Engine chugging a bit after not using it for 30 days

[Groot]

I went on holiday for a month.

After coming back, the battery was flat so I used one of those little power bank jump starters. I haven't charged my battery as it now seems to start up every time. Should I still charge it?

Anyway, the issue that I have is that I've noticed the car is now chugging a bit when moving off or accelerating from a low speed.

I haven't had the chance to take it for a spin such as on a dual carriage way so I'm not sure if that will clear out any blockages, I just drop my wife off at the station which takes about 5 minutes each way.

Should I take it for a spin where I sit at 60mph for a few minutes, do I need to use something like Redex or something else?

I have a Focus 2005 1.6 LX

Thanks very much.

[eddie eastwood]

Try taking it for a nice long high speed run, possibly things are suffering from the effects of the damp weather.

[pragmatix]

It will be damp, a good drive to get it up to temp should sort it.

[Groot]

Great! Thanks very much.

[Groot]

Damn, did I cause this by not taking it for a long spin soon enough?

I was going to finally take it for a long spin this coming weekend BUT the engine light is now on while driving the car. It's not blinking, just a solid amber colour.

Seems a bit of a coincidence that this is now showing after not using it for 30 days.

It says in the book that I need to take it to a garage. Would that be my local garage or does it need to be a proper Ford garage to run the diagnostics, that's if there's nothing I can try myself? 😢

Thanks again.

[isetta]

Does not need to be ford garage. a garage might charge 30 quid to plug the fault code checker in. you can buy a good fault code checker cheaper than that. even if you can't do work on your car yourself a fault code checker is handy and means you can at least check a garage is not bullsh***ing you.  If you are interested the readers on this forum can recommend fault code readers and software.  And it's less than 30 quid and can be used on other makes also if you change your car.

[nicam49]

I can recommend tunnelrat electronics for a code reader that will reliably work with Fords. Less than £20. The version I've got works thru' a Windows laptop, but they have others that work thru mob phones. Others here may advise... 

[Groot]

Wow, I'd like to try that.

I'll look into it, but if you've got any links to either products, how to and recommendations etc that would be fantastic.

Thank you.

[nicam49]

Here's their website 

https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/

The guys are in UK and will answer your queries. 

Hopefully some other forum members will also advise. It runs on a program called Forscan which is a free download... unless you want some advanced features. Just Google Forscan. If you've got Windows laptop then it plugs into the USB port... I understand they also have a bluetooth version,  not sure if they also run on Android... maybe someone on the forum knows... or look on their website. 

[Groot]

Fantastic! Thank you. I can see there's 3 products.

I was going to go for the most expensive thinking it's the best one but I like the WI-FI one.

I would like to order one ASAP but don't have the time to digest the difference or instructions until I get home or the weekend ☹️

Which one should I go for? Does the more expensive one give more read outs or better diagnosis?

Thanks again.

[Groot]

Scrub the last message, I ordered the WI-FI one that you can use with the phone..

[Guy Heaton]

Forscan is pretty good, code reading is free and it also gives you the description as well as the number

[isetta]

I have the WiFi one and the usb one From tunnel rat with the manual switch. I didnt buy the auto switching one as I wondered if the switching might be tempramental.  Forscan is free for windows and about 6 quid for the app for Apple / android. Very handy to keep code reader in glovebox to use on iPhone.  Handy for helping out friends/work colleagues also. There are free apps for generic reading of fault codes on general car makes but forscan is tailored for fords

[ColW]

Just to add to this. I have a usb elm and you can also use it with your phone if your phone supports USB on the go. 

I have a usb c otg adaptor cable for my galaxy s9 and forscan on my mobile supports it. You can download the demo version to check if your cable is supported on your phone before spending any money. The software has various options for the type of cable connected to test if yours works. 

This way you can take the car for a run while recording data without having a laptop sat on your passenger seat. 

[Groot]

This is brilliant!

Thank you very much for all your help, I really appreciate it.

Just hope it's not going to be something serious 🙁

[Guy Heaton]

A lot of times it can just be a sensor.  I had one go on my old car - fuel temperature sensor.  It lit the EML but the car just used default settings to run.  Cost me 90 quid to get it changed.

[Groot]

I've just realised and again I haven't had time to look into everything (still waiting to receive the Elm327 which should be tomorrow) properly but I'm wondering if I need to order an adaptor or something of that sort?

In other words, where on my car do I connect the Elm327? Is the connector a standardised (OBD2 port) one across the globe?

I've briefly read the installation of the software which seems straight forward but just says 'connect to the car'.

As mentioned, I have a Ford Focus 1.6LX 2005.

[nicam49]

Is the fault light on as soon as you switch on, ie before you fire up the engine? 

[StephenFord]

2 hours ago, Groot said:

...As mentioned, I have a Ford Focus 1.6LX 2005.

Grand cars, same as mine. Will be interested in your outcome so don't forget to post an update! (just in case scenario, mine,touch wood, is working perfectly) 😀

[Groot]

Okay, Got the results:

(WARN) [15:14:31.850] DTCs in OBDII: P0302-C
(WARN) [15:14:32.887] DTCs in IC: B1318
(WARN) [15:14:42.571] DTCs in PCM: P0302
(WARN) [15:14:48.976] DTCs in RCM: B1318

As already mentioned, I didn't use the car for a month so I'm assuming the warnings are a result of this.

B1318 states "The battery voltage level is too low".   As far as I am aware it was fine before I went away. Is it just a case of recharging the battery? I replaced it about 2 years ago. It states the possible causes are:

• battery voltage line - open or short (IC)
• Poor battery condition (IC)
• Control Module (IC)
• Battery Voltage below 9.6 volts (RCM)
• Suspect Battery state of charge Charging System (RCM)

P0302 & P0302-C states  "Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected". That would explain why the engine feels like it's chugging a bit. It states the possible causes are:

• Fuel contamination
• Evaporative emission control system malfunction
• Blocked kinked or crushed fuel lines

Obviously I bow to your experience and expertise, but it seems all I may need to do is charge the battery and take it for a long spin.

I still haven't taken it for a long ride yet because of the engine light coming on. However, would you say it's now safe to do so and see if it clears the misfiring?

Once again, thank you very much for all your help and advice.

 

[StephenFord]

mmm... it's not our car, so if anything goes wrong, well, it'll cost us nothing. However, if it was my car, yes, I'd give it a healthy blast especially considering you didn't touch her for a month. Kinda like sitting in a chair for a few hours, you get stiff on getting up but a walk round the house gets the circulation going again...

[nicam49]

Buy yourself a battery charger and don't drive it till its had a good charge. Then clear the codes and take it for a nice drive in the countryside, and keep off motorways for the time being. 

[Kevin#95]

I had this code on my 2004 fiesta lx. A garage mechanic advised to try the following.

1. Tried swapping lead on plug no 2. Standing at the front of the car it the lead 2nd in from the left side. Did not fix it.

2. Put a new spark plug in and the fault went away. The car ran much better. New plug had a gap 1.0mm

3. I replaced all the plugs and also put a new coil pack in.

[Tizer]

2 hours ago, Groot said:

Okay, Got the results:

(WARN) [15:14:31.850] DTCs in OBDII: P0302-C
(WARN) [15:14:32.887] DTCs in IC: B1318
(WARN) [15:14:42.571] DTCs in PCM: P0302
(WARN) [15:14:48.976] DTCs in RCM: B1318

As already mentioned, I didn't use the car for a month so I'm assuming the warnings are a result of this.

B1318 states "The battery voltage level is too low".   As far as I am aware it was fine before I went away. Is it just a case of recharging the battery? I replaced it about 2 years ago. It states the possible causes are:

• Battery voltage line - open or short (IC)
• Poor battery condition (IC)
• Control Module (IC)
• Battery Voltage below 9.6 volts (RCM)
• Suspect Battery state of charge Charging System (RCM)

P0302 & P0302-C states  "Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected". That would explain why the engine feels like it's chugging a bit. It states the possible causes are:

• Fuel contamination
• Evaporative emission control system malfunction
• Blocked kinked or crushed fuel lines

Obviously I bow to your experience and expertise, but it seems all I may need to do is charge the battery and take it for a long spin.

I still haven't taken it for a long ride yet because of the engine light coming on. However, would you say it's now safe to do so and see if it clears the misfiring?

Once again, thank you very much for all your help and advice.

 

The normal course of action is to clear the codes and see what ones come back, but you are wasting your time if you don't get the battery charged up first.

If you expand the codes then FORScan will say whether they were present at the time of request and if the MIL (Engine light) is illuminated by them or not.

Assuming that the B1318 codes go away then you should be able to monitor Live Data for Cylinder Misfires with FORScan. The pertinent thing is whether that cylinder is not firing at all or whether the misfire is intermittent.

A couple of other things you could easily do is to run the engine with the Bonnet up in the dark and see if the High Tension Voltage is escaping, and in daylight take the High Tension Leads off and look for corroded connections or any unusual tracking or burning.

The nightmare scenario is that there is no compression in that cylinder.

If it was my car I would have taken it for a good run first to see if it cleared it, but if there is a misfire then it could damage the Cat if fuel is being fed into the cylinder but not being burned.

You should also be able to monitor Live battery Voltage with FORScan.

[Guy Heaton]

Charge the battery.  Take it out for a long high speed run, with some revs once it's warm.

Clear the codes, run the car again and check codes again.