Hi all, tought to ask an advice here in case anyone been there.

I had an engine change recently and now I am facing a loss of power from the turbo. It does not seem to boost. 

I have a mechanic coming over to do diagnostics and everything seems fine according to him apart from the faults that he discovered.

P0299:21-6C

P123A:62-68

P132B:21-6C

He showed me that there weren't any other faults coming up hence everything should fine.

Once he cleared the codes and done resets whilst plugged in, I have gone for a drive and the boost was back as usual.

Unfortunately, I went for a drive later after that and then noticed that boost disappeared again. 

There are no lights coming up on the dash either. 

Any ideas from your own experiences with these fault codes on Focus 1.0 125 Ecoboost or Fiesta?

Many thanks!

Have you checked all the hoses for leaks?

These DTC codes are usually generated if the wastegate of the turbocharger is not working correctly.

The 1.0 ECOboost has a continental turbocharger with a vacuum operated wastegate. The wastgate is powered by an engine driven vacuum pump that is mounted on the cylinder head and actuated by an electronic control valve (boost solenoid). The boost solenoid is fully controlled by the PCM (ECU) If any of the parts involved with the wastegate system fails the wastegate will remain open constantly. In this case the exhaust gasses will be bypassed through the wastegate and the turbocharger will not generate boost.
 

The wastegate itself can easily be checked by applying vacuum to the hose pillar of the wastegate (for example with a vacuum brake bleeder or a large syringe). When applying vacuum the wastegate valve should close. The wastegate valve should remain closed until the vacuum is removed otherwise the wastegate diaphragm is ruptured. The wastegate of the 1.0 ECOboost is not available as a spare part from Ford. In case of a defective wastegate the complete turbo needs to be replaced. As far as I am aware there are no aftermarket wastegates available for these continental turbochragers.

The vacuum hoses can easily be visually inspected or vacuum/pressure tested for leaks. The hoses or boost solenoid are not seperately available from Ford as spare parts. Ford only offers a complete kit that includes the vacuum hoses and boost solenoid. This kit costs approximately €250,-.  Luckily aftermarket vacuum hoses and an aftermarket boost solenoid (Pierburg) are easily available.

Another part of the system that fails quite often is the engine driven vacuum pump (I have seen this quite some times). The part that fails is more exactly the non return valve that is bolted onto the vacuum pump. This non return valve contains a diaphragm that ruptures over time. The non return valve is part of the vacuum pump and not avialable as a spare part from Ford. Luckily aftermarket diaphragms and vacuum pump repair kits are easily available. Another option is to remove the diaphragm and install an inline metal check valve.

Probably not related to the DTC codes but on a 1.0 ECOboost it is also highly recommended to inspect the recirculation valve of the turbocharger. On this continental turbocharger the recirculation valve consists of a plastic cover with a rubber diaphragm. This diaphragm is known to deteriorate and rupture. The recirculation valve is available as a spare part from Ford and costs approximately €200,-. This is basically the only part of the turbocharger that is seperately available. As an alternative aftermarket diaphragms are available from China (I do not have any experience with these diaphragms). However a much more durable and permanent solution is to install a Turbosmart recirculation valve. The Turbosmart recirculation valve is fully made of metal (brass cylinder in an aluminium housing) and is much more durable and also cheaper than the plastic/rubber original one.

 

Thanks both, there are no leaks on pipes.

The mechanic who's done diagnostics yesterday returned Today. He plugged in the reader and it showed only the following code: P132B:21-6C

He now checked the battery and voltage - the voltage was going down to 12.18-12.00 and even below 12. He suspects that turbo shuts off because the alternator is not generating enough of power and as a safety precaution the computer shuts the turbo down.

I didn't find any issues with the battery now not holding though, just done 50 miles drive to see how it will be - the fuel consumption is a bit higher, found a bit tough to go above 70mph getting up on a steep part of a motorway. 

Do you think it is a valid reason that alternator is failing hence the turbo shuts down?

In my opinion I think you need a new mechanic and a new battery in that order.

I had my battery changed a year and half ago really

1 hour ago, Sarunas said:

He suspects that turbo shuts off because the alternator is not generating enough of power and as a safety precaution the computer shuts the turbo down.

🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣

at the risk of repeating myself

32 minutes ago, unofix said:

you need a new mechanic and a new battery in that order.

 

Okay got it sir 🤣 well at least he found a fault coking through. I'll go check the battery elsewhere tomorrow and see what's the 2nd opinion on that. 

8 hours ago, Sarunas said:

I didn't find any issues with the battery now not holding though, just done 50 miles drive to see how it will be - the fuel consumption is a bit higher, found a bit tough to go above 70mph getting up on a steep part of a motorway. 

I partially agree with Unofix, which implies I partially disagree too!

If the battery voltage really is dropping below 12v with the engine running and no abnormally high electrical load, then there is a problem. I know that dodgy voltages can upset ECUs, especially if caused by a phase failure or similar on an alternator, which puts a lot of ripple voltage onto the 12v power supply to all the electronics. But in that case I would expect to see DTCs about the bad voltage. A generic scanner may not pick up these codes, but a good Ford specific one like Forscan will do so.

If you can not verify low battery voltage, and see no voltage DTCs, then I would concentrate on the points in Wilco's answer about the several causes for failure of the turbo to operate. The DTCs shown are very consistent with that sort of fault.

It is interesting (to some!) that the DTCs are marked (by the mechanic's software I assume) as Continuous Memory DTCs. I came across these when my IC packed up, showing theft DTCs among many others, and some of these were CMDTCs. A simple generic scanner could not clear these CMDTCs, but Forscan did, with no difficulty, after fixing the problem. A CMDTC is used to indicate a serious problem, and stays set with permanent consequences (in my case preventing starting, in this case probably disabling the turbo) until cleared by capable software.

On 11/22/2021 at 12:33 AM, Tdci-Peter said:

I partially agree with Unofix, which implies I partially disagree too!

If the battery voltage really is dropping below 12v with the engine running and no abnormally high electrical load, then there is a problem. I know that dodgy voltages can upset ECUs, especially if caused by a phase failure or similar on an alternator, which puts a lot of ripple voltage onto the 12v power supply to all the electronics. But in that case I would expect to see DTCs about the bad voltage. A generic scanner may not pick up these codes, but a good Ford specific one like Forscan will do so.

If you can not verify low battery voltage, and see no voltage DTCs, then I would concentrate on the points in Wilco's answer about the several causes for failure of the turbo to operate. The DTCs shown are very consistent with that sort of fault.

It is interesting (to some!) that the DTCs are marked (by the mechanic's software I assume) as Continuous Memory DTCs. I came across these when my IC packed up, showing theft DTCs among many others, and some of these were CMDTCs. A simple generic scanner could not clear these CMDTCs, but Forscan did, with no difficulty, after fixing the problem. A CMDTC is used to indicate a serious problem, and stays set with permanent consequences (in my case preventing starting, in this case probably disabling the turbo) until cleared by capable software.

Just needed to charge up my battery mainly, went for a 60mile route on a motorway and got the battery charged up, no more faults or funny behaviour.

mmmmm.............. so the problem was the battery !

 

4 hours ago, Sarunas said:

went for a 60mile route on a motorway and got the battery charged up

Well if you're lucky that will have got the battery back to 80% of it's capacity. I think just putting on a battery charger for 12 hours would have been a better solution.