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Focus 1.8 Tdci - Wont Start And Stuck Away From Home


mkelbie
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Yes but I need to upgrade it so I am covered nationwide.

It's running so that's a good sign, fords are booked until next week but said use it if these is no faults.

Big test is will it start in the morning.

It's shocking how someone was going to take £1000 off me and my dad who isn't even a mechanic started my car instantly.

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I did take out an extended warranty with warranty wise recently but cancelled it as I didn't feel they would honour any claims.

I am about to ring up and upgrade my AA so they will bring me home and not local if something happens again. Given that my car appears to be fine now and it's running if I upgrade to the repair cover (£500 max) would they honour any repairs if something happens again?

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My father had a similar problem, his was an air lock in the fuel system, he was told this was probably caused by a diesel pump that hasnt been maintained properly, he has since changed to another petrol station and had no other problems since (touch wood)

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My father had a similar problem, his was an air lock in the fuel system, he was told this was probably caused by a diesel pump that hasnt been maintained properly, he has since changed to another petrol station and had no other problems since (touch wood)

It was actually Shell where I filled up. I hope the problem has now gone away, I guess i will know in the morning when I start my car after its been stood over night.

I think this AA cover will help me out, £150 and I get everything including a 3day hire car and £500 towards repairs. Hopefully I never use it but it would of cost me £150+ just to get my car recovered yesterday so its something I am willing to pay, not paying some company like warranty wise £500 for a similar cover.

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use quidco or topcash as if you get your cover thru them you get some cash back and i got £45 from RAC. i dont renew, just start a new account everytime.

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I'm soo annoyed. My car worked last night, started at half 6 this morning and got me to Wales and just did the exact same thing as Tuesday.

Pulled out of the bay and it cut out and won't start again :@ pump can't be gone as its been working so the AA man was wrong but what else could it be

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You waiting for the recovery truck now?

Its hard to help without knowing error codes... Can you do the dashboard trick now and see what codes come back?

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I sugest it either had a blocked fuel filter or was not primed properly when they changed the filter. You can check the pump pressure using the obd port when the car is running.

P.S heavy handed fitters can strip the thread on the bowl causing an air leak.

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There is no dash warnings. I am not stuck thank god, squirt if easy start and it fired right up and made the 60 mile journey home.

Been to the garage they have refitted the filter with a new seal. Hopefully this does it now, it's running again.

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Sounds to me that you will be OK now. The TDCI 1800 gives no warning on the dashboard for low fuel pressure, it just will not start, then try again later and off she goes as if nothings wrong.If you have a lap top you can buy a simple OBD cable like the ELM on eBay. You can then check these things out for yourself.

P.S Did the AA check the fuel pressure when he came out?

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I hope it is OK now, I have stopped and started a few times now and its had 30-60 mins rest before I tried it again. But it did this yesterday and started this morning in freezing temperatures after being stood over night and got me to wales.

I won't get the cable until next week and would have to borrow a laptop but I think I may order 1 at weekend if it still has issues.

Yes he checked it and said it was 18 but the RAC man never said anything about it. The AA man said it was the pump and a pin had snapped so I was going no where and he wasn't even pointing to the pump, he was pointing to the spider shaped rail that files the injectors, point is if it was gone then how have I done 200+ miles since.

I just wish it was sorted as its causing issues with work and I am debating on just selling it now.

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Can you link me to a good cable and do I need software?

Will they work on OSX or is it Windows only

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I use the ELM 327 Interface which I bought on eBay. You will need a program for the computer which has to be I think a windows machine. The program I use is Easyobd. You down load for free the simple version ( V2) to make sure it works. Once you prove it can connect OK to your car you pay a small license fee and upgrade on line( V3) to increase functionality. It works fine on my laptop and I have connected to various cars.

It tells you such things as the temperature of the coolant, the Inlet boost air pressure and temperature, fuel flow and pressure, alternator output and of course the sensor performance and any stored engine fault codes. It can read a heck of a lot more but the Ford Diesel is quite a simple car really. You can then go online and see what the warning code relates to ( there is a list of Ford codes). Frankly you need this sort of device to diagnose faults on modern cars as its all electronic these days. All modern cars have obd sockets on them, the Fords is underneath the steering wheel to the right. You cannot miss it.

Good luck and keep us all posted

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I am thinking one of those devices may become useful but my machine has been on computer 3 times and hasn't shown a single fault code.

I went out before to try start it and it started, I really don't want to have to pay a lot for repairs or sell my car. I do too many miles to maintain a new car so really need to get another 2 years out of my focus

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Someone more clued up on modern Focus dervs - Do they have a pump in the tank or just one in the bay?

Just wondering if you may have an intermittent fault with it being supplied to the bay and the engine driven pump?

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Pretty sure there isn't electric pump in the tank.

The engine driven pump was what I was told was to blame by AA but he was pointing to the distributor pipes. I can't see it being the pump as if the gear was broke then it wouldn't work at all.

I had the seal done again and the filter primed and worked last night.

Started again this morning in -1 1st time and got me to Wales.

I don't know what to do

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No its a mechanical pump on the 1800 situated left front on the engine. The other thing worth thinking about is the fuel pressure sensor that gives the signal to the ECU. Thats why I say you need to connect up when running to check the pressure it should be around 1600 bar. Much less and she wont start. I wonder what sort of guy your AA man was!!!

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I will see if it starts now, going to go out to it and test.

Do you think it could be a sensor then as opposed to the actually mechanics of the pump? Sensor sounds cheaper.

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A sensor will certainly be cheaper but you need to find the fault before throwing money about. How many miles has this car done? Anyway, before you get involved with rocket science lets see if a filter air leak or air-locking has been the problem. If all else fails you could have a talk with your Ford service agent if you still have problems, though they charge £80 to do a test.

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It's done 89,000. I'm 2nd owner and I got it 12months/30K+ ago.

It just got me to McDonald's for lunch so it didn't mind starting today. Maybe it was leaking air and now it's sealed

Next time it does it I'm going fords and will gladly pay the £80 if they tell me the fault

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The reason I know about this fault is that it happened to me . My Focus would not start one morning so I got the AA out. The car started for him but he did his diagnostic and suggested that it was either the EGR jammed or fuel issues.. So I took it to Ford. They found a blocked fuel filter and also the air was not very good either, they also cleaned the EGR. All this 3 months after a service. Since then starting has never been a problem.Though the EGR did stick once on the Motorway.

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Mine is still starting now after a new seal on the fuel filter. Hopefully it continues but any issues again I am going to have to pay ford prices to find the fault

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fuel filter seal sounds about right, with any fortune it should stay well, but do keep us in the know, it will be good to know thats the issue for definate as we can add it to a general fix list :P

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It is always recommended to change the fuel filter seal at the same time as the filter, over time the seal loses flexibility and when undone and retightened it doesn't always seat properly.

Even a tiny bit of air into the filter housing will cause fuelling problems and starting problems.

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  • 2 months later...

Thought I would update this thread and see if anyone thinks there's a connection. Car is having problems again :(

I had the fault with it not starting and the fix seemed to be the fuel filter seal but now I have the same engine warning but experiencing a different issue.

A month ago I had a similar problem and I called the AA out who said no fault code was being given so they took it into Halfords because I have the repair cover. They told me a pipe was split and they replaced that, AA paid the warranty, I paid the £35 excess and since then I haven't had power loss issues or anything like that until today.

Upon leaving work today my car shuddered slightly and the engine light came on and loss of power, no smoke or anything pouring out the back but it just felt lagged, its shuddered again and light went off power resorted. I got about 5 miles and it did the same thing again only this time it stayed on and I had loss of power so I stopped on the hard shoulder. The AA came out and couldn't find any faults nor was the ecu giving a fault code so they have recovered me to the Halfords again.

I am just a bit worried now whats happened, the car starts 1st time and doesn't throw out any smoke (it does 1st start in the morning) but I don't understand why it works for a minute then the fault comes and I have a loss of power. I was recovered to the garage drove round the Halfords perfect then when I parked the car the warning came back so there is definitely a fault, I just hope its not expensive.

If anyone has ideas I would be grateful because Halfords will charge me a fortune in diagnostics fees if they cant find the fault.

Car has done 97,266 miles now and isn't due a service, cam belt is due around 120K/10years but I will get then done relatively soon from now if I can fix this power issue.

Any help would be great!! I suspect turbo or EGR valve like suggested with my previous fault, air lock is out the question as it starts of the key.

Thanks

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