General advice

[Dazzler_75]

Hi, just purchased an S Max 2.0 tdci titanium 2012 model 53K miles, taking delivery next week. Was wondering is there anything I should look out for, do these suffer with DPF issues with regen or failure? Or EGR valve issues? Cant seem to find anything in particular online. Car appears to have been looked after. I can see on MOT history lower suspension arms have been replaced. 

[Moondog]

I have a 2012 2.0 Titanium diesel Powershift that I have had for ten years.  It has done 138k miles.  The only failure I have had was about 12 months ago when ‘Engine Malfunction’ came up on the dash and the fuel vapour valve needed replacing. The only other things that have been done apart from service items were some suspension bushes and CV gaiters.  I had the timing belt and water pump changed at 100k.

[Frembrit]

Timing belt, water pump, idle and tensioner pulleys, and fan belt and pulleys should have been done in 2022 as the interval is 10 years or 125,000 miles, whichever occurs first. If you can see no firm evidence that this has been done then I would suggest you budget for that too. My Mondeo 2.2 cost me £600 from a Ford dealer with Ford parts in 2021. I've also noticed that a lot of 2nd hand dealers are currently not mentioning the timing belt situation unless it's been done

I suspect it may of had DPF regen problems during it's life if it's only covered 53K mile in 10 years. If you begin to experience any regen problems then it's highly likely that the Vaporiser is the culprit; could be blocked or have a failed glow plug inside it, or it's little fuel pump, fuse or wiring issues. But, it might have been changed previously so you might be ok.

EGR failure can occur and cause DPF regen problems but I don't think it's common. The EGR should be self cleaning (It is on my 2.2), you should hear it after you turn off the engine.

If it's had front lower arms then keep an eye on the rear trailing arm bushes, handling will feel weird when cornering and the rear tyres will wear unevenly. My car felt like it was over steering then under steering all in one corner, felt worse when turning in to a junction sharply. New bushes are about £35 each (Part only) but a special tool is needed to remove and re-insert them and not all garages have it. The alternative is to change the whole trailing arm which is £300+ per side (part only, price may have changed over the years too though).