then walked out to find the EGR on my car. As I was looking at the EGR I saw the DPFE sensor had melted. I have now replaced the DPFE but still have a misfire when the car is in gear. Also when the car is under stress (going uphill, under hard acceleration) it seems like the car is going to stall out or comes very close to stalling and creeps very slowly up the hill. I was wondering where I should go from here? I am in the process of trying to sell the car and don't want to dump a lot of money into the car but want to get it running correctly to sell it. Please help me out if you have any suggestions. Thank you in advance.