after it warms up, the gauges on the dash go dead and the car is sputtering. is not the alternator because it sat for 3 days and started right up. does anyone know if the voltage regulator is built into the alternator or is there something else it could be?

terri, January 2009

Hi you say it warms up then splutters. Do you mean it starts to misfire. How long is the warm up !. The ford focus is fitted with a smart charging system. I.E: The e.c.u controls the charge rate & tells the alt when & when not to charge. You say the gauges go dead. This happens when battery voltage is low & the dash cluster can go into self test. The needles on the rev,Speedo etc sweep the full scale & return.

FirefighterA16, January 2009