Evening,

 I have a a 2009 ford focus 1.6 diesel econetic. Though the car drives fine there is definatley no turbo boost, the power surge is not there and there is an engine ,malfunction warning on the dash.Initially in the morning when you start the car there is no warning but after a few minutes it appears, however when there is no malfunction message the car drives fine with turbo but this is lost once the message appear.

 I have had my mechanic put it on his diagnostic and the only fault codes are related to glow plugs not working, however the car is starting fine. There is definatley boost pressure but it just seems to switch off. There are no other fault codes. Can the glow plugs have a bearing on the engine power and if so how much of a big job are they on this car.

My mechanic seems to be of the opinion that the glow plugs are beneath the manifold at the rear of the engine and a bit of a pain to do.

Has anybody had a similar issue and if so how did they resolve it?

Many thanks in advance for any feedback

I don't know how hard it is to get to the glow plugs. It won't be easy but I don't know if it's hard or really really hard. I understand some people have problems with them snapping off when trying to undo them.

anyway, glowplugs only do something when the engine is cold (and probably would not matter at this time of year). I can't really see how they could affect the power/running when the engine is warm.

But I can't add any other helpful comments to help you solve it.

The glow plugs are used at every start these days for emissions, though they're not needed to actually start.  They're also used during DPF regen so put the car into the limp mode with the dash message on the Mk2 Focus.

Not too difficult to change but yes they are behind the engine (though not under the manifold as that's above the engine).  You need to remove the wipers and both scuttle panels for access.  Mine came out quite easily but had only done about 60k when they failed!