I have been trying to bleed air from the fuel system for days but the engine is showing no sign of starting. After I turn it over a few times I get a warning on the little display “transmission failure” and it shuts down for a while. For a few minutes I am unable to turn over the engine before it starts to work again. I was wondering what other people’s experience has been with their diesel focus running out of fuel and were they able to get it started again. Although this is an old car, it’s in reasonably good condition and so it seems a shame to scrap it just because it ran out of fuel.

What method are you using to bleed the fuel system?

A hand primer first on the outlet of the air fuel filter and then on the fuel pump outlet that returns the diesel to the tank. I kept priming for a long time to get as much air out as possible. On Friday I hooked up a remote button starter so I could keep cranking the engine over and opened the nuts at the injectors. Air bubbles continued to come out but the engine still wouldn’t fire. The diesel coming out at the injectors was just a small amount dripping out from behind the nut. I’am not sure if this is what it should be. I have been imagining that it maybe should be more of a strong jet of fuel.

7 hours ago, James mcgrath said:

A hand primer first on the outlet of the air fuel filter and then on the fuel pump outlet that returns the diesel to the tank. I kept priming for a long time to get as much air out as possible. On Friday I hooked up a remote button starter so I could keep cranking the engine over and opened the nuts at the injectors. Air bubbles continued to come out but the engine still wouldn’t fire. The diesel coming out at the injectors was just a small amount dripping out from behind the nut. I’am not sure if this is what it should be. I have been imagining that it maybe should be more of a strong jet of fuel.

Ok, have you also recharged the battery since? All that cranking will be killing it. The HP pump won't create enough pressure for the injectors to fire if it's not turning over quickly enough.

Also, how much fuel did you put in? It might be sucking air from the tank if you only put a couple of litres in or it's parked at an angle. 10 litres should be enough, 5 litres may not be.

Personally I don't recommend loosening injector nuts on a common rail engine. At full power the fuel can shoot out of there fast enough to damage skin or eyes. It does sound like there's still a lot of air in your system for some reason and I'm not sure why that is. I've never had a problem priming these with a decent hand pump but I know a lot of people do.

If you're reaching the point of 'nothing to lose' then there are a couple of potentially risky options to try. Firstly use a load of easystart as close to the inlet manifold as possible. If you can get it running on EasyStart then that should pressurise the fuel system and start pulling fuel through itself.

Secondly you can tow it in gear to pull the fuel through if you have a mate and a tow rope. Just be ready to hit the clutch as soon as it starts so you don't rear end the other car.

Don't let it stall if you do get it going, mash the throttle if it sounds like it's about to stall. After about 30 seconds of 2500+ it should be able to keep running on it's own. If possible, take it for a drive at varied speed to bleed any remaining air through before switching off again.

When I bleed the air at the filter it comes through with a big flow, however when I prime at the pump outlet (return to tank), there is hardly any fuel comes through. I read somewhere that there maybe a small gauze filter at the inlet to the pump and i’am wondering if this might have clogged up after running out of diesel. The problem is that I don’t know how to undo the clip to get the hose off.

Does anyone know if there is a small gauze filter there and if there is, how do I remove the clip shown in the photo.

Maybe it didn't run out of diesel?

If there is something else going on.

Do you have a clear hose in your hand pump, so you can actually see air bubbles?

Might be a good idea to change diesel filter.

I thought Diesels had a fail safe for running out of fuel? They don't??

That's why the tank capacity is slightly lower, it keeps 2 litres of fuel but shuts the car down so you think it's run out of fuel.

Once it registers that you've added fuel it will allow the engine to restart. If you don't add enough fuel it won't start.

How much diesel have you put in to get it started?, if it's only a gallon, stick another one in.

I filled the tank

OK, try tow starting it then

Failing that, has the cluster gone down???

2 hours ago, James mcgrath said:

I filled the tank

How did you fill the tank on a car that won't start? Did it cut out on the forecourt? Where is it now?

I ran out of diesel and I bleed the system and it started up straight away. I then drove to the petrol station and filled up the tank but when i went to start up the engine, the battery was flat so I got a start via jump leads. When I got home, i stopped the engine outside the house which I thought was ok because I could run it down the hill. I ran it down the hill but the engine wouldn’t fire at all. I charged the battery but it still wouldn’t start and the car hasn’t moved since.

I don't really rate those hand primers if it's the black bulb with the valves as I don't think it can pull sufficient vacuum (especially at pump outlet)
It may generate enough pressure to get fuel through filter as long as the valves are wet and the bulb is primed?
I am lucky enough to have a Mityvac but cheap versions are available on e-Bay. they can draw significant vacuum.
As I don't have an in tank pump fuel has to be dragged up all the way, through the filter and pump. I bleed it by drawing through from the return line and it always starts straight away PROVIDING THERE IS NO OTHER PROBLEM (which I think should be checked.)
The basics would be to see if there are any codes, rule that out and start from there.
Vital to use any transparent bits of pipe or have one on your bleed pump to confirm fuel is at pump and ideally all the way through to the return line.
I don't know about gauze filter but if anything gets that close to the pump past the paper filter it's likely all toast (why fit a gauze after a fine paper element but ?)
Is it possible to get an air lock at the injectors or somewhere else? (I would have thought the extreme pressure would force air through into the return line?)
Agree about the filter and @M0nde0 comments - when was it last changed ( I always ask this as it is the go to suggestion for any fuel problem - and always a laugh when there's no history or "4 years ago" )
If tank was low it may be more likely to pick up sediment?
Does it have an air leak somewhere after your efforts?
Will it start on Easy Start (if not, that is really serious?)

10 hours ago, James mcgrath said:

I ran out of diesel and I bleed the system and it started up straight away. I then drove to the petrol station and filled up the tank but when i went to start up the engine, the battery was flat so I got a start via jump leads. When I got home, i stopped the engine outside the house which I thought was ok because I could run it down the hill. I ran it down the hill but the engine wouldn’t fire at all. I charged the battery but it still wouldn’t start and the car hasn’t moved since.

Thank you. I understand the sequence of events better now.

I've never seen a car start fine after running out, then not start again after filling up. I'm not convinced this is a fuel issue now.

The fact the battery died straight after driving to the forecourt, and then again once you got home, suggests the battery is knackered. I would be trying a new one rather than trying to recharge this one again. (Or at least having it professionally load tested).

Unfortunately I don't know the answer to the HP pump gauze question. But I can confirm that I've run plenty of modern diesels down to 0 range, including Mk2 & Mk3 Focus, without any problem at all. I'm also not convinced that diesel should be able to pass the HP pump while stationary. The pump is built to very tight tolerances inside to create such high pressures. I've never needed to attempt bleeding from that side though.

I’am not sure if I have mentioned it already, but I also changed the fuel filter as I didn’t want to risk doing it later. I used a generic filter so I thought I might try a Bosch or Mann one. Can someone tell me if the large rubber sealing ring goes above the filter or below?

The “transmission failure” alert that comes up on the little display was almost certainly caused by the battery being low on power because it appeared first when I tried start up when the engine was cranking very slowly. It has happened this car before, however I don’t know why it hasn’t corrected it’s self when I put a new battery in. The engine will turn over a few times and then will not turn over, after a few minutes left alone, it will turn over again.

I understand what you are saying about the small passages in the high pressure pump and diesel not passing through when the engine is not turning over, however I watched a YouTube video where a mechanic used a large extractor pump attached to the “return to tank” port on the pump and you could see the diesel being drawn through the tube with the air bubbles in. I have been unable to get diesel through with the small primer I have been using.

As I changed the filter, i’am thinking that it is possibly there that the air is getting in. When I opened the injector nuts and cranked the engine, little air bubbles appears at the back of the nut , and no matter how many times I turned the engine over, they never stopped appearing.

There are 3 different diesel engines used in the Mk2 Focus, all with different fuel filters (and HP pumps).

If you've got a large sealing ring on the filter then this must be a 1.8 or 2.0 with paper element? The large o-ring usually goes around the outside of the lid so I can't think of exactly what's going on there.

The PCM purposely restricts starter cranking time to prevent it over-heating. That is normal and not a fault.

If it is 1.8tdci ,changing the fuel filter has caused much problems.

People install that seal (it's not o-ring) in wrong place.

It is supposed to be under the flange of the paper filter element.

If you have a 1.8tdci , please check correct seal positioning.

I called at a Ford service centre today and asked about the large seal. The guy looked it up on a service Manuel on the computer, an exploded view of how the filter goes on, and it clearly shows the rubber seal goes on top of the filter, however, I also emailed Bosch and asked them (i’am using a Bosch filter) . They said “ we have been advised that the large rubber seal should go underneath the filter, otherwise it won’t seal with the gasket on top”.

Bosch advice is correct, underneath of filter.

I had another attempt at bleeding the air from the diesel system. I attached a vacuum pump to the air filter outlet. The vacuum pump i am using is one where you pump the top up and down - it is a lot faster that the small hand primer I was using before.

The diesel I am pulling through has a lot of air bubbles in, and no matter how long I continue to bleed, the bubbles never become any less. I have tried it with the large rubber seal above the filter and below the filter. I have changed the small o ring to ones of various thicknesses but the bubbles keep on coming. The filter must be drawing air in somewhere but I can’t pinpoint it.

Has anyone any ideas on how I could find where the air is getting in?

If you can pressurise the fuel from the tank end then that'll force diesel out of any gaps.

Most of these do have an electric tank pump fitted, but it never gets powered as the wiring isn't there. If your car does have the pump then you can put 12v directly to it's plug using some spare wire.

I mentioned in my first post that the engine would turn over for a few turns and then would not turn over at all for a while and that the little display was showing transmission failure.

When I ran out of diesel, the car battery went flat and that is when the transmission failure first appeared on the display. (The next bit is google’s explanation) At this point the voltage dropped low enough that the pcm and instrument cluster coundn’t communicate and as I was trying to start the car at the time, the computer saw this as a theft attempt, and so shut down the car’s ability to start. “Passive anti-theft system”

There were two fault codes: lost control with body control module and lost control with instrument cluster. Today I used the scanner to clear these codes and the “transmission failure”on the display finally disappeared. I then used the vacuum pump to bleed air from the fuel lines again. I loosened two of the injector nuts and turned over the engine. This time there was a lot more fuel coming from the injectors and after not much cranking, the car started.

Reading back over the posts I made above, i see that I didn’t mention the fault codes, which I didn’t realise until now. Anyway thanks for everyone’s help.

so it was just an immobiliser issue all along ?

dash lights and fault codes - explain lots - we just need to understand what its telling us

Yes, when I turned on the ignition, the red light on the dash flashed really quickly for about a minute and then stopped for a few seconds. After that it flashed once, paused and then flashed six times. It was telling me that there was failed communication between the instrument cluster and the pcm. I didn’t realise any of this until later on.

Anyway it was all caused by the battery being low on power and it wasn’t the first time I had problems like this caused by a bad battery.

modern cars....... eat you money and your time