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Glow Plug Light 2Ltr Tdci 2002


woody1511
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hi all,great site, been reading up on the glow plug problems many of you have had, heres mine .

i bought a 2ltr 2002 tdci the car runs great starts 1st time ticks over perfect no smoke ,untill i go on the motorway ,soon as i get to 70 miles an hour the glow plug light flashes and the turbo stops working and car goes in limp mode, i turn the ignition off and back on and car is perfect till i get back to 70ish again and the same thing happens again, i changed oil and filter, put a new cam sensor on and still had the same problem ,since then ive had the diagnostic check and it came back with only 1 fault ,which was fuel pump .

i cant understand how the pump can be at fault if i can floor the car inlower gears without a single missfire but soon as its warm and high speed it goes into limp mode, i should also say when the car is cold i can get through all the gears foot to floor with no problems,its just when the engine as been running for 10 mins are so,and high speed that the problem occurs, any ideas ?

thanks scott

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Ford Mondeo TDCI 2.0.LTR Estate 02 Reg. Bought July 2010 with 180.000 Miles, Bought at 153.000 miles. (LAST 30.000 MOTORWAY MILES). oil & filter changed 8 mths ago. (another due now / soon)

I seem to have the same problem as the post above.

Since last november when the weather went cold, I started to use the heater on full, instead of having it on cold with the air con on. As soon as i did this i noticed the temp guage would stay all the way on zero, where as before it would be in the middle when cold air con was on.

Also the heat was only warm not hot after being run for ages. In December i fitted a new thermostat, but the heater still doesnt get hot for some reason unless its thrashed on a motorway, towing a heavy trailer, or if it is started up, stopped about 4 times (ie doing multi stop starts), as i think there could be a slight blockage (theres no air in system afaik as i ran 20 miles with cap off- and the water circulated and got hot) however the water in the header tank is always cold, apart from last week when it was 18c on a warm spring day. (or if i drive with cap off, it circulates hot).

A ford tech says it will stay cold till the thermostat opens up, but surely it should open up if running for miles and ticking over whatever the temp is outside.

I towed my heavy trailer over xmas and the heat guage instantly went to the middle. I had to have the heater on full blast whist i drove 30 miles each way of my destination, otherwise the glow plug light would come on as i went up steep hills and it would conk out until its reset with the ignition key.

When i didnt have the trailer on its fine around town, but was usually ok if i went on the motorway, but as soon as i did around 80 to 100mph it would sometimes put the glow plug light on 2 or 3 times when doing 30 motorway miles.

I'd always presumed it was the temp sensor that was knackered and that it was sending a fault to put glow plug light in to limp mode/conk out. (a ford tech said the glow plug light is the engine management light on fords. I presumed it was the engine light, but its app not the case, unlike Vauxhalls which uses the engine light).

I checked for faultcodes and there are none.

4 days ago last week i finally decided to go and buy from ford a genuine temp sensor (CHS) and fitted it within 45 mins, with the CHS plug wires off threaded through a long spark plug socket, and used with an adjustable spanner as theres no room to do anything in the tight space. Slight movements undid the CHS sensor through the hole in the pulley wheel (pulley wheel was not removed). then reverse fitted new CHS.

So, with new CHS fitted the temp guage is at zero, it very slightly rises to first bar (i would have expexted it to go to middle like the old one did), I did a motorway run doing about 80 to 110 mph (Ive got to test it), and everything seemed ok, no cut outs.

However, tonight i did a 16 mile quick dash to another town doing 80mph for a minute or 2 and would you believe it the glow plug light came on 2 times and i ended up in limp mode. I Did a reset and slowed down to 60 and it never did it again.

On the way back i was doing 80mph for a min or 2 and the glow light came on again and put me into limp/stall mode, I reset and drove normal 60-70mph and got home ok. The heat from blower wasnt even hot just warm but eventually got warmer/ hot-ish. The CHS temp sensor is at zero, it doesnt even go to the middle like the old one.

When engines cold it doesnt do it until it gets warm / hot / very hot.

*Could i have a dodgy new CHTSensor. or could i have a faulty glow plug. Or could it be injectors, if so, why no fault codes.

A couple of occasions last yr the glow light came on when driving at slow 30 mph speeds and the engine rattled, i thought id bust it but upon resetting it was ok, it did this prob once a month x4 months last spring. Its never really done since apart from when going at speed.

----------

Items changed in order.

Last October,

Fuel filter changed due to lag, it turned out to be EGR Pipe.

EGR Turbo pipe renewed with genuine ford item.

November (mid) glow plug light flashes when driving mainly when engine hot.

Dec. thermostat changed. (didnt make much difference).

March 21st, CHTsensor changed.

-----------

A friend of mine said he knew someone who spent stupid money replacing the 4 injectors and has not had a problem since.

Ive also read most of the storys on here but most people dont know what they are talking about and they guess things so if anyone does know, please reply. Thanks.

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steve, lack of heat and no temp showing could be down to the second stat playing up (oil cooler)

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hi, mine is the same as yours steve but i dont have the temperature problem just the limp mode when engine is warm at high speed ,i just didnt want to spend 500+ on a new pump to find out the problem is still there

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Hi Mintalkin,

Would the oil thermostat make the engine glow plug light flash on and off and make engine limp then conk out, till re-ignitioned.

I did think it could have been the second oil thermostat, and kept that in mind last December. Like i say the heater only gets warm then eventually gets hotter (takes ages), sometimes it just stays warm until its been restarted a couple of times. I can drive 15 miles and it doesnt get hot like it used to do (it can still only be warm).

Everyday I put the key in and it starts up fine. No glow lights flash, but as soon as its been started up for a bit ie 20 - 30 mins and i do about 75- 80 mph on certain runs the glow light comes on.

I do about 50, 70, 80 miles per day, and use Asda / Sainsburys supermarket diesel.

Im not going to be spending money on injectors or recodes, It seems that i may have wasted £35 on the CHT Sensor, so my last call is that i will see how much the oil temp sensor is and replace it.

Woody, these cars can def be a pain.

Any further advice appreciated.

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I am pretty sure that the CHT sensor has to be tightened to a particular torque setting to ensure it works properly.

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Ive got my mates diagnostic box coming tomorrow, so i can drive round and try and get a fault code but you can g'tee it wont spit a code out. My mate does all cars, he even had a 52 plate mondeo last yr and got rid due to juddery tick over etc. He said its prob a sensor but its like chasing an ace and theyre a pain in the jack.

With regards to the torque of the temp sensor, it was only just nipped in when it came out, and theres no leverage to tighten it up with a torque wrench, but ill find out if its the case.

Im going to hope that the CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR is at fault too.

People on another forum are say Cam shaft sensor, unless they are wrong.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?26838-Diesel-03-Mondeo-Flashing-Glowplug-Light/page2

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just had mine down to deisel specialist says its the turbo over boosting ,but fault on diagnostics says fuel pump ,i think im going to be spending lots =(

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ford did have a problem with the early tdci cam sensors which were black in colour, the new sensor is grey coloured ,check wich one you have. a faulty sensor would give the symptoms your getting but without inspection i can only suggest what might be wrong.

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Over boosting would be caused by an actuator fault, being as they are electronic on mondeos its very hard to say if its the servo or the valve sticking.

Unclip (and dont friggin loose the circlip) the actuator arm and see if it moves freely. Worse comes to worse there is a company that reconditions them now and guarantees them for life http://www.ecutesting.com/ford_mondeo_tdci_turbo_actuato.html

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hi mintalkin ,plumbob, ive fitted the grey cam sensor it did have the black one before but still same, the deisel specialist is going to have a drive in it at speed then hopefully tell me that it will only cost me pennys to sort it =) (says hopefully).ill let you guys know what he says,thanks for the replies ,scott

ps ,plumbob do you know how much they charge to recondition the arm?

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i need a new deisel fuel pump ,i can get my hands on a second hand 1, the guy selling it says it wont need programming ive read diffrent opinions on this, if it does require programing can it be done by anyone are is it ford only?

thanks scott

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i need a new deisel fuel pump ,i can get my hands on a second hand 1, the guy selling it says it wont need programming ive read diffrent opinions on this, if it does require programing can it be done by anyone are is it ford only?

thanks scott

There is no 'programming' for the TDCI pump, it just goes round and round pumping, no timing or anything.

You should disconnect the battery when replacing, and this will reset the ECU. Then as you drive the ECU will learn from scratch the new 'balance' of the systems and adjust to it.

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thanks turbine ,will let you guys know how it goes

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Woody, I dont think a fuel pump will cure it, although a diff forum have said usually its a faulty cam sensor or the crank shaft sensor. I see youve changed one of them, the cam sensor.

I put a snapon diagnostics onto mine this afternoon, and it showed no fault codes.

I finally got my car to cut out again today after the 1st diagnostics session showed nothing, as i did 80mph-100mph. The temp guage was in the middle as id drove fast ish to get the temp up, otherwise it stays at zero. It cut out twice on a straight flat road as i overtook a slow geezer doing 30mph, and the 3rd time it cut out as i was going up a steepish hill doing 80mph on the motorway. (prob didnt like the incline).

I took the car home and did about 10 restarts before i again put it on the diagnostics.

Again there were no fault codes stored in the ECU, so all this 20 restarts etc before faults clear is bull.

I just looked on another forum re changing the oil thermostat, I didnt realise that it has water going through it hence the name oil thermostat cooler, so im going to replace that and hope that the temp guage will go back to the middle like it always should do.

Ive also had the alternator tensioner go rattley the other day so ive got that to do as well as a crank pulley wheel to change. Another waste of £200 for a stupid belt. so much for having a chain driven engine when they are clawing the money back on stupid belts.

Im on the look out for a decent car, ie an Audi diesel in the near future, as fords future for diesel are very bleak.

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I went to see Mr Fraud to ask if they knew of this cutting out problem, I also told them that Ive got a Snap on Ethos diagnostics kit that is giving no stored codes. The guy eventually came back and said it could be a miriad of things and that we would have to put your car on our Ford EMT reading device, as ours will read codes that others can not, and this is at a price of £79.99+VAT. (yeah righty oh!!)

As far as im aware all decent diagnostics kits read codes and are no different to the Ford one only that theirs is able to do a little more, ie reprogramme injectors.

I Think a can of petrol will sort it out, or its going to have to be sold.

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Yesterday (weds) i went to see a diagnostics specialist (the best bloke for miles for the job apprntly). I was told its £30 inc vat to put a diagnostics on to my car. I told him that ive already had a snap on diagnostics on it and that its finding no stored codes.

He plugged his machine in and found no stored codes. He said they must have been cleared, so tomorrow hes letting me bring it back and Im going to take the car for a 15 mile run and make it cut out once or twice and then visit his diagnostics centre so he can put his machine back on the car.

He seemed pretty sure of what it could be. Im sure he said it could be a leak off problem off the injector/s, as the engines done 184000 miles. He said its not the fuel pump and said its worse, ie new injectors at £600 odd quid.

He said as for the engine temp on car, it is cold at 50c (even after a 16 mile run) and that the thermostat must be stuck open. I said id put a new one in in December to cure this. He said did i put a propper Ford one in, i said well heres the box, it was a Q&H thermostat £15, (never had a problem with them before) so i said it must be a faulty thermostat i was sold from new when fitted in December. So Ive now ordered a Ford thermostat £32 which will arrive tomorrow. He said it wont be the oil coolant thermostat. (I bet the problem wont get cured with a Genuine Ford thermostat). However the old one was a motorcraft one so all will be revealed.

Stay tuned as this story could well get exciting as we head towards the Easter weekend.

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I dont understand why you were told it cant be the oil cooler thermostat as this is a well known issue on the Jaguar forum.

I had the overcooling fault when I bought my car and having changed the main thermostat to no avail i then replaced the oil cooler thermostat (a far simpler job, by the way) and it has been fine since.

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi guys ,been real busy and had no time to repair car, had fuel pump fitted and still the same cutting out at about 70 ish,could be the second hand pump is faulty too

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hi all, just fitted another fuel sensor on the second hand pump but still same ,but ive noticed if i let the car go into limp mode (by putting foot down over 70) if i stop immediatly and look at the injectors the middle 2 are swimming in deisel, they are dry as a bone normally if i dont go over 70,any ideas?

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