Focus mk2 1.8 TDCI Injector Issues

[Rob Kelz]

Good morning all,

I'm hoping that somebody can shed some light on my issues... Last week my car broke down and gave me an 'engine system fault' issue on the dashboard, the immobiliser light was flashing rapidly and wouldn't do anything on the last turn of the key (where it would usually fire up)

I removed the clocks and checked the board, reflowed the solder on multiplug connector etc but nothing would work

I purchased the clocks, ecu, bcm and key fob with chip from a breakers who had the same car also a mk2 1.8 tdci

When I got home yesterday I disconnected the battery, removed the old parts and replaced with the parts from the breakers, turned the key and it fired straight up!

However.... It seems to hesitate to go and I now get some diesel knock, my guess is that maybe the injectors need calibrating seeing as I'm using my original injectors with a different ecu set so need to code/calibrate my existing injectors to the new ecu set? Would I be right in thinking this?

I tried to check it using a Delphi diagnostics set but it just comes up with an injector correction number of 4, 5 or 6 however my injectors have none of this on them

My injectors startin from the left hand side of the engine have the following details on them

4M5Q-9F593-AD
ADQTL
EH10
51046

4M5Q-9F593-AD
ADQTL
EH10
51056

4M5Q-9F593-AD
ADQTL
EH10
51039

4M5Q-9F593-AD
ADQTL
EH10
51058

Any help would be much appreciated, thank you.

[rg1642]

The injectors in the 1.8 TDCI dont require coding. I know this as when I went to get mine reconditioned the guy just gave me 4 reconditioned ones and off I went. Also when my son needed 4 in his he had 2 reconditioned and 2 off the shelf. Both ran and are still running perfectly. Not saying that there is not something wrong with yours but I wouldn't think coding was the problem. 

[Rob Kelz]

1 hour ago, rg1642 said:

The injectors in the 1.8 TDCI dont require coding. I know this as when I went to get mine reconditioned the guy just gave me 4 reconditioned ones and off I went. Also when my son needed 4 in his he had 2 reconditioned and 2 off the shelf. Both ran and are still running perfectly. Not saying that there is not something wrong with yours but I wouldn't think coding was the problem. 

Thank you for your reply.

Well that kind of sucks lol I'm not too sure what the issue could be the, the car ran perfectly fine before the fault.

I pulled out of a car park got around the corner and the dash come up with 'engine system fault' and 'acceleration reduced' and something about steering so I turned the car off and went to start it back up again and the immobiliser light was just flashing rapidly and the last turn of the key would do nothing.

I purchased a new set from a breaker from a 1.8tdci as mentioned, inserted the clocks, the body control module under the glove box and the ECU. Connected up the battery put the fob part onto the key, key in the ignition and fires straight up.

Just sometimes you get a little jerk at low rpm and horrible diesel knock... Strange thing is when you actually give it a little right foot once it's going it seems fine it's more on low revs like pulling out from a junction/pulling away etc.

Back to the thinking board maybe? There doesn't appear to be any DTC showing. I cleared them when I installed the new ECU as obviously what were currently stored would have been from the previous vehicle and not mine.

[rg1642]

Check the timing belt is ok and the timing is spot on. My wifes old Mk1 had a similar thing. I could never get it sorted. Then it came to timing belt renewal. After I had done that it has run perfectly since. No more knock judder or anything. Cant comment on the engine systems fault as that usually shows a code to go with it but it's also worth just checking the fuel filter. Drain it if it has a drain to check for water. Renew it if your brave as there is no bleed mechanism on this engine and you need to draw the fuel up from the tank after changing it. There are various methods I have tried but all are Ba^&%$ds. Then its check if the pump is ok. Mine went at 95k for no reason. I like the Focus. the family has 4 of them. 3 x 1.8's and one 2.0l TDCI's but I find them quite high maintenance. Pumps, steering racks, bushes, wheel bearings, drive shafts & injectors the most fragile.

Best of luck buddy :)

[Tdci-Peter]

12 hours ago, Rob Kelz said:

Just sometimes you get a little jerk at low rpm and horrible diesel knock...

The Seimens injectors in the Mk2 Focus do not have calibration codes to set into the pcm, as Russ says.

But there is an advice that if all 4 are changed (or pcm changed), then service function "Reset the Knock Sensor Learned Values" should be run. Forscan can do this (from version 2.1.18).

But odd power dips at low rpm can be caused by the EGR valve. It can be blanked off on this engine without causing error codes, though if the valve starts badly going wrong, it will give codes whether blanked or not. The pcm checks that it operates properly, each time the engine is switched off.

My 1.8 rolls along very nicely at idle rpm (even in 3rd gear, on the flat), and pulls like a train once above about 1600rpm. But there is a gap where I have to be very gentle with the throttle, below 1600rpm. Or change down. It can clank & knock if pressed in this rev range.

[mjt]

8 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

I have to be very gentle with the throttle, below 1600rpm. Or change down. It can clank & knock if pressed in this rev range.

Our old Mk1.5 1.8TDCi would pull cleanly without clanking or knocking from 1000rpm in top gear even when it had done over 130K miles. The turbo came in just below 2000rpm and then it would take off like a scalded cat although the transition was quite smooth.

[Rob Kelz]

Hi all thanks for your replies.

I have been in touch with the guys from FORScan who advised resetting the "knock sensor learned values" but they also said if I were to carry on driving it, it should learn over time. I've ordered an ELM327 cable with the FORScan mod so I'm waiting for that to arrive.

I have also been driving it to see if it gets better over time, it's very odd as the knocking isn't all the time I get quite a lot from cold in the morning.

If I give it a blast and put my foot down, it pulls well without fail but if I were to put it in 5th or 4th and try to floor it at a low speed I get the engine knock... I'm a little worried that this may be the bottom end knocking?

The dual mass flywheel and clutch was changed around 2-3 months ago as that was going and started causing a horrible judder, but the car was perfect after this was replaced right up until when I fitted the new ECU, BCM and clocks.

Hopefully it's just a matter of resetting the knock sensor learned values as mentioned, as essentially all 4 injectors have been changed as far as the ECU knows.

[Rob Kelz]

After taking it for a drive yesterday this only seems to be happening between 1,000-2,000rpm

If you keep over 2k rpm it's perfectly fine no noise or knocks, nothing.

I can pull away with clutch control (without touching the throttle) and there is no knocking at all, as soon as I try to accelerate between 1-2k rpm thers knocking but over 2k rpm it clears and is perfect

Very odd, hopefully I can get to the bottom of this else it'll be time for it to go I think

[Tdci-Peter]

3 hours ago, Rob Kelz said:

I try to accelerate between 1-2k rpm thers knocking

It sounds a bit too specific to rpm & throttle to me, to be big ends or main bearings. I am still optimistic that it is a pcm adaptation to the "new" injectors that is needed. This assumes the car has a working knock sensor, according to eBay and the Ford Workshop Manual, it should have one. I have not seen it on mine, so I suspect it is hiding round the back, on the cylinder head or block somewhere.

Disconnecting it might put up an error code (DTC) that would give some indication that it was working.

Adaptation without a reset may happen very slowly, the reset may speed up the process. Have you had a chance to try it yet?

Forscan may be able to monitor combustion noise, it can monitor fuel rail pressure and a lot of other things. After all the work you have put in it would be a shame if it could not be got working.

It is a pity the old IC could not be repaired. I repaired mine, re-soldering the HS CAN bus pins on the connector. And testing for the 120 ohm can bus terminating resistors on the HS & MS buses.

I assume the new pcm is the same age as the old one. There were some software differences put in later units for some later injectors.

 

[ajzetecs]

i was getting juddering and loud clattering and cleaned my egr valve by removing pipe by giving a good soak and leaving it for a while then give blast out and repeat a few times