Cylinder deactivation update

[Richiedug]

Regarding the posts on this and other forums asking if Cylinder deactivation can be disabled on a Focus 1.0 ecoboost to overcome the vibration whilst driving in Normal mode when trying to maintain a constant speed around 67 mph in 6th gear.

I have been informed that Ford UK sent a Special service Massage 47833 in 2019 to Ford dealers stating that this vibration is a characteristic of the fuel saving Cylinder deactivation. A new software release that disabled Cylinder deactivation by changing to Sport mode was the fix/cure for this vibration problem.

So after 2 years as nothing new has been released it appears that Ford thinks drivers must change the default Normal mode to Sport mode every time they start the engine which is a faff.

I would have thought a proper fix/cure would be the option to disable Cylinder deactivation entirely, the dealer says Ford may do a recall and make such software available??

[Botus]

if cyl deactivation didn't provide enough power whilst lessening the emissions when in a boring steady state run it wouldn't be there

turning it off sounds utterly ludicrous - test the car and don't buy it if it doesn't meet what you need

[Richiedug]

Botus, With cylinder deactivation working the car has a vibration, that is the only reason to turn it off, I already own the car.

[alexp999]

The car got its type approval and emissions rating with cylinder deactivation. I doubt Ford will be allowed to update the software to have it off by default. Best you can hope for is something like Forscan turning it off or a way to physically disable it under the bonnet. 
 

The 3 cylinder has more vibrations at low revs than other engines anyway, even when it’s running on all 3. But yes it does seem that people are noticing when it runs on two but it is designed to do so.
 

 

 

[Tizer]

32 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

The car got its type approval and emissions rating with cylinder deactivation. I doubt Ford will be allowed to update the software to have it off by default

Those are my thoughts too.

I would have thought that If Ford did then they would have another Dieselgate on their hands. Hopefully the poster who is going to disconnect his Deactivation Solenoid gets back with the outcome.

I think, but I'm not certain that the Manual 1.0 cars don't have any Balancer Shaft arrangement but the Automatic cars do, but the problem does seem to affect both the 1.0 engines, maybe for different reasons. Both versions of the 1.5 engine do have Balancer Shafts and I believe that the type of Balancer Shaft was revised in early 2019 for the 1.5 engines.  

[Botus]

I guess the level of NVH is what we need to understand...   if its truly shocking why would they have done it - just to sneak under 100g/km ?

if so, get someone with forscan to turn it off

[lookmal]

It look's like in facelift model Ford cancelled the cylinder deactivation mode. If you look carefully you will see a "hole" in the cylinder head after solenoid of this system 😉 Thanks God!

 

[alexp999]

4 minutes ago, lookmal said:

It look's like in facelift model Ford cancelled the cylinder deactivation mode. If you look carefully you will see a "hole" in the cylinder head after solenoid of this system 😉 Thanks God!

 

I think it was dropped as part of the MHEV.

[andreacos92]

On 4/20/2022 at 4:25 PM, alexp999 said:

I think it was dropped as part of the MHEV.

Mine (mHEV 155) has it.

[unofix]

1 hour ago, andreacos92 said:

Mine (mHEV 155) has it.

So you have a new 2022 MK4.5 with cylinder deactivation mode ?

[andreacos92]

5 minutes ago, unofix said:

So you have a new 2022 MK4.5 with cylinder deactivation mode ?

No, sorry. I should have been more specific.

I have a 2020 Mk4, I was answering to @alexp999 who stated cylinder deactivation was dropper as part of mHEV.
But my 2020 Mk4 is mHEV and has cylinder deactivaion.

So it was dropped not as part of mHEV in general, but in Mk4.5 mHEV maybe.

[alexp999]

I'm sure there are some Mk4 without cylinder deactivation.

I thought it was part of the change to mHEV, but maybe some early models still had it.

[andreacos92]

I have got a Fiesta Mk8.5 (2022 face lifting) with 1.0 mHEV 125 as courtesy car for more than a month (right until today), and there was no cylinder deactivation solenoid, but it vibrates a lot under 1800 rpm anyway.

A friend of mine has a Focus Mk4 (late 2021) with same 1.0 mHEV 155, I asked him a photo of his engine. It would be interesting to understand when Ford decided to remove cylinder deactivation, and especially why.

[unofix]

5 minutes ago, andreacos92 said:

It would be interesting to understand when Ford decided to remove cylinder deactivation, and especially why.

I doubt very much if Ford will ever make it public as to the real reason why it has been discontinued. Maybe because it saved less than half of a teaspoon per gallon, caused a lot of vibration which caused a lot of complaints at the garage that the dealer couldn't ever hope to fix.