Hi,

Need a piece of advise of what to do with my 2010 Fiesta Zetec S 1.6 TDCi.

A week ago while driving the PCM light turned on and the engine stop dead. NO other noises, or dashbord signs. Called on road assistance and tried to restart the car: the could restart it. I drove for another 20 miles normally and the issue appeared again. Looks like that sometimes I can restart it and other times need to wait 5 min or so.

On road assistance only found error code P0698 "P0698 Sensor Reference Voltage C Circuit Low"

Towed the car to Ford (as my garage can't manage electronic stuff) and Ford was able to trigger the issue related with the PDM light or "Engine Management Light", and have found that the Power Control Module is reading a very high voltage of 28Volts, when it should be about 14Volts.

Unfortunately they are unable to find where this reading is coming from, it could be one of a couple things but they cannot confirm either of these;

The Engine Control Unit (ECU) could be reading the voltage wrong, or the alternator is charging to high.

They're testing the car later after clearing the codes to see if they can narrow down the problem. If not, I'm thinking in replacing the alternator, see if sorts it out, if not, repair the ECU. Ford charges me way a lot of money for a brand new ECU, so I'm wondering what is the experience or advice about repairing the ECU. 

All help/advice is appreciated,

Thanks

 

You may be able to just obtain a new regulator module for your alternator, which can often be changed without removing the alternator from the car, and is a damn site cheaper than a whole alternator.

Last one I did, was on a beemer, and the modules were about 30 quid, vs 400 for a whole alternator...

Something like this

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ALTERNATOR-VOLTAGE-REGULATOR-FOR-FORD-KA-Fiesta-Focus-Fusion-Mazda-2/123602295145?hash=item1cc7455969:g:-4oAAOSwGq5cQwzL#vi-ilComp

(this may not be correct for your vehicle - see my note below regarding needing the alternator model number, and ideally the number off of the regulator is helpful too)

If you can find the alternator model, usually on a sticker somewhere, you can search ebay for a regulator module for it, often comes with the contacts and stuff in one piece, ideally get the regulator part number off of the old one, helps check if things are correct.

Lots of the sellers are helpful, if your struggling to tell if its the right one, send them all the numbers and they usually work it out for you.

The beemer one I was doing, was a bugger as none of the numbers matched up, until I searched only part of one of the numbers, and then confirmed with the seller, but it fixed my problem completely.

 

 

 

 

Hi I have a same problem with my Focus. Do you remember what was solution this problem?

This might help found on the web for ford 09 1.6 tdci stop dead on road with a code p0698

Expert:  Gallagher99 replied 6 years ago.

Hi there ,good evening to you
Ok this fault code is a reference voltage short circuit code
In my experience of this 1.6 dv6 Varient I would suspect a faulty EGR valve (shorted internally )
This is most commonly caused by moisture ingress into the electronics internal of the valve

When the short happens it shuts down every PCM 5 volt reference feed on the vehicles engine management system
These sensors include the fuel rail pressure sensor /map sensor etc

If you dissconnect the EGR electrical multiplug the vehicle should start
The EGR valve is located at the passengers rear of the engine bay under the scuttle panel area
 

 

Hi i know this is an old post but did you ever sort the car mine is doing the exact same thing