nuttyamy

thats true but obviously either the one used is rubbish or the guy hasnt a clue with all thats been replaced and it still has the same fault theres a massive jump from battery to cat to crank sensor temp sensor and as i found out when my ti vct cam needed replaced only ford actually got the right diagnosis

It was not the AA guy who suggested all of these things. Things started going wrong all at once and these were what my Dad and a friend (with a hand held reader) found to be the problem. The only thing the AA guy found was the temp sensor which incidently resolved the last issue that was coming up with the engine management light being on. The first thing he did when he arrived was plug his reader in and this was the only fault.

If the engine is turning over, we can be sure that your battery & starter motor are healthy, and that the battery leads are secure.

So that leaves two main possible answers - no fuel, or no spark

As to the causes of those problems, it's a bit more tricky.

For example it could be:
Various sensors
Coil packs (although would all 4 go at the same time?)
Immobiliser
Fuel pump
Fuel sender (saying you have fuel when your tank is empty)

You could try various things until you find the problem, but a good code reading would probably be the best place to start.

Having the AA guy out again, he changed a fuse which he said wass linked to the fuel pump and this resolved the most recent issue. He plugged in his reader and no faults came up after fixing this. He did, however, suggest that maybe my fuel pump and/or fuel injectors might be getting tired or as a result of the age of the car or that there might be water getting into the tank. He said if I start having this starting issue again it might be them.

Are they quite pricey to replace? And is it worth getting them changed anyway or just wait for it to go wrong again? I considered getting rid of the car but a friend said that the amount of money I have spent recently to get it running as well as it is, he said keep getting these bits done as and when they crop up.

Thanks for the hep so far.

Its cranking over but won't start

I've recently had this problem where the temperature gauge wasn't working.   Along with this, I was having idle problems - do you have that as well?   Anyway, I have a focus so this may be different.  My problem was with the "cylinder head temperature sensor".   I had the AA out this morning because the car stalled everytime I put it into gear, he fitted this new part and all ok now.  And the part was less than £20.   Hope this helps

ok so new problem to add....the last couple of days the car has been starting perfectly fine. when I left work today, it started fine but the engine light came back on. A bit later I stopped off at a shop but when I got back in the car, it cut out when I put it into drive.   The revs shot up to 4000 then dropped down to under 1000 and cut out.  I tried leaving it for a minute to see if it sorted itself out but it cuts out each time.   What might this be?

Trying to keep costs down so yeah trying to do as much as possible, and also need the car on a daily basis so all the while it actually runs, I can't really afford for it to be in a garage

I have a family friend who is a mechanic and he is doing as much as possible for me before I have to result in going to a specialist or anything like that.

He has a diagnostic reader which he plugged in and got the codes which were ultimately resolved by changing the lambda sensor - is this the live data scanner you mention or is this more advanced?

Since the lambda sensor was changed last week, I have had no engine management light.