Only about 86000 miles and serviced a bout 150 miles ago, I was driving and it went into a limp mode so I drove home.

Next day it would not start and dispays 'engine system fault'. This is similar to earlier failures in that the car was carried to the garage  In Nov to be repaired,serviced and MoT'd. When returned from that costly episode it was not used much.

It seems to need bleeding but the garage can't attend before 27Feb and I'm not confident on their ability to fix it.

I've seen many suggestions to buy an OBD2 reader/scanner and I've now ordered one together with a bleeding tool.

My first questions are

How will I read the OBD2 if the engine is not running

Will I be able to clear the system fault code or would I need to bleed it before reading from the OBD2

I think there will be more...

Thanks

You could try thumping the top of the dash above the instrument cluster. If this brings results, it could be the solder joints in the cluster. Would cause ‘u’ codes in the OBD.

You just need the Ignition on to read and clear codes.

It does sound like it could be the common problem of the soldering needing redoing in the instrument cluster (needs cluster being dismantled extensively to get to the back of the main connector pins ). And /  or bad connections in the loom connecting plugs between instrument cluster and ecu under bonnet . Check for error codes starting with u which means canbus communication problems. Like earlier answer suggests, thumping dash sometimes jolts it enough to work (temporarily) 

Considering the cost of obd fault code reader eg from tunnel rat electronics for about twenty quid and forscan software being free for windows and about 6 quid for Apple/android, we should all have one.

Thanks folks for the helpful suggestions. There seems a strong opinion wrt the soldering failures.

May I ask what would be the likely cost to have this work done and whether a repair or part replacement would be better for an intended long term keeper.

As regards giving the shock treatment, would that - on its own - be enough to make a temporary cure or would it need to have the fault code removed with the OBD2 before the cure might function

My son. Managed to get his 2008 ST home from Cornwall to Essex by hitting the dash a hundred times or so but feared a time when it wouldn’t ‘wake up’

Cost £100 for cluster repair/reconditioning, replacing with new would have been£1000.

10 min job to remove .

40 minutes ago, RL123 said:

My son. Managed to get his 2008 ST home from Cornwall to Essex by hitting the dash a hundred times or so but feared a time when it wouldn’t ‘wake up’

Cost £100 for cluster repair/reconditioning, replacing with new would have been£1000.

10 min job to remove .

Many thanks for that outline figure I'll have to try a local auto-elec.

I've been waiting for my OBD2 to arrive but got a bit impatient so I've just been out to the car and tried

1) to start   no joy

2) hitting the dash    ign off    no joy

3)  ign on   hitting the dash    no joy

Maybe it won't go until after the fault is cleared and then retry

 

When my son’s played up, it went into limp home with the malfunction message up on the dash. A thump on the dash shocked it back to life for a short time. We still haven’t cleared the codes yet (18 months since) but running fine.

can bus connections in the cluster can manifest with various symptoms.

5 hours ago, gabljabr said:

As regards giving the shock treatment, would that - on its own - be enough to make a temporary cure or would it need to have the fault code removed with the OBD2 before the cure might function

3 hours ago, gabljabr said:

Many thanks for that outline figure I'll have to try a local auto-elec.

I've been waiting for my OBD2 to arrive but got a bit impatient so I've just been out to the car and tried

1) to start   no joy

2) hitting the dash    ign off    no joy

3)  ign on   hitting the dash    no joy

Maybe it won't go until after the fault is cleared and then retry

I can do the repair myself for cheaper. See here. Please consider.

Certainly no need to buy a replacement, the cost of a new one dwarfs the repair cost and repair should be more than sufficient.

When you hit the dash, were you hitting it above the instrument cluster? There's only a chance of this working if you hit the dash there.

Clearing codes isn't going to make any difference.

The issue being referred to is that the lead-free solder Ford chose to use at the time when your IC was manufactured cracks over time. The place this cracking is found to occur is where the pins of the IC's main wiring connector are soldered to its circuit board. These are extremely fine hairline cracks. Movements of the IC and wiring can move the two sides of the cracks in and out of contact. It is often found that a thump on the dash above the IC can cause sufficient movement to briefly establish contact such that things will work temporarily, but this naturally will only last until some form of movement causes the pins to loose contact again, which could happen at any moment. I wouldn't describe this as a "temporary cure". You need the joints re-soldered with leaded solder.

22 hours ago, rd457 said:

I can do the repair myself for cheaper. See here. Please consider.

Certainly no need to buy a replacement, the cost of a new one dwarfs the repair cost and repair should be more than sufficient.

When you hit the dash, were you hitting it above the instrument cluster? There's only a chance of this working if you hit the dash there.

Clearing codes isn't going to make any difference.

The issue being referred to is that the lead-free solder Ford chose to use at the time when your IC was manufactured cracks over time. The place this cracking is found to occur is where the pins of the IC's main wiring connector are soldered to its circuit board. These are extremely fine hairline cracks. Movements of the IC and wiring can move the two sides of the cracks in and out of contact. It is often found that a thump on the dash above the IC can cause sufficient movement to briefly establish contact such that things will work temporarily, but this naturally will only last until some form of movement causes the pins to loose contact again, which could happen at any moment. I wouldn't describe this as a "temporary cure". You need the joints re-soldered with leaded solder.

Thanks for the offer but I may have been on the wrong track. Also I don't think I could manage that level of involvement.

The OBD2 has arrived and even with limited personal ability I can see it showing a fault  as "diesel Particulates Filter Restriction - Ash Accumulation."

I tried  'clear codes' and got it running but it cut-out.

I repeated 'clear codes' and when it started, I ran it up to 3k rpm for 5mins and then to tick-over for 5mins, tuned off for a few mins and restarted. (Still displaying "engine system fault")

Current thinking - to get some cleaner into the tank as I'm at a low fuel level.

I'd be interested in how others have dealt with the DPF problem

Ah okay, so it sounds like you're probably not suffering from the IC solder issue right now after all, though please be aware that if you've not already had it fixed then it's a problem that will almost certainly affect you at some point. I understand that removing the IC might seem rather daunting for someone not used to working on their car, but it's actually a very easy task. There's a link to a video showing how to do it in my ebay repair service listing.  Not that I wish for you to think I'm pestering you to purchase my service 😛 .

Regarding the DPF issue, clearing the code isn't going to do anything to fix the cause of the code appearing. The issue, as described, is that the DPF is getting full of ash, creating a clog. This'll no doubt be why it's going into limp mode and showing the engine malfunction warning.

If it were soot in the DFP, I believe the solution would be to burn it away with a 'regen', but ash can't be burned out like that and needs cleaning out in a different way, or possibly even a replacement DPF might be needed. To be honest, I don't know much about DPFs. There's plenty of threads on this topic here, but not having a diesel myself I've not paid them enough attention to have a good grasp on how to fix an ash clog. I'd have to do some reading up on it to give you any useful advise on how to proceed. Perhaps someone else with knowledge on this could jump in?

Many thanks for your assistance thus far, it all helps towards understanding the concept of things and I agree that often  mechanical things do seem very daunting until one has a go. Because the value of the car is quite low I thus have less at risk and I did get some refund on the cash paid for an unsatisfactory repair and now had discussions with an other garage who described  his diagnosing and alternative plans of action that I will probably give him a go.

Just now it seems I can get it to run and will maybe try an additive and some hard miles