Hi, 

So I haven't a scooby what to do as the garage has plugged in a diagnostic reader and said there are no codes coming up because the engine was turned off and subsequently the error message disappeared! So he's asked me to drive the car until the error message comes back and then go in there with the engine still running and code displaying (which I'm very apprehensive about doing TBH!)

In summary ... this has happened after last week's snow (when the car was driving fine, with no problems, as have winter tyres).

 

 Update – my partner went to get the car.  When he turned it on the engine warning light came on (but not the message), the garage plugged in the diagnostics and it came back with an ABS error about the steering and the brakes not being in alignment, - which he cleared.  It can’t be as simple as that can it?  I’m not convinced!!

These were the codes U0001 (High speed CAN Communication Bus) and U0126 (Lost communication with steering angle sensor module)

Does anyone have any suggestions?  Doesn't really do any massively long drives, maybe 20 miles in one go twice a day when I am in the office.

Saturday

Started fine, drove uphill out of our village - "Engine Malfunction - Service Now" warning came out.  Pulled over, re-started car and it drove fine for rest of the day.

 Sunday

Started fine, wasn't happy accelerating after changing from 1^st to 2^nd gear and driving up uphill on a cold engine, but again was okay for rest of the day.

 Monday AM

Started fine, again wasn't happy accelerating after changing from 1^st to 2^nd gear and driving up hill but okay.

 Monday PM

Left work, shortly after I turned to go up a short hill to join the motorway.  The "Engine Malfunction - Service Now" light came on as I went up uphill on the slip road and car wouldn't accelerate/felt like losing power.  Got to top of slip road slowly. Pulled over. Re-started the car and it drove okay to the garage. That's where it is! 

 The garage have driven it today but can't get the error message to come back on 😞

 Thanks for any suggestions, mileage less than 80,000.

 

A 2014 Focus can't be a 1.9 diesel, it'll either be a 1.6 or 2.0 diesel.

Shows how much I know!  It's a 1.6 TDCi.

Edited by request

On 1/26/2024 at 11:22 PM, TOOIK said:

The garage have driven it today but can't get the error message to come back on

I assume this is not a Ford garage ?

Is the car manual or automatic ?

This could well be a case of using the phone version of FORScan so that you can instantly read the DTC when they appear. Most non-Ford garages just use generic code readers which mostly do not read all of the Ford codes.

The phone versions of FORScan (android and iphone) are £7 each.

The OBDII dongle is around £38

Hi, it's a manual.  It was an independent garage that drove it around and couldn't get the codes back.  It could just be a spurious one off but i'm very risk-averse so would like to check if something's wrong before I go back on the dual carriageway as losing power there was no fun.

Do I buy the Forscan software online, download onto my phone then do I need to buy a cable that plugs from my phone into the OBD slot?  I've just tried to find the software but wasn't sure of the exact link that I needed to download.

Thanks in advance 🙂

I did call Ford dealer out of interest and they said that I would need to also have the warning displayed on the dash to retrieve the code and I should go in there with it "live on the dash" and be charged £126+ VAT !

Hi Louise @TOOIK,

This is the official FORScan site: https://forscan.org/download.html

The version for use on a Windows Laptop is free, and you would need a vLinker FS cable (£32.92) ----------- https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-vLinker-Adapter-FORScan-MS-CAN/dp/B0952P4MLP

If you are going to use the version for a phone it costs £7. There are two versions so make sure you get the correct version, either Android or iPhone. You will need a dongle which just plugs in to the OBDII port under your dashboard, no cable required.

Dongle Android version £32.99 - 'vLinker FD' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H82WC8L?th=1

Dongle iPhone version £42.09 - 'vLinker FD+'  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H8JHWP2

 

Thanks @unofix - I really appreciate you taking the time to post those links. 

I did try and find them myself but wasn't 100% sure what I was looking for. It's a good idea to have that on my phone, so it's handy!  Thanks again!  I've got an Android so will use that one. FORScan Lite 1.5.22 for Android (Core 2.3.58) Independent Edition - Checkout (payproglobal.com)  Based on the error codes not necessarily coming up when i've got my laptop handy that probably makes most sense for now. Fingers crossed I get to the bottom of the issue.