Mk3.5 2.0 TDCI Powershift problems - or not? (And other stuff)

[vibeone]

Bought a new (to me) focus last month and I love it. It’s a mk3.5 TDCi 2.0 140 with powershift.  Compared to my old mk3 manual, this seems to fly! I believe this car has the wet clutch system.

That said, I am absolutely petrified about powershift problems, so apologies if most of this is in my head.

Its a 17 plate with 30k on it.  Auto service is due at 37.5.

Other than the very rare odd gear changes now and again at low speed, There is no low speed shudder or judder and no slow gear changes etc.  
 

However, generally above 50mph under acceleration there is a very minor slight shudder that comes and goes.  This seems to be worse at about 67-70 mph, and if it was a manual I’d say it feels more like a rear wheel out of balance.

Can anyone set my mind at rest by saying this is not a sign of impending doom? 

The car is still under warranty where I bought it from, and under Ford warranty until mid next year.  So there isn’t a particular rush at the moment - just after advice really.

2 other things:

1) it’s start stop (if it matters) - what’s the best ignition live fuse to use for a dashcam please?

2) bi-xenon lights but the beam doesn’t go far enough for my liking.  Is there any manual adjustment on these other than the left/right on the dash?  The lights are bright but feel pointed down too much.

[michaelburrows]

can only comment on the bixons.  iv got a 62 plate titanium x with factory bixenons.  mine are also very bright but also dont seem to light the road up that much. i asked garage to check beam. they said it was fine. u cant adjust coz they automatically adjust. been suggested to purchase better bulbs.  very expensive especially if they dont improve matters.  iv had cars with xenons next to me on motorways and their lighting is far superior to mine .lights up road brighter and further.

[erictcleric]

The Focus bi-Xenon lights will never be as good as newer cars, sadly. 

There is some manual adjustment possible, thanks to a couple of adjustment screws built into the headlight housings. However, be careful as its very easy to mess up the lights so they point too high and blind oncoming traffic. 

[michaelburrows]

well i tried the adjustment with the white hexagonal heads.  it did nothing at all    the automatic levelling just releveled so lights remained the same

[vibeone]

Thanks for the support michael 🙂

At least I know I'm not going nuts.  Like I said - the lights are very bright.  It seems they are levelled down, and the end of the beam is too... final.  There's no fade, it's on or off. .

The dash is now set to Left traffic, which is correct for UK (yeah?), and the kick is correctly lighting up the nearside - but when I bought the car it was set to Right.  Could the car have been adjusted/calibrated on the wrong mode?

Anyone know more about how to manually adjust without cocking it up, or is it a fruitless excercise anyway?

Thanks!

[erictcleric]

HID lights will have a sharp cut off with little fading, so that part at least is correct. The sharp cut off does make everything above the light seem darker if you're used to halogens, which have a lot of light bleed. The sharp cut off on HIDs is to prevent dazzling or blinding oncoming drivers, because the lights are brighter than halogens. 

There should be two hexagon screw heads in each headlight casing. One will do left-right adjustment, the other up-down. Park the car on level ground in front of a wall, use the adjusters and you will see the beam cut off move. 

Be aware that it's easy to set the headlights badly this way, which can blind oncoming traffic. MOT testers can align the lights properly, but they tend to be quite conservative and set them a little low. You could try getting a tester to align them, see if that's better, and if still bad raise them an inch - but I wouldn't go higher. 

And "Left" for left hand traffic is indeed what you want for the UK. 

[erictcleric]

A couple of other things I forgot to mention:

HID lights will always appear to have less "distance" due to the sharp cut off. If you set the lights up so they look like they have the same throw as a halogen then expect to get a lot of annoyed flashes from other drivers. 

The manual adjustment sets the baseline for the lights. The auto adjustment, which you can see when the lights first turn on, is to set up the aim based on the load in the car. For that reason, it's best to do any manual adjustments without anything in the car (e.g. empty boot). Ideally, for correct adjustment someone should be in the driver's seat, but you can get away without that if doing it by yourself. 

[YOG]

I assume you have the Ford Adaptive Front Lighting System?

If you have, you should find that it "adjusts the beams of the new Bi-Xenon HID headlamps to best suit the layout of the road before it. The system assesses the ambient light around the car, as well as object in the road ahead, and then adjusts the headlight beam angle and intensity to the most appropriate of its seven settings depending on the vehicle's speed, steering angle, and distance to the blocking object."

https://www.tch.co.uk/about/why-choose-ford/adaptive-headlights/

[michaelburrows]

thats intresting yog.  adaptive headlamp info.   that could explain why the headlamps are pretty hopeless. i will have to look up to see iff thats the set up my 62 plate titanium x has got. 

[erictcleric]

Later cars have adaptive, early Mk3 won't. Hopelessness is fixed for us 🙂

[vibeone]

It’s got the turning headlights, and they do all sorts when I turn them on at night - some sort of self test.  Not sure I’ve noticed it doing anything else in terms of beam though.  
 

thanks so much Eric - really insightful.  I’m not after much to be honest - just a tiny amount will make a huge difference I think