Hi all, I'm new to this forum and am despairing as I've had a run of bad luck with my focus.

When driving my Focus TDCI 1.6 55 plate, I have a major issue. When driving in any gear I would put my foot down to accelerate and at about the point the turbo would boost I suffer complete power loss and the engine will stop. If I turn off the ignition and turn immediately on it will work fine until under load again. If I accelerate gently it is usually ok. This only started happening recently.

It seems electrical to me but I'm no expert. Can anyone advise please. It seems odd that it will not recover until the ignition is turned off then on. If I turn off while its slowing from the power loss ( I know it's not too clever) and turn on again I can continue.

Not sure if its related but when I turn the engine off and lock up, the odometer light never ever turns off.

Also if I unlock the car and don't open the door it will lock again, which I'm sure is a feature, but the alarm will go off about 5 minutes after it re locks.

Thanks in for any advice.

Do you get a flashing glow plug light when the engine cuts out?? Does it cut out completely or just lose power?

I had this on my old focus, as soon as it hit turbo in any gear when under load the engine would stutter and lose all power, it would then feel like it was misfiring and be very shaky... This turned out to be a very broken high pressure pump... Which in turn cooked the injectors.

Unfortunately due to modern engines if any major fault is detected the engine will go into limp mode, so symptoms may seem the same for very different things...

It would be a good idea to get a diagnostic check done on the car and get the codes read. And post them here also! We may be able to help a little more then.

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply. I get total power loss from the engine and if I accelerate I get nothing. If I turn off the key and immediately on again, it will start straight away. If I turn off and on while still in gear after it cuts out (still moving along), power to the engine returns. when I say lose power, I mean that when it happens, if I put my foot on the clutch it would stall immediately until the key is turned off. When on again it starts perfectly. No warning lights. Hope that has not confused you too much! Lol

No warning lights???

Hmmm interesting... This is gonna need a bit more thought lol

Air leak maybe?

In the fuel system

Agree with Martyn, I had this years ago on my 55 Focus Z TDCI, It was a damaged fuel filter housing, it was sucking air into the fuel line, and injecting it to the engine, Vroom Vroom.... Pffft is about the only way I can describe it lol!

This was for me, around 2000 revs, if I exceeded that anything more than old lady gentle acceleration, the car vroomed then poofed!

Hi, I thought I would post here as I'm having a similar problem - though not quite the same. My Focus diesel [early 2002] runs perfectly from cold but once it gets up to normal operating temperature the engine stalls suddenly. It is sometimes possible to restart whilst the car is still in motion and the clutch depressed but it will quickly stall again. The problem started after a coolant leak [repaired now] caused the engine to overheat and stall. I have taken the car to 3 garages, 1 saying they couldn't diagnose the problem, a second changing a relay switch and then suggesting it was the fuel pump and a third replacing the camshaft timing sensor.. I'm no expert but the suddeness of the stalling suggests an electrical problem to me and the fact that it only occurs when the engine is hot, perhaps points to a sensor.. Any suggestions would be gratefully received!

Thanks people. Is it likely to be a serious problem d'ya think?

if it is the fuel filter housing, then this would be a 35-40 quid fix, diy job...... as electrical goes, then you would have to get it diagnosed to see if it has thrown up any electrical sensor codes in the ecu....

Martyntdci, I don't know whether you were referring to my problem or bprecy's [perhaps I should have opened a new thread!] but if mine, noone can get any kind of reading with a diagnostic tester...

Thank you for your help peeps. Very much appreciated.

Anyone got any ideas re: the Odometer staying lit all the time after locking and the alarm going off if it auto locks?

fuel filter is not expensive really, as has been said a few quid for the housing, and a few quid for the filter (£60 my local dealer charged me for parts, and £60 for labour).

As for the odometer light, this as far as I recall is a software update to the ECU, I get the same thing, and next time my car goes in, I will probably get it reset, otherwise, unless I find some software to do it myself...

Thanks for the info on odometer light. Will look into that. :-)

Just had engine steam cleaned due to an oil leak and the guy that did it thinks the leak may be coming from the turbo. Could this explain the power loss issue?

when u say odometer, you mean the info part in the centre of the console?

^^ as above... if so this is normal.. it turns off after a few mins.

Yes the light in the green display never ever turns off. :-(

could you post a picture so we're all singing from the same hymn sheet as it were!! lol

[url="http://flic.kr/p/dMGAdW"]http://flic.kr/p/dMGAdW[/url]This one is showing the display still lit up some 6 hours after locking the car. I did not do anything to make it light up such as unlocking etc. I took it through the window. [url="http://flic.kr/p/dMB2zV"]http://flic.kr/p/dMB2zV[/url] The second pic is just to show you the display in better light. :-) Never uploaded pics before so hope this works.....

hopefully someone with that style dash will be along to help soon... I have the later dash and my red display stays on for a while then fades off...

This shows described display... This is the one showing the display still lit despite being locked for 6 hours+ (car was not unlocked to take photo, taken through window) Hope this one is better than the URL versions above

perfect mate!

[quote name='TDCiST' timestamp='1358542597' post='228188']
perfect mate!
[/quote] Didn't realise that you could upload directly lol. A lot of forums make you link to photos. Thanks for your help so far....

as i was curious earlier, im not able to help as i have the same as dave, a red/orange light but it does go off after 10 mins or so...... il have a read on the net and see what i can find out for ya....

[quote name='martyntdci' timestamp='1358546128' post='228227']
as i was curious earlier, im not able to help as i have the same as dave, a red/orange light but it does go off after 10 mins or so...... il have a read on the net and see what i can find out for ya....
[/quote]. Thank you.

have you tried double locking the doors???? do any other lights stay on? try wiggling the key in the ignition????

somebody has changed the battery, and it stopped..... check if ur batt is calcium..... some body else has had the same problem, and they changed the headunit and it stopped...another changed to indicator/light stalk and it stopped ... but it should go off after 15 mins max..... to be honest, to me just sounds like a dodgy wire some where...... could be wrong tho

I thought battery at first and replaced it with a better one. Didn't make any difference. Had a bit of an odd thing that seems to be repeatable. If I have the engine running and turn off and take out the key without locking it switches off after about 10 mins. Lock the doors and it then comes on again permanently once more. :-(

sounds like you might have a dodgy wire somewhere then...... so let me get this right, it works as it should untill you central lock the doors???? do you use key? try using the key? dont know if these will do anything but worth a try i suppose

Thanks for the help so far. Tried locking with the key in the door and / or the remote. No difference. If I don't bother to lock it, it works as it should.

Not sure if it's related But if I unlock the car and then don't open any doors the Car will lock itself again as I suspect it should. The only thing is, if the car locks itself, the alarm will go off guaranteed. Perhaps these two things may be related?

Hello again people. I have visited a local garage and they were very kind and gave me a free diagnostic. The car has come up with four fault codes. Could anyone offer any further advice given my issues with the sudden power loss. The first one is P0087 - Fuel rail/system pressure too low. 2. P1180 Fuel delivery system low. 3. P1551 Injector circuit cylinder 1 out of range. 4. P2459 (DPF) Number of DPF regeneration cycles too high. Thanks in advance......

Moving this thread to the Focus sub forum, as its not Servicing or MOT related

That combination of error codes sounds to be to possibly be a duff sensor, or a fuel filter clog that is causing those errors to combine. I think the low fuel is causing the diesel it burn improperly, letting deposits out and clogging the dpf... Because of this, the engine is forcing a regen more than it should be.

When was the last time the EOLYS fluid was topped up? or did I miss it in the thread...

I[quote name='jeebowhite' timestamp='1359218209' post='230462']
That combination of error codes sounds to be to possibly be a duff sensor, or a fuel filter clog that is causing those errors to combine. I think the low fuel is causing the diesel it burn improperly, letting deposits out and clogging the dpf... Because of this, the engine is forcing a regen more than it should be.

When was the last time the EOLYS fluid was topped up? or did I miss it in the thread...
[/quote]

Hi thank you for your help. I have no idea about the EOLYS as I've only owned the car six months. It hasn't been looked at as far as I'm aware. The last two days the power loss issue has gone. So a faulty sensor is entirely possible. Is it likely to be expensive to fix if it is that? I've nervously booked the car in to a Ford dealer for them to take a look. Typical if they can't reproduce the issue as its temporarily stopped doing it!

Another vote for clogged fuelfilter... Doesent need to be much, few drops of water is enough to mess up whit it

For the display, i have the same "small obc" and it stays on, when you turn the engine off, and goes out when you lock the doors. But when you open the doors, it lights up.

So, if your alarm goes off when the doors automaticly relock, there must be something jinxed, for somereason when the doors lock, the GEM thinks that the door lock pulse is actualy door open, causing the cluster to light up, and the alarm to go off.

This could be bug in the GEM, or faulty doorlock module. :/ Dont know how fords door lock module is made, but if its eaven remotely related to VAGs, then that would be my money shot.

Ok just got back from Ford Garage. I needed a new fuel filter apparently. It was badly clogged. Once changed, my fuel flow and pressures returned to normal working parameters even under load. Glad that's sorted. Thanks for all your help with this everyone.

The Electrical problem is apparently my own fault. Apparently there are multiple errors in the log due to me using an after market audio system. This is also related to my alarm and central locking issues. Is there anything I can do to work around this. I struggle with the fact they made the whole system interdependent. I asked, "can't you tell it to not check for ford audio?" I was told in short that I have to remove my car audio and replace it with the original.

Any ideas on a workaround?

having the same issue with cutting out? not doing it all the time- has happened twice within quick succesion. The engine doesnt die until you dip clutch or come to stop. but starts straightaway. no warning lights either. How much was the fuel filter to replace please pal? think mine maybe the issue too -as i have run down quite low on few occasions....infact most of the time lol . thanks

Hello there. I had diagnostics done as well and mine came to about £164. I'd assume less than that. Hope it gets sorted for you.

Hello there. I had diagnostics done as well and mine came to about £164. I'd assume less than that. Hope it gets sorted for you.

I have the trip computer light issue, mine stays on all night. I also have an aftermarket stereo, but I think I will take it to my local dealer, and pay them the £65 to diagnose it.

Cool. Let me know how you get on. If there is a way round this, it will be very helpful. Thanks