Hi,

My wifes 2004 1.8TDCI Focus has been a real great car. It's done 140k miles without much of a problem. However this year it has had starting problems. The car starts first time but refuses to idle. A mixture of white & black smoke comes out of the exhaust in between the start and stop.

If the car is started by turning the ignition on, glow plug light on then off and count to 10, three times it will start, although it will still run rough until warmed up.

Once running the car is perfect, 58 avg MPG, goes like S**t off a shovel for a diesel, much better than mine which is the same car but a 2006 model with the same engine.

Glow plugs have been changed but no difference.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Russ

when has the fuel filter been changed?

Sounds like egr valve is clogging up

Fuel filters been changed twice since it started playing up. I thought of the egr valve but wouldnt that affect normal running as well? It runs like a dream after warming up and another start during the day is ok as long as it hasnt cooled right down.

Sounds like the Glow plugs are part of the problem, it will run rough until its heated up. The smoke, would indicate some sort of choke when its running, so things like the air filter need to be checked, and the hoses / pipes. Black smoke means not enough air and diesel is not being burned., then when it goes white, this would indicate its burning water as well as diesel correctly, thus turning out water vapour. The cutting out sounds like its choking up somewhere and cant sustain things, so I would suggest your perhaps getting more air than you should be, or perhaps you have some water in the fuel?

Have you got any error codes?

No error codes at all which dont help. I had to replace the two intercooler pipes and the rubber pipe from the air box previously and checked all the inlet pipes at that time so dont think there is an air leak. Suppose water could be condensation as the coolant level is rock steady. Had a go at cleaning the egr as best I could in situ and next day it started first time! Second day back to normal. Am going to try the Wynns EGR cleaner to see if that improves things. If so It may be time for a full EGR clean I suppose. Looks like a right pain on the Focus though :(

Better bet is to just solid blank it off altogether...