New to this forum so hello. :)

Wondering if anyone would be able to share any insight on what the problem might be, it's driving me mad!

I have a 2003 1.8 tdci focus 115. Had it 8 months now but as it started to get colder I noticed it becoming worse and worse starting on cold mornings, to the point where you would turn it over and it would almost start then stop, this needed to be done (at worse) 8 times before it would eventually fire with a bloom of smoke out of the back. It went into ford for a new battery/glow plugs and also a starter motor, for the problem to still remain, £300 later.. The car also suffers from a reluctance to rev at times, it will hit 3k and will hesitate to rev any further, it will almost clear itself and this will vanish however..then sometimes re appear.

I don't really know where to go with it, some people have told me it could be a lazy fuel pump due to it being worse on the colder mornings.

If it helps the car also had a DMF + clutch when I first brought it.

Thanks in advance. :)

if the car was turning over fine then youve wasted money on the starter motor.

you might want to try replacing the fuel filter and putting some v-power or injector cleaner fluid inside the tank the next time you fill up and see if that sorts the problem out

i would have the glow plugs looked at as well as a free battery check

Thanks for the responses, already changed the glow plugs. I will give the fuel filter a go i think, would this affect starting though? it did have a fuel filter last year.

The diessl filter will if clogged but its when its cold so ide still have the battery checked a faulty cell wouldnt help

Had the battery changed see original post lol. :-p

It's recommended to change your fuel filter every year, when they get dirty view can cause all manner of problems.

May be a good idea to have the cat checked too as you may have some issues when it gets dirty.

A new service called Terraclean has just come out for diesel cars that may give you benefits by cleaning the whole system from injectors lo exhaust tip.

Yet another FOC member/ Ford owner who has trusted a main dealer who did not know what was wrong with the car and simply threw your money at the problem to no avail - it could have been worse - they could have replaced your injectors for £1000+

the starting Issue sounds like glow plugs - even if the plugs themselves are brand new it could be the periferals/ control circuts eg - the relay

Another thing worth checking is the EGR valve (may be the cause of lack of revs) - better still - fit a solid blanking plate -

The other thing is the crank position sensor, the metal swarf from the DMF can collect on this (magnetized) and cause problems

Did they mention fault codes? - you can obtain a code reader you can use yorself for about £20