Mk2 2007 1.6 Tdci - Engine Systems Fault

[madjam002]

Hello all!

I bought myself a 2007 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi just over a month ago now with 94k miles on the clock, and I seem to be having a few problems with it!

One day I turned the car on to drive to work and the revs were dipping at idle and when trying to move off I stalled. When I managed to get going, the car was jerking all over the place, revs were going crazy. I took it to a garage which was recommended to me and they disconnected the mass airflow sensor and, although the engine warning light was on and there was a slight loss of power, the car ran fine. After a week I went back to the garage and they replaced the sensor but then the jerking problem came back about half an hour later, so I got my sensor put back to the original one and went to a Ford Specialist garage who said that there was an air leak which I got fixed and they hooked up the airflow sensor again and everything was then fine. They also said there was a fault on the DPF but a good drive in the lower gears would fix it.

After all of this, whilst driving around I noticed that the car would sometimes slowly feel like it was losing power over the period of about 3-4 seconds, then would judder every so slightly, but I thought nothing of it apart from that it could be the DPF. I was told to take it down the motorway for a good blast, but being a learner and driving around with my Dad, I couldn't do this! So instead I drove around some dual carriageways in 4th gear at 70mph for a good 30-40 minutes. I also started driving in 3rd at 30mph instead of 4th.

The problem seemed to get better until Thursday (a day before my driving test!) when the car went mental again and was jerking all over this place, this time with a knocking noise if I managed to get the revs to about 1800rpm. Black smoke was coming out of the exhaust also. I managed to drive it around the block very carefully and the jerking went away along with all the smoke, so I went to take it for another blast down the dual carriageways, however after about 5 minutes a red light game on with "ENGINE SYSTEMS FAULT", so I pulled over as soon as I could and turned the engine off. 5 minutes later I turned the engine back on to drive home, the error was still showing, there wasn't any jerking but the car had NO power. Moving away from junctions was a very long process and I was at this point getting worried that my turbo had failed or something, but after reading about it, it seemed to have been "limp mode" (which I don't know much about!).

I took it to the specialist garage again and they said that my DPF was completely clogged up and they were unable to get the engine above 3000rpm to regenerate it. They suggested having it removed but some quick research showed that it is illegal and my MOT would fail Feb 2014 onwards. They told me that the DPF does cause a lot of people problems but usually only becomes a real issue if you drive around town too much, and/or there is an underlying problem to which they had found some contamination of the mass airflow sensor with oil or something (he didn't go into much detail, they're going to look into it more tomorrow)

I was just wondering whether anyone had any ideas/advice on this as I'm unsure what to do. My car is still under warranty, but the private dealer I bought it from wants to take it to his garage for a checkup, and I'm worried that he's just going to apply some temporary fixes so he can get out of the 3 month warranty.

Thank-you!! :)

[jeebowhite]

Hi Jamie,

Take the car back. Also, write a letter and get them to sign a copy of it detailing the exact errors that you have with the car, the diagnosis done so far, and that you are advising them in writing of this error in order to have a full resolution. They should sign this and you should both have a copy. That way, if they do "bodge fix it" until teh warranty runs out, you have advised them and had confirmation the error existed within the warranty period and they are expected to fix this (see my signature for dealers minimum obligations - three months is a copout ;)).

For the record, they dont even need to sign it. the fact you have a dated letter that you have sent or provided them with a description of the error is enough to prove that the fault was there, if you needed to take it to a small claims court, its a load of evidence in your favour!

[madjam002]

Hi James,

The guy down at the garage said that if we take it back, they could just fit a cheap DPF which he says are unreliable and might not work well. Is this something that I should be worried about?

I took it for a spin down the motorway yesterday and the performance afterwards was much better but limp mode was still on and the car still struggles up any kind of gradient. I also put some DPF cleaner fluid in my fuel tank (http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_895221_langId_-1_categoryId_255221).

I might try leaving it now until my OBDII reader comes on Saturday and then plug it in and see what the error codes are. If it's DPF related I could try resetting the codes to see if the car runs better without limp mode due to driving it down the motorway for an hour and (hopefully) clearing the DPF a bit.

I tried disconnecting the battery for a few hours hoping that it would reset the error codes but it didn't, and the performance of the car with limp mode has gone back to how it was originally before going down the motorway :/

Thanks for your help!

[jeebowhite]

Hi Jamie,

Just waiting for a "cheap" fix of a "cheap DPF" is not really sufficient. I would insist on a formal and proper fix and not one of a cheap get me past the warranty period fix.

Limp mode is difficult, clearing the codes is one thing, but clearing limp home mode is extremely difficult, as the pressure builds and the car falls over to limp mode again. Its definately worth a go!

[madjam002]

Sorry about the slow reply.

The code reader came and I plugged it in, got an error message about the ash build up in the DPF. I cleared the codes and the car has been driving fine since! This was about 2 weeks ago.

I'm probably gonna wait to get the DPF replaced until it starts acting up again, but that's probably going to be outside of the warranty period.

The error code hasn't come back since I reset it, and I've been driving it long distances every 3-4 days and it runs fine :)

Thanks for your help!

[mick85]

Was this ford main dealer u bought car they due for replacement every five years or 120000 an on rare occasion these have been know to go on fire only happened to hand full cars but it has happened

[jeebowhite]

any chance you can drive only short journeys for a while?

if so you could force the error to come back and have them fix it under the 6 month warranty (saves you a few quid!)

[madjam002]

Not sure I'd want to purposely get the car to break again, I'm just glad that I have a car that works now haha!

If the DPF does become a problem in the future then I don't mind paying myself to have it replaced.

One little thing though. I've noticed since I cleared the error codes and the car has been running smoothly that sometimes the car slowly feels like it is loosing power and will then judder slightly (no where near as bad as it was before). It's not a harsh judder or anything, but you can feel it. This usually happens when the engine is put under strain e.g going up steep hills. Whilst I can maintain my speed, I usually can't speed up if I'm doing about 50-60mph. One of these juddering "episodes" will last between 5-15 seconds and after it has finished, my MPG shoots up and the car runs fine! I'm not sure what this indicates, but it has only happened 4 times and isn't a real immediate problem. Just wondering whether any of you guys had any idea what it might be!

I am also now considering just having the DPF removed if it acts up again. I'm just a bit concerned that if (hopefully not!) I was involved in an accident and the car gets pulled away for investigation and the DPF has been removed then there could be insurance problems, and also the new MOT rules from February 2014 are a problem, and possible fines of up to £1,000 :(

[jeebowhite]

The DPF would be choking the breathing which is why you are seeing the judder.

Personally if its still under warranty I would take it back to the garage and get them to sort it out.

[madjam002]

Okay I'll contact the seller and make him aware of the problem and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for your help again! :)

[madjam002]

Hi guys,

I drove to Manchester last week and had some more problems with the car.

It was running fine up until I got to Manchester, then for the first time in months my car went into super jerk mode after turning the engine off for an hour. When I turned the engine on, the revs were dropping up and down a lot when idle and when they went down, I could feel the car shake. When driving, after accelerating up to speed, I could feel the power drop and then it would jerk violently.

This was strange as the problem started happening AFTER a long motorway drive (130 miles) at 2500rpm which I thought was good for the DPF. After also driving back from Manchester (another 130 miles), the problem was still there after leaving the car turned off for a while.

There's also a horrible loud banging/clicking noise coming from under the car every time it jerks backwards. This is the same problem I had before my car went into limp mode a few months ago, it's just a lot worse now.

Warranty aside, is it safe to say that my DPF needs replacing? Maybe the ash accumulation is a real problem now. Thanks for your help!

[Julius]

Hi

I've had very similar problem with my ford focus 05 1.6 TDCI. I disconnected the MAFS and I felt that the car was running much better. I recommend to do the same too.