Hello everyone.

I have a focus titanium 2lt diesel.

When I purchased it I had a full service. After the service I started getting information on the dash display."Engine malfunction, service now". As the engine had been serviced,I ignored the message putting it down to poor battery voltage. I now have a permanent engine management light on. The garage says it's clogged injectors and needs new injectors and regeneration £450 + £90 + vat. I'm a little bit miffed, I think the garage may have caused the fault during the service. Any help appreciated please.

Hi,

Unfortunately that warning message is not about routine servicing.

It indicates a fault is present. Ignoring the warning has almost certainly made the issue worse.

How long ago did you buy it?

I bought it privately in January, it was fine untill I had it fully serviced.

I have fitted a dash cam and removed and replaced most of the fuses in the fusebox under the glovebox. I thought it was a sick battery.

I can't believe all four injectors are causing the problem, I'm getting 50 mpg.

There is a slight lag on acceleration when cold and sometimes juddering in 6th gear but I thought that was poor driving technique

Hang on, what are the fault code(s) behind that alert (Forscan?)
On what basis are they saying it's injectors without any diagnosis or testing or actually, anything - its a guess!
Regeneration implies DPF but again, it's a guess?

When the engine management light came on, I took it to the garage that carried out the service and asked if they could work out what was wrong with the car.

I was told injectors and regeneration.

I did ask if they could use their diagnostic equipment to work out what the fault was.

13 hours ago, John Denham said:

I bought it privately in January, it was fine untill I had it fully serviced.

Did the garage use any fuel system cleaner? Did they replace the fuel filter?

Though tbh I'm not convinced it's an injector issue anyway. It is more likely to be a blocked DPF. That would initially cause the warning message over a few days/weeks. And then move onto the engine light when it was badly blocked. It could down to driving style (not enough speed/distance to complete regens) or it could be due to a faulty vaporiser. Again, I'm not convinced that a simple regen is all that's needed here.

Unfortunately without at least seeing the fault codes, we can't really advise any further.

And my suggestion agrees with the above but I would add, doing a forced regen isn't recommended (see below) if it can be avoided by a) Fixing the fault (find actual codes , Forscan? Vaporiser if fitted is THE most likely, needs investigating first) along with live data on DPF pressure sensor readings and soot loadings b) Cleaning using a spray cleaning can into the front of the DPF after the initiating fault is fixed.
If you don't believe me and/or want to actually understand more about DPFs then my Go To is Jimmy:
https://www.youtube.com/@ORileysAutos/videos
Also, after that, consider Archoil diesel additive which at least two (count them!) on here really rate.

Thank you guys.

Im ringing roung this morning, see if i can get it in for another diagnostic.

I will post the results.

Good morning.

New garage, second diagnosic.

Needs regen but unable to carry out due to high oil level.

Regen £90 + vat.

They couldn't reduce the amoun of oil, so sugested an oil change. I agreed.

Inerim Service £110 + vat.

Regen failed due to Vapouriser shorting fuses.

The told me a genuine Vapouriser is around £400 but may be able to find an aftermarket one for half the price. I agreed. £220 + vat.

Faults cleared. £504 inc vat.

I was originally told at the first garage i would need 4 injectors and a regen at a cost of £648 inc vat. I'm glad i was a little suspicious, saved myself £144. The price was quite likely to have escalated rapidly due to misunderstanding the diagnostic or not checking the vehicles symptoms.

Second garage sound like they know a bit more although if they did a forced regen I'm disappointed (not that that makes any difference to anything!)
Very strange (cheap?) pricing for new injectors (which obviously would not have solved it) and vaporisers can be found for much cheaper (£40 upwards, but depends on model of course) plus, original garage should have been able to sort but obviously not.
End of whinge.