hello all

I could really do with some advice off you guys as my car is turning out to be quite a headache for me!

I bought a 56 plate ford fiesta 1.4 tdci with 74k on the clock and no service history.

I did a long journey in the car and 50 miles into it the car started losing power for only a few seconds at a time.it must of done it about 30 times over the next 100 miles.

After reading on here i came to the conclusion it may be the fuel filter.

The car was also runing slightly rough.It would ever so slightly rev itself if i had my foot on the gas a tiny bit. i decided to take it to the garage for diagnosis.

The mechanic put the car on the computer and said all seems fine your maf is slighlt out and another exhaust sensor is slightly out. He said he would replace them if it was his car but that is down to me.He requested the car for a few more days to find the power loss problem as he only did a 3 miles test drive in it.Car only seems to lose power after 7 miles or so.I then decided i would change the fuel filter myself,which i have not yet done.

Anyway,upon reading on the web about cleaning the maf i decided to give it a go.i removed it and sprayed it with a non residue electrical contact cleaner.Let it dry then re fited.I started the car up and got greeted with a puff of white smoke,the car was then revving itself under acceleration, held my foot on 2000 and it would rev to 2500 then back down again.It ws also nearly cutting out on idle.

I turned the car off and unplugged the maf,the car then ran fne but still did the slight revving itself,proably between 5 and10 revs of constant movement.

I thought i had knackered the maf so bought a new one off ebay,it was cheap £35,fitted that and still the same so i unplugged and took it too the garage.

The mechanic has now said he has got it reading right on the computer with the old maf but there are 2 error codes that wont clear.one is a egr valve the other is a ecu error.He thinks that replacing the egr valve at a cost of £270 may clear the ecu fault.If it does not then its a re coded ecu or new ecu.He thinks the cheap maf has caused the problems.

I asked him about cleaning the maf and he said that cannot be done as its electrical or something.

Im wondering if there may be any other options.I am willing to get my hands dirty if the egr could be cleaned.i have ordered a haynes manual.The oil is also on the dirty side and the fuel filter seems to need changing.maybe a good service could sort all these problems out? wishfull thinking i know!

cheers

Howard

Cheap maf sensors dont tend to work very well.For some reason they work better on some cars than others but cant be relied upon..

Egr valves can cause rough running and loss of power and not uncommon to go wrong.

If its suddenly got very bad after you sprayed the maf sensor i think you just may have added to your problems...Can you borrow one from someone else for testing???

No mate i know nobody with the same car.

The mechanic has put the old siemens maf back on(which i cleaned) and has not said the maf is the problem now.Strange i know as the problem only came,or was more prominent after cleaning.He is saying the egr valve is the problem now and £270 to replace!.

I have been told blanking the egr may work,it just worries me about the ecu fault code!.

I guess if i go with the mechanic then its £270 for a egr,car then needs a service at more cost,still maybe a new maf,ecu haha scary!!!!!