Mark 2, Hatchback, Very Low Fuel Economy - Help!

[Deano_2010]

Hello everyone. newbie here..lol

I have had a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi for 2 years now which is 5 years old. Over the last few months I have noticed a terrible decrease in its performance. I am currently getting around 400 miles for the entire tank (driving the say way as usual) and the car does not seem to be able to move off as quickly as it used to.

Now, I admit, I have yet to service the car since I got it, which i should have done. I brought the car to a local garage who told me it needs serviced, but said it will not fix the problem. he believes that getting around 400 miles per tank shows a problem far greater than a service would fix.

Does anyone here have any ideas what else could be causing this? I know very little about cars and do know want to put the car into a garage without an idea of what may cause this. The last thing I want is to replace parts that are fine.

Thanks,

[catch]

Hello everyone. newbie here..lol

I have had a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi for 2 years now which is 5 years old. Over the last few months I have noticed a terrible decrease in its performance. I am currently getting around 400 miles for the entire tank (driving the say way as usual) and the car does not seem to be able to move off as quickly as it used to.

Now, I admit, I have yet to service the car since I got it, which i should have done. I brought the car to a local garage who told me it needs serviced, but said it will not fix the problem. he believes that getting around 400 miles per tank shows a problem far greater than a service would fix.

Does anyone here have any ideas what else could be causing this? I know very little about cars and do know want to put the car into a garage without an idea of what may cause this. The last thing I want is to replace parts that are fine.

Thanks,

This is an Irish joke isn't it, I'm right aren't I?

The other guy in this joke I'm betting he's Irish as well? Well he will be it's an Irish joke.

Anyway going out of joke mode for a moment, assuming there are no warning messages on the dash, why don't you be a devil and get it serviced, then see what you get out of a tank full after that.

Ford dealers will do an interim service for £99 and a major service for £139 for all vehicles over three years old. And assuming for the first three years it was serviced by Fords, any Ford dealer will be able to tell you if the Diesel Particulate Filter additive has been topped up, that's assuming your car has a DPF fitted [dealer will be able to tell you] And considering you have not had it serviced for two years I'd splash out for the £139 service.

To be honest I could not be arsed to waste my time going through a list of what it could be, when the owner cannot be bothered to have his vehicle service.

I don't consider the latter sentence to be rude, it is mealy a statement of fact, constructive criticism if you like.

And as to the reference to Irish jokes, given that my Grandparents on my Fathers side are Irish [County Kerry]....................well

By the way welcome to the forum :D

[Deano_2010]

Thanks for the reply. I was foolish, it was my first car and never got it serviced year 1. I would have had it serviced this year earlier, but was told to get underlying issue resolved before the service. I guess it was bad advice.

Anyway, I am going to get it serviced this week. Thanks again.

[catch]

Thanks for the reply. I was foolish, it was my first car and never got it serviced year 1. I would have had it serviced this year earlier, but was told to get underlying issue resolved before the service. I guess it was bad advice.

Anyway, I am going to get it serviced this week. Thanks again.

great let us know how you go on, I mean it needs a service for sure. And if the consumption issue persists, your at least starting from a known base. Does the service book have a stamp on it for the third service? Because if not it could actually be three years since it was last serviced.....imagine the state of the air filter. What mileage is there on the clock out of interest.

Just had my 1.6 petrol serviced yesterday, but as it had only covered 5,500k since it's last service 51 weeks ago. I had the air filter checked but it was clean enough not to need replacing. As an aside I get 400 out of a tank of petrol [33.31mpg]

I had a Volvo S40 turbo diesel prior to this Focus 1.6 petrol, and I was getting on my yearly consumption 39.54mpg. So even on my driving environment I would be looking for 46.5mpg on average out of a 1.6 TDCi Focus

[Deano_2010]

great let us know how you go on, I mean it needs a service for sure. And if the consumption issue persists, your at least starting from a known base. Does the service book have a stamp on it for the third service? Because if not it could actually be three years since it was last serviced.....imagine the state of the air filter. What mileage is there on the clock out of interest.

Just had my 1.6 petrol serviced yesterday, but as it had only covered 5,500k since it's last service 51 weeks ago. I had the air filter checked but it was clean enough not to need replacing. As an aside I get 400 out of a tank of petrol [33.31mpg]

I had a Volvo S40 turbo diesel prior to this Focus 1.6 petrol, and I was getting on my yearly consumption 39.54mpg. So even on my driving environment I would be looking for 46.5mpg on average out of a 1.6 TDCi Focus

There is 70000 miles on the clock. I have had the air filter changed though, about 2 months ago. Although no other work has been done since I purchased the car. Will check the book and see when the last service was.

[catch]

There is 70000 miles on the clock. I have had the air filter changed though, about 2 months ago. Although no other work has been done since I purchased the car. Will check the book and see when the last service was.

70K, not wanting to scare you, but if it has a DPF fitted, in the Ford servicing schedule it should have had it's Eloys additive topped up at the 37.5K or third year service. And they recommend the DPF is replaced @ 75K or sixth year service, now done through a dealer they are not cheap, circa £700/800 to replace and top up the additive. But you will most likely get 90K out of it before it actually needs replacing. But to cover themselves Ford recommend it is done at 75K or sixth year service. See the link regards DPF's in my signature for further info.

I call the sixth year service of DPF fitted TDCi's vehicles.... The Thousand Pound Service................hence with my meagre mileage I'm back in a petrol variant. If your doing big annual mileage, the fuel saving maths of a TDCi makes sense, if not it doesn't pay to buy 4/5 year old motors. At five years I reckon that's the time to move them on to avoid the expense of the DPF renewal, hence I sold my S40. As I bought it at 4 years 3 months, then learnt about the DPF so moved it on after 9 months with 63k on the clock. As it turns out I got just £190 short of what I paid for it, and had not incurred any service costs.

[catch]

Deano_2010,

you can have the DPF replaced by an independent for £415, and the Eloys additive done by a Ford Dealer [needed for ECU reset] for £100 if you shop around. See this threadIt was started by Hawker who learnt about DPF's on this forum after buying like most people [myself included] ignorant of their existence. And he went through the sourcing and fixing via the independent route. So you could say he became the forum expert in going the independent route to replacement.

But because he had had nothing but trouble with it from day one, he lost all faith in the car so he flogged it. And like me went back to having a petrol motor, but a Mazda 6 in his instance, as he has had one before and liked it. But he still pops in here now and again.

But think on, you may be good for another 20k, I just thought you best be made aware of the costs of replacing a DPF