Worried For My Safety & That I May Have Bought A Dodgy Car :o(

[Claire22]

Hi everyone, I hope you're all well.

I could really use some advice or insight as to the issues I'm experiencing with the S-Max 2.0 TDCi Titanium that I bought a few weeks ago please.

If anyone has experience of similar issues and knows any causes / approximate expensive to get resolved It'd be really helpful for me ...

I've tried searching the Forums for similar issues and I can find one or two, but no scenarios of all of these being experienced at the same time, and my gut feeling is that some may be linked ... so, I thought it better to consolidate all the issues for my car into one post.

1) The first issue my S-Max has is sometimes when I get into it & start it up, a warning message appears on the dash display which reads "Alarm service Maintenance Error" ... however, when I then go into Messages to see the record of the fault, there are no messages ! It's a completely random & intermittent warning that happens sometimes, but not others - but is quite concerning for me that my car may not be armed properly so wouldn't sound the alarm if someone broke in. Has anyone else had this, and know the answer ? I've run a diagnostic check & receive no DTC error codes ... but have read on Forums that it could be an Alarm Sensor in a wheel arch that has gone ? I am unsure how much this costs to repair though, and how to diagnose if this is actually the issue - without Ford charging a small fortune simple to wire it up and begin attempting to diagnose it up via their machine.

2) The second issue I have is that my Cruise Control works on a total hit & miss basis. Sometimes, it'll work ... and then other times it'll show the message that it's ready to be activated, but when I push the second button to activate it - it just cancels the request ! This also happens sometimes when it is working, and I press the + button to speed up ... it'll just cancel the Cruise Control ! It's massively frustrating :(

3) The third issue I have is black smoke coming out the exhaust. A family friend who is a mechanic said that's fairly normal for a diesel - however, it is again a fairly intermittent problem. Sometimes as I accelerate away, smoke will come out the exhaust ... other times it's fine. Is this normal ?

4) Lastly, the most worrying issue was today - driving up a hill at about 30mph, the car clicks into 'limp home mode' and flashes up an error message reading "Engine Malfunction" and a big icon of a spanner !! This concerned me, obviously !! The only other things which lit up on the display with this message were a) the information 'i' in amber and the ABS icon light. Has anyone else experienced this ? Is my engine broken ?? I'm worried. If I'm driving on the motorway and my car suddenly kicks into Limp Home Mode with this error - someone might crash into the back of me. I'm massively concerned now about the credibility of the Ford S-Max and the particular one I've bought. I am starting to regret selling my reliable A3 :(

I pulled to the side of the road, turned the ignition off, waited a few minutes, re-started the car and this cleared the error. I've been driving it today around A roads and it's seemed fine. I'm jsut worried and concerned I've bought a dud car now.

Is anyone able to offer any advices or insights into fixes / commonalities of these issues please ?

Any help is much, much appreciated.

Thanks,

[btmaldon]

Did you buy the car private or from a trader? Has it been serviced recently? If the trader you could take it back to get looked at but as the issues appear to be adhoc they may not find the cause or causes.

I suspect the car has been sitting out in the damp weather and may have only done short runs recently. Cars I have owned from new never have these issues because I always keep them in the garage. Not sure if your car has DPF, but it sounds like it needs a good long fast run to give the engine and system a good clear out as well.

I don't know much about diesels but there are many experienced users on here that should be able to help.

Good luck with it.

[jeebowhite]

Welcome to the family Andrew:[

1) The first issue my S-Max has is sometimes when I get into it &
start it up, a warning message appears on the dash display which reads
"Alarm Service Maintenance Error" ... however, when I then go into
Messages to see the record of the fault, there are no messages !

I would start by suggesting you try the spare key. If you get this error after starting up and no other point, it could be that for a brief moment the immobiliser and chip in the key have a lovers tiff. Start by using the spare key, or if you dont have one, get one! then try this. I have seen similar issues where the key was fudged and needed replacing.

2) The second issue I have is that my Cruise Control works on a total
hit & miss basis. Sometimes, it'll work ... and then other times
it'll show the message that it's ready to be activated, but when I push
the second button to activate it - it just cancels the request ! This
also happens sometimes when it is working, and I press the + button to
speed up ... it'll just cancel the Cruise Control ! It's massively
frustrating :(

What speed is this at? always motorway speed? or is it country roads? if your running at less than 40, it shouldnt work, if your operating at more than this, it should work but may have other issues. but, this ties in with your error four... for now though, dont worry about this until after point 4

3) The third issue I have is black smoke coming out the exhaust. A
family friend who is a mechanic said that's fairly normal for a diesel -
however, it is again a fairly intermittent problem. Sometimes as I
accelerate away, smoke will come out the exhaust ... other times it's
fine. Is this normal ?

Black smoke is normal to an extent, I recently had the issue, and it was two seperate problems: 1) EGR Valve was coked up, so everytime air went in, it sucked charcoal dust out and deposited it on any vehicle that was unfortunate enough to be travelling behind me. The second issue was a cracked intercooler pipe, as such not enough air was getting to the combustion chamber, too much fuel went in, not enough air to burn it properly, so in essence diesel particles where thrown out the back end. Should you decide to keep the car (and as long as it doesnt fail an MOT) this can be resolved later, by an EGR Blanking plate, and also any new pipes / hoses that may be damaged.

4) Lastly, the most worrying issue was today - driving up a hill at
about 30mph, the car clicks into 'limp home mode' and flashes up an
error message reading "Engine Malfunction" and a big icon of a spanner
!! This concerned me, obviously !! The only other things which lit up on
the display with this message were a) the information 'i' in amber and
the ABS icon light. Has anyone else experienced this ? Is my engine
broken ?? I'm worried. If I'm driving on the motorway and my car
suddenly kicks into Limp Home Mode with this error - someone might crash
into the back of me. I'm massively concerned now about the credibility
of the Ford S-Max and the particular one I've bought.

I can understand your worry, but your issue may be similar to mine. I bought my car in January, I know it had a battery issue, which I duly replaced, long story short, I ended up having a battery using more juice than it charged. This combined with an issue with my ABS sensor (Offside, short ABS Loom) meant that the car would get a warning of an ABS Light, and because the battery was low, something else happened, and the car cut out dead on me on the motorway. 70mph and no lights, engine, electrics - nada!

I disconnected the battery and reconnected it properly, restarted the car and it worked, seemed to charge the battery fully. As for the ABS, it basically got too hot, expanded, and lost comms, so the car was warning me via the ABS light that the speed of the wheels could not be calculated and matched. Easy fix with a short loom. This could be similar to your issues.

I would start by checking the battery, first of all does it look old or new? is it a lead acid or a silver calcium? secondly, I would check for error codes relating to the ABS system. If you had any error codes, post them up so we can take a look.

Now, jumping back to point 2, this kind of makes sense. Your Cruise control will not work, unless all ABS sensors are telling the car they are all moving at the same speed, therefore, if the sensor, or wire is faulty and three wheels are moving at 60, and the fourth wheel isnt moving, or is not moving at 60, then the car will disable the likes of cruise control, as it cant control the car without all the information.

I am starting to regret selling my reliable A3 :(

I felt the same, I swapped in my perfect Cee'd for this car in January, I was ready at the time to drive this car through the garages window and park it on their front desk at least, sometimes you can buy a car that does have its issues, but a bit of patience, and a few quid later, you can sometimes turn it into the most reliable car in the world, or in my case, it works, still saves you money and you take out a warranty to protect the damned thing from catastrophic failure! :p

[gregers]

you have described my car ;)

i too sometimes get the limp mode kicking in,and i do what you do.but i take the key out and reset the locks(just in case )

but i have noticed if i just drive away i tend to get it more,so now i sit and let the engine warm up a tad,as you its so seldom im not really bothered about it.

when i do the onboard diagnostic nothing shows up.

[jeebowhite]

beginning to wonder if the SMAX has another not yet known design bug....

[Claire22]

BTMaldon ... thank you so much for the swift response, much appreciated.

JeeboWhite ... Absolutely awesome. Thank you for the comprehensive response, the Mrs is really pleased to get some information on this which sounds logical and aligned to the symptoms she's experiencing on her S-Max. Going to check into the issues you've called out above on the above & see how I get on.

1) How easy is it to remove the EGR valve and check if it's coked up ?

2) How easy is it to access / find the Inter Cooler Pipe to eyeball it, and see if it is cracked ?

3) How easy is it to replace the ABS sensors ?

Ideally, I'd like to try and tackle any work / diagnosis myself to save paying fortunes at a Dealership :(

Gregers ... sorry to hear you're experiencing all the same issues we are. I was thinking we just had a 'Friday Afternoon' car ... that came out the Ford Plant when the guys were a bit more laid back on a Friday afternoon !

[jeebowhite]

Hi Andrew,

1) How easy is it to remove the EGR valve and check if it's coked up ? - I am not as familiar with the SMAX as the CMAX or the Focus, but normally the EGR is at the rear of the engine block. You have two options, you can either remove and clean, or, you can blank it off. That is the preferred method, as you will get more oomph in the car, and at less than £5 its the cheapest mod that even if it doesnt work, you havent broken the bank!

2) How easy is it to access / find the Inter Cooler Pipe to eyeball it, and see if it is cracked ? My intercooler pipe on the CMAX, runs from the top of the engine block (near the turbo) and then runs along the front of the engine bay between the engine block and the bonnet catch. Check my guide below on how to replace the cracked intercooler pipe in my signature) And you should be able to get more of an idea what I mean. Its not necessarily the same on the SMAX, but gives you an idea what to look for.

3) How easy is it to replace the ABS sensors ? ABS Sensors are a nuisance! mainly because they tend to corrode and weld themselves to the hub. to replace them you would need to smash them off and put a new one in. for best results you would be better off buying genuine parts, as aftermarkets and mismatches can cause ABS lights etc. If its the wiring loom though, you would need to get it replaced, you may be able to do it yourself (for ford to replace it they charged me £55!) that was part and labour, so perhaps this is a reflection of how easy it is, or perhaps its the fact that were almost on drinking terms!

Have a look in the "Focus Guides" section, you will see info on the EGR Valve blanking which may help you out!