The old girl won’t start

[Owens1992]

Hey guys,

so I was driving home yesterday and stopped at a red light, usual stuff take it out of gear and put the handbrake on and relax a little.   Lights changed I went to set off put it in first and accelerate and the car shuts of... like I’d stalled it so I turn it off and try again only this time I start back up I get engine malfunction on the screen and the car won’t tick over now. 
 

managed to tow it home but can’t seem to figure out why it suddenly just stopped as was working fine before hand. 
 

car is 

Ford Focus mk2 58 plate

diesel - quarter tank left

code reader - no codes

fuel still coming through

fuses checked

 

any help or ideas much appreciated thank you

[Owens1992]

Just taken out cleaned and checked glow plugs. All still working. Car still same once replaced

[TomsFocus]

You need to get Forscan on it for some Ford specific codes.

Which size diesel is it?  Has it had a fuel filter change recently?  Can you see any split boost hoses?

[Owens1992]

ahh googled that and is it downloadable software for phone?

its 1.8 and nope no filter change didn't think was necessary as fuel is still getting to engine.

none so far but im going all around and under the car to double check now

the engine malfunction warning has disappeared now as car hasn't been run in a day and so the code won't appear on reader

thanks

[Owens1992]

update - been around car   no splits no leaks

[TomsFocus]

Phone or laptop yes, but you'll need a proper switchable cable or dongle for it as well.  Tunnelrat sell the most reliable ones but I don't know if they're still working duribg the current situation.

Common rail diesels run really high fuel pressure, fuel at the injectors isn't a sign that there's enough pressure there.   A clogged filter is a pretty common cause of cut-outs on these so worth changing if you can't get any codes.

Codes will still be stored on the PCM even without the engine malfunction warning.  Forscan really is the best way to start if you can't see any obvious problems. 

[Tizer]

Remember if you want to use the phone app you will need a Wi-Fi or bluetooth adaptor. A wired one may work if you have an OTG Adaptor for your phone, although I have never tried.  

[jonj1611]

Same thing happened to my sons car, no codes just came up with malfunction warning.

Turned out to be a nearly grands worth of fuel injectors!

[FatHead1979]

7 hours ago, Owens1992 said:

update - been around car   no splits no leaks

Although the 1.8 TDCi engine is generally considered to be pretty bulletproof, one of it's few weaknesses is Siemens supplied Ford with multiple batches of substandard injectors in 2008.  The injectors wore out early and caused no end of problems, there's a thread on this forum that contains the TSB/technical info.

 

Also, like all common rail diesel engines, the 1.8 TDCi is sensitive to fuel pressure i.e. a minor air leak and/or a clogged filter.  Considering that the filter for this engine costs about £7, it's an item that really should be getting changed every 12 months.

[Owens1992]

Thanks for the advice guys. ordered a dongle from tunnel rats should be here next week. 
 

for now I’ve Changed the fuel filter today, car no starts after abit of clicking. But dies soon after, sometimes straight away, sometimes after couple of minutes. 
 

my thinking it’s air being sucked in or leaked out somewhere so going to go through air pipes and filter tomorrow, ordered new filter for tomorrow already

once again thanks for the help. Would still be hitting it with a stick if not for this 😂

[Stoney871]

Did you change the fuel filter seal as well?

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[FatHead1979]

38 minutes ago, Owens1992 said:

Thanks for the advice guys. ordered a dongle from tunnel rats should be here next week. 
 

for now I’ve Changed the fuel filter today, car no starts after abit of clicking. But dies soon after, sometimes straight away, sometimes after couple of minutes. 
 

my thinking it’s air being sucked in or leaked out somewhere so going to go through air pipes and filter tomorrow, ordered new filter for tomorrow already

once again thanks for the help. Would still be hitting it with a stick if not for this 😂

There a a couple of potential vulnerabilities when changing the fuel filter on a 1.8 TDCi engine.  The large rubber o-ring needs to be in the correct place AND in the "lid" of the fuel filter holder there's a small o-ring that goes round the thing in the centre.  When removing the old filter it's easy to pop this little seal off and not realise, plus a lot of non Ford brand filters don't include the o-ring so you'd never know you've lost it.

 

Both of these are enough on their own to cause starting/running problems.  Forscan is really useful for starting issues, for a kick off once the PIDs is for something like "StartEnable" and it's Yes/No so if you monitor the start PID whilst cranking you can see whether the ECU is even trying to start the car.  (Unless the fuel rail reports pressure above a certain level, the ECU won't actually try to start the car and you'll just end up cranking.