2006 Focus 1.6 Tdci Stuttering When Cruising

[bigshorty]

Nice one! I'll keep you all updated how it goes once I've got the work done.

Cheers again for all the help!

[Lenny]

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[supercmaxer]

Ive ordered full blank plate should be here tomorrow :).

[supercmaxer]

Fitted the plate, snapped a bolt Found another one lol. Defo smoother. See how it goes tomorrow on drove to work.

[supercmaxer]

Well drove to work all ok, started the car up on way home it failed 3 times. On the 4th time it started.

Drove back from work today all over, went out in the car only a while ago and the engine light was on. Plugged it in and it said egr valve. Guessing it's because I have blanked it?

[Lenny]

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[supercmaxer]

unusual for it to throw up an error on the 1.6TDCi

The DPF may be partilly blocked creating increased pressure on inlet side of dpf which causes the sensor to detect a problem,

Give it a few weeks then reset the error,

The ecu eventually realises blanked is king.

I recommend upgrading induction filter when funds allow as it will help with the increased demand for air,

Atleast clean out existing filter until then when wind dies down a bit as I wouldn't lift my bonnet if able in current conditions.

I have the 2.0tdci lol. And have a panel filter k&n fitted too. No DPF

[Lenny]

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[supercmaxer]

Great Success

As far as I'm aware,

There's two locations on the 2.0TDCi where the blanking plate can be fitted,

The 2 litre has a pressure sensor in the egr pipeline

one of these blanking points is before the pressure sensor so won't through up an error as it's blanked before entering the pipe.

I've heard this information online before and just relaying it,

I'm sure if you Google there may be images of the two blanking points

basically where the pipe meets the engine block

on the outlet from exhaust side,

do the egr pipelines don't feel pressure.

Every now again it throws up egr fault code and engine light comes on. I've blanked it at the egr end. I could blank it the other end where it joins the inlet manifold. I'll have a search around and see what comes up.

[simcor]

Hi All

Noticed a bit of an issue lately with my Focus, and wondering if anyone has any ideas what could be going on.

The car has done 106000 miles to date and all has been well up until the last few weeks. As I am driving along I've noticed a slight stutter / judder at steady speeds. The car starts fine, idles well, accelerates and decelerates without any problems, it only happens when the car is at steady speeds. Recently had oil and filter change, air filter change, cambelt done 20000 miles ago, doesn't overheat (although under the bonnet does seem quite hot after a longish run, even though the temp gauge always reads half way), and no error codes are coming up, so I'm wondering what could be causing the issue.

If anyone has any advice or info on why this is happening and what to look out for, I would be grateful to hear from you.

Many thanks in advance.

Has your car got the DPF fitted or has it been removed?

The reason i ask is when a DPF regeneration is in progress the car can stutter and be quite noticeable at times, this would be at a constant speed like you describe. If that is what you are experiencing then I would say it is normal as it does state in the DPF regen bumph that stuttering occurs when doing a regeneration cycle. I also think that the more blocked the DPF filter the more noticeable the stutter when cleaning itself.

Then again mine smokes a lot when coming off the throttle while doing a DPF regen, it's funny watching the car behind drop back as clouds of white/blue smoke billow out. My car does not use a drop of oil so I know it's not burning oil like people have told me when they see it smoking, as soon as the DPf regen has completed the smoking stops proving it is not burning oil also.

[TomsFocus]

As above, mine used to stutter a lot just before and during regens, I hate DPFs lol.

Under bonnet temps being high would also indicate the DPF being blocked and keep trying to regen, though the fan should be on as well to try and cool it. I'd check the oil level as if it keeps trying and failing to regen it will be diluting the oil with diesel and the level quickly passes the max in my experience..

[bigshorty]

Thanks for the comments and info Simcor and TomsFocus.

My Focus has a DPF fitted, and it was changed not that long ago. I wasn't aware that DPF regen made the car stutter a bit as you are cruising along. It would make sense as the car doesn't do it all the time, on the same run it will stutter for a while and then seems ok for a bit. I'm meticulous about checking oil levels and haven't noticed an increase in oil level as yet, but under the bonnet seems quite hot after a good run, even though engine temp never goes above half way between minimum and red section of gauge. Does the regen of the DPF make the engine and/or under the bonnet hotter in general?

As for giving the oil a total flush and putting blanking plate on EGR valve, I haven't been able to get around to that yet, too busy, bad weather and not been well lately either, but will get on with it some point soon.

[simcor]

Yes when the Regen is happening it causes the car to stutter due to back pressure in the DPF. As for engine bay temps yes it gets very hot. The DPF filter has to get up to around 550-600 degrees to burn the soot off so the engine bay will get very warm and there will also be a noticeable smell too, the exhaust note also changes slightly and the cooling fan also kicks in during a Regen. If it only does it sometimes and mainly when on a decent run at steady speeds I would say it's normal. One way to find out is when in stutters drop it down a gear and accelerate harder if the stuttering is more noticeable and it feels like the engine keeps loosing power in short bursts then it will be a DPF Regen happening.

[simcor]

I should add mine is the early system with the additive which may be why mine smokes more than others seem to do as the later cars had a ceramic coated DPF and did away with the fuel additive.

[TomsFocus]

The DPF on the 1.6 is located under the bonnet so yes, under bonnet temps get much hotter than diesels with the DPF underneath even during normal driving, much more during a regen.

[bigshorty]

Cheers for all the info chaps, really appreciate it and it has explained a few things that I wasn't totally sure about.

My focus has the early additive DPF system too, but I hardly get any smoking, but guessing thats because its all been recently renewed.

[TomsFocus]

I think its just Simons that smokes tbh, I'm still yet to see a Mk2/2.5 Focus diesel smoking myself lol and I must've passed a few doing a regen by now. Pretty sure mine never smoked either, thought I couldn't see it due to the tints, but I can the steam now its cold so assume I would see smoke as well.

[simcor]

Cheers Tom just try and make me more paranoid lol

It does say in the hand book, you may notice some white smoke and stuttering of the engine during a regen, personally with mine I say bowl locks to that, mine smokes like a cheap disco smoke machine and the stuttering can be very very noticeable at times and lacking in power while doing a regen. Once the regen is done smoking is gone forever (well until the next regen that is).

I have seen a different make of car smoke like mine does that looked like it was doing a regeneration think it was actually a Citroen so probably the same !Removed! engine.

This week I have been data logging my DPF temps on each run to work and going the long way down the motorway.

Monday it waited until I had been driving for about 30 mins just as I was coming off the dual carriageway near work to start a DPF regen (typical I knew it was going to one hence going the long route to get car up to temp and give it a run, but it started too late, sometimes it starts as soon as the engine gets up to temp. Although I blame the 50mph roadworks for causing some issues as speed means doing a regen is harder to complete.

It then gets to anywhere between 200 and 430º on most runs depending on speed and engine load or so it seems.

I have yesterdays run to work to turn into a line chart and add that but on the way home I forgot to do the data logging and went the short way back all round mostly local roads at lower speeds.

So far this week the OBC is showing 57.5mpg the highest so far after 3 days of motorway driving mostly and very little short journeys, so I am hoping to hot 50mpg this week, if so it will be the highest actual MPG I have achieved so far with my car. The best I had was driving like miss daisy and some long runs in the warmer weather and managed an actual 49.5mpg but that was only once.

Generally I average anywhere between 40-47mpg depending on how many regens it does and or tries to do but fails and depending on how many short journeys I do, short journeys on a cold engine really kill the MPG. Usually my OBC is computer is around 8-10MPG higher than it's actual MPG.

Line charts DPF temps.pdf

[simcor]

Then again with the amount of soot in the exhaust pipe and the soot it can kick out doing a regen, I do wonder if the garage have gutted the DPF when it went back and whether that is due to some of my issues with the car. Wish I had checked the DPF when I was doing the turbo to see if they had cut it and re welded it up now.

I mentioned it before I am sure, but when it was poorly not long back during a regen it kicked out the biggest cloud of black smoke that I have ever seen and felt like the engine was about to die completely for a couple of seconds, so much so the cars behind me all suddenly dropped back and disappeared out of view for a second almost. It had never kciked out a cloud of black smoke like that, just sometimes a good puff of black smoke.

[Michael9]

I got this symptom too a few times during the last couple of weeks despite a new fuel filter, I thought it was maybe the start of a bad injector or bad fuel. Having said that it didn't happen yesterday or today.

[TomsFocus]

Lol sorry Simon, didn't mean to worry you, my bad...

There shouldn't be any way for black soot to get out of the tail pipe though, its too big to pass the DPF walls, bit of white smoke is normal/expected as you say. It's possible the garage 'may' have just bashed a hole through your DPF. Seen it before, presumably they've seen the EGR plates with holes in and tried the same thing but that's really not ideal lol. Should bring up some odd DPF codes though which you don't get iirc.

I did pass an Audi billowing white smoke this week and still not sure if it was a popped turbo or a regen! Smelt !Removed! awful lol.

On the subject of MPG though, mines at 51mpg on the OBC. Worst ever. Even tried BP Ultimate this tank :( 90% town driving, lots of cold starts and a lot of that under stress (all my eco driving styles disappear under stress lol). Written off this tank but I really hope the next one is better!

[simcor]

So far this week I am at 59.6mpg on the OBC, I have one run to work and back tomorrow and will fill up once I have come home and work out my actual MPG.

I have also been running with the MAF disconnected to see if MPG improves which it hasn't really improved, however I am being more conscientious of my MPG to eek out the best i can without driving too sedately or slowly.

I have done only journeys to work and back where the car has the option to get up to temperature and no short journeys at all. Even with all that if I only get 50mpg (which I am hoping for) then my averages of lowest 40 and highest 47mpg as usual depending on short journeys and regenerations happening won't actually be al that bad in my opinion.

I do have a very sooty tailpipe though which I am sure it was very clean when I first got it, not to mention it never smoked at all. So yeah the more I think about it the more I think they have done something to it and maybe that is what causes it to smoke like it does.

[TomsFocus]

Have you blanked the EGR yet? If not that could be adding to the soot, I'm starting to think that was part of my problem with filling up the DPF regularly, not an issue now...

59mpg showing on the OBC should give you more than 50mpg real life unless it's a less accurate OBC in mk2s? Mines only a max of 2mpg out over a tank so you've probably done better than you think.

MAF disconnected should make worse MPG, if not and there's no power change then the MAF could be faulty, which again could add to soot.

[simcor]

EGR not blanked yet, still on my list to sort.

Ended up being on 59MPG dead as done a couple of shorter stop start journeys on the OBC, worked out 49.89MPG exactly as I said usually around 10MPG out, can be as little as 5or6MPG out to 10+.

312.5 miles and £31 dead in diesel used. 28.47/4.546=6.2626484822 gallons divide 312.5 by that exact figure and its 49.89MPG. And yes that is being anal working it out to umpteen decimal points lol

I am convinced my MAF is goosed to achieve nearly 50MPG in the winter with it disconnected as my MPG is no worse for having it disconnected. if a MAF underfuels then you will get higher MPG and if it overfuels then MPG gets worse.

Really should stop derailing the OP thread though we kind of got carried away. I just remembered this isn't a thread I started.

[TomsFocus]

I'm sure it's fine, all of these DV6 threads end up off topic lol.

I'm surprised your OBC is so inaccurate tbh, must be a completely different piece of software in the later ones. I thought it was the same just with a fancier looking dash lol. Mines only ever max of 2 out either way but is fairly often bang on as well. I don't quite go to your level of anal calculations...I just have a spreadsheet that records every fill from buying the car and works out the MPG and pence per mile for me. :D

MAF's usually fail so much the ECU has to use default settings which will always be over fuelling when I've replaced them, but it is possible yours is just starting to fail rather than fully gone so underfuelling...either way, unless unplugging it gives a noticeably worse effect then it's probably knackered.