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Engine Cutting Out While Driving!


Mad85
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So I was driving my 2007 Focus 1.6 TDCI (98000miles) and while it was still cold, it sort of misfired and then when I stopped at the lights (still cold) it died. Starting it took a couple of attempts. I tried to replicate this morning and could not get it to do the same. What could this be related to?

I had removed the DPF, cleared the EGR, and recently replaced injector seals, heaters, clutch and crankshaft pulley. I also dosed a bottle BG244 a couple of fuel fill ups ago. The only thing which came to mind is a clogged fuel filter since the current one is approaching the 10k mark. I know everyone says that this should be changed every 10K or 1 year (and thats what I am planning this week or the next) but Ford actually say it can be changed every two years so I guess it cant be because of that? oil (and filter) is approaching 5K miles so I am changing that as well. I have not had any error codes except "overboost condition" which I have had for a few months and planning to clean the turbo vanes.

Any thoughts on this one?

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Fuel filter probably needs replacing, I had this on my car and a few others have had it on theirs since. This is where I would start your investigations.

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Thanks for the reply. Its doing it everyday now. It start fine, then after a couple of minutes it starts cutting out . It does it 3-4 times and then all is fine. Something I forgot to mention is that I drive mainly short distances (15km) at least half of which are quite heavily congested. I also noticed the engine is much noisier when cold (currently its about 20 degrees Celsius in the morning), although I cant really describe the noise - maybe a sort of ticking-knocking noise :S

If it is the fuel filter clogged up, does it really make sense that it does it for a few times after starting her up and then it drives fine.

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I know older focuses suffered with the gearbox speed sensor, mine used to do what yours does, could never make it do it, tried fuel filter and additives but to no avail, changed sensor never did it again......

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So I was driving my 2007 Focus 1.6 TDCI (98000miles) and while it was still cold, it sort of misfired and then when I stopped at the lights (still cold) it died. Starting it took a couple of attempts. I tried to replicate this morning and could not get it to do the same. What could this be related to?

Is it cutting out under accelleration, or when stopped? Mine has started randomly cutting out under accelleration and I'm wondering if it's the same thing.

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if its under heaby acceleration, it probably will be some sort of fuel starvation...

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Mine did it when on motorway 90mph outside lane....10mph school run... accelerating slowing down constant speed, revs would drop then silence, sometimes dip the clutch and blip the throttle would save a dive to the inside, but any time randomly really. I had a new gearbox 6mths ago due to reverse dropping onto the road, speed sensor was replaced, never cut out since....but fuelling issues are rife on fords too i have an 09 trannie too, also intermittant cut out fault, rumoured to be a throttle sensor........I reckon I know what it'll be!!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Cutting out started again suddenly! this time worst then ever! :( It started cutting out violently until it died out and would not start again! I plugged in a cheap fault reader and 2 error codes related to the crank shaft position sensor came up. After resetting it, it started up fine but only took a few kms to start misbehaving again! Barely made it to my mechanic who is now looking at it! Not sure if its related but I recently noticed that it was not as smooth. The cabin was vibrating a bit and idling was much noisier! Also noticed that whenever I come to a stop (lights etc), the engine takes a couple of second to smooth out the revs (they drop to about 800, then drop down to 600-700 and then smooth out back to 750-800). Also, when accelerating I am hearing a different whistle when the turbo should be on, but its not the normal turbo whistle - It almost reminds me of the whine from the gearbox some old cars used to have. Till now the following possible causes come to mind:

Badly installed/defective Fuel filter

Fuel pump

Injectors

MAF sensor (cleaned thoroughly yesterday but nothing different happened!)

Throttle position sensor

gearbox speed sensor

crank shaft position sensor - i suspect this will be checked first by my mechanic since the error code is related to this.

could also be the DMF?

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Turned out to be the cam shaft position sensor after all. I think vibrations + noisier engine were due that the turbo was not connected properly to the exhaust side and there was some gases leaking from here. Much better now! :D

Now I need to figure out the whistle noise I m hearing when the turbo should be spooling - am suspecting there's a leak somewhere (maybe vacuum?) - the problem is finding it! :unsure:

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Hi Mark,

Probably a split pipe or hose. If you have a look at the turbo intercooler setup then check the hoses and pipe for a leak. Although they are slightly different, look at my signature for the guide on replacing the turbo intercooler pipe. This should show you where to look for various problems that one is likely to be the cause.

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I cant hear it when its idling, only when moving - do you think the 'smoke test' would work? there are some who say that lighting up something (a cigar for eg) and following the smoke would lead you to a vacuum leak

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probably not, as its not always sucking in the air, it can often be pushing it out. For example, the turbo intercooler pipe would be spitting air out, rather than drawing it in and the whistle (I had the same thing) was only audible after about 1800 revs under load.

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well, Ill check the vacuum tubes first since they are slightly more accessible and then I ll move down to the intercooler hoses. I recently changed the one coming out of the intercooler so I hope if I have another split, its another one at least

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Hopefully so. If you need help, take a look at my guide, it may be of some benefit to show you were to look!

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jeebowhite, one question about your split hose - did that fix some annoying turbo lag? I'm not liking how my car feels right now, apart from the whistle of course, but its not very responsive and turbo kick is felt higher in the rev range than it should (i think it should be around 1800rpm?) and for a tiny amount of time.

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To be honest it was slightly more the egr blank but the pipe made a further massive difference, in essence I got the car and if you look at my sig it shows you the power of my car from when I bought it to now. To be honest though we're talking in essence 50/50!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Ford OC mobile app

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Whooshing or whistling at boost pressure is definitely a split pipe.

Mine went a couple of weeks ago and sounded like a hoover kicking in.

It got louder until all turbo boost went and a fault light kicked in.

Ad long as I drove carefully and didn't boot it I was ok until it was replaced.

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