Hi guys, hope you're all well.

I took our 2012 Focus in to a garage with a cam and crankshaft sensor error code. The car was running fine up until this point.
The garage had it for 2 days saying they needed to look further in to the issue, but finally gave us and said that they couldn't find the problem.

They have advised us to speak to a Ford mechanic as they cant see to figure out what the issue it.
They rang to say it was ready but aske "does it cut out often then??".

When we picked the car up it had developed a really bad knocking sound and the engine does not sit well when idling.
We aske them to take another look at it as it wasn't like this when we took it in but they advised us that, its a problem that's obviously developed from the initial warning code and nothing to do with them.

We were charged £270.

If any expert eyes and ears have time to take a look at the video below and give us some advice we would very much apricate it. They've assured us that the timing of the car is perfectly ok.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1syQEHqT0Gu_F9EwVnsDFHP_qb71zF3bD/view?usp=drive_link

Our next step is citizens advice but we just need to know how to move forward on this.

Best

Chris

Was the fault code for just one cam or both?

If it's just one I'd suggest that the cam phaser had failed, or the solenoid for it.

You should also check the oil level as the cam phasers run on pressured oil.

If it's both cams then the crank pulley may have slipped. They aren't keyed on this engine and they do slip occasionally.

Hey Tom, thanks for this.

The fault code was for both cam and crank (see attached).

The garage mentioned the solenoid was working fine, everything in that area "seemed fine".

We did have rather low oil levels but we addressed this as soon as the engine light appeared.

Is a slipped pulley easy to spot and also fix or are we looking at big £.

Again, really appreciate your advice.

Chris

5 minutes ago, Chris_D77 said:

Hey Tom, thanks for this.

The fault code was for both cam and crank (see attached).

The garage mentioned the solenoid was working fine, everything in that area "seemed fine".

We did have rather low oil levels but we addressed this as soon as the engine light appeared.

Is a slipped pulley easy to spot and also fix or are we looking at big £.

Again, really appreciate your advice.

Chris

Thank you for confirming.

That fault code is only for one camshaft. The exhaust side. That does point towards the cam phaser or the solenoid to me. Very low oil levels could also have dragged muck into the cam solenoid and blocked it up, which is not uncommon.

The garage might have said everything 'looks fine' but clearly there is a fault present, so I wouldn't trust their assertion in this case.

Unfortunately I think your best option is just to take it to Ford now for them to diagnose. Unless you know of any good Ford specialists locally.

Thanks Tom.

We're in the process of finding a local specialist, we're in Poole in Dorset. There is a Ford Garage a few miles up the road but we're hesitant to drive the car there in case we damage it further.

Hopefully we can pin down a mobile Ford mechanic in the area.

Thank you for your advice 👍

Best

Chris