Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help?

I have a Focus Estate 1.8TDCI, have had it for about 3 months, was an ex company car with full service history and was well mantained. Car is 5 years old and has done about 92k miles.

Recently it has been feeling sluggish and is very slow off the mark, and needs a good bit of revving to stop it from stalling whilst taking off from standstill.

When accelerating through the gears it sounds like there is a lot of air escaping from somewhere under the bonnet but can't tell from where exactly. When driving the car you can just feel that there is no 'poke' there!

The car is struggling to start when cold and I noticed this morning that some rather dark smoke is coming from the exhaust when accelerating or revving.

Has anybody had this problem with their Focus before? Any help/advice would be hugely appreciated.

this is more common on the mondeo than the focus, check out the big pipes that go from the turbo to the intercooler. loss of power and black smoke usually means thers a split in the pipe, as you can hear the air escaping its most likely the problem

Thanks mate, will get in there and check that out. Any idea on cost of replacing the pipe if it is split?

for the mondeo its about£20-£25 but i dont know for the focus sorry

Took it down the garage yesterday afternoon, turned out to be the turbo intercooler itself.

The actual intercooler has a nice crack through it, perhaps something to do with the Welsh weather, who knows...

good you found the problem

How much have they quoted you for a new intercooler?

Garage got a quote straight from Ford dealership round the corner from me @ £200.

I managed to source one online for £125 including delivery so probably gonna take that option. Just gonna have to drive round in a slow a** car for a little longer.