Short Lived Intermittent Stutter / Misfire / Loss Of Power

[Papa Lazarou]

Hello all, seems other have similar problems but the differences make it look worth me posting the question and the work done already to try and correct my cars fault.

Bought a little over 2 years ago an 85k mile 09 1.6 TDCi Zetec estate (109 HP) with full Ford service history, ex one user fleet car I'm told.

Lovely drive, great MPG, £30 p.a road tax, Happy days!

After a while I noticed a slight power issue best described as a misfire though quite subtle. Over a period of time now I have tried to nail down the conditions when it happens and sort it as it can be a little annoying.

So, seems to only happen when the engine is up to temperature and always between 1250 and 2000 revs under light load as far as acceleration goes.

During servicing before we got into this it was pointed out that the turbo intake hose was split, it was replaced with a genuine Ford one which also has the Air Meter included but that made no difference to the fault which back then wasn't too often.

My car then went in to limp mode a while after, diagnostics reader said the fault was a blocked DPF, cleaner added and fault erased but a few days later it returned so the DPF/ CAT was replaced with an aftermarket part. Outstanding fault regularity and severity unchanged after DPF was fitted.

Some time later (sounds like a bed time story :P ) whist driving to London it did two strange things, whilst accelerating pretty hard from cruising speed (65 -70mph) to overtake before getting boxed in the car lost all power and 'lurched' similar to engine breaking on a big motorbike but was fine after I lifted my foot off the accelerator. Continued on my way without stopping and a similar instance resulted in me attempting to accelerate quickly again only this time the engine didn't recover, after managing to get from lane 3 to the hard shoulder pretty quickly (phew it was a bit dodgy) the dash lit up and the engine was out for the count.

Almost immediately I turned the key, dreading not making my appointment and the little so and so started instantly. I put it into gear and carried on for the rest of my journey there and back without trouble though I didn't accelerate hard again just in case.

Spoke to my mechanic who suggested EGR valve might need replacing, an aftermarket one was fitted soon after, no fault codes showed up on the reader though.

Problem of 'misfire' still present, becoming more regular and pronounced so a new fuel filter was fitted even though it was no where near due.

By the way I only use BP fuel and run it from full to warning light and then fill it up again, no short filling here!

Problem still there and getting worse.

Car was serviced again this week to schedule, now on 116K and all vacuum hoses have been checked with no apparent splits or cracks and the solenoid on the rear of the block relating to Turbo Boost was changed.

Still have the same problem.

You may have guessed that we are looking mainly at vacuum problems now but I had an 'interesting' conversation with a customer yesterday about a similar problem he had experienced with a Suzuki Vitara 2.0 Diesel which (News to me!) were / are also fitted with the Peugeot / Citroen (PSA?) diesel plants, well this one was he tells me.

Anyway, he told me that after 4 months of trying by replacing part after part to eliminate possibilities a FUEL PRESSURE SENSOR fitted to the injection gallery was replaced and that cured it.

Just to clarify, my mechanic is pretty 'Old Skool' and a great bloke who has become a friend over the 20 years he has worked on my cars and is an independent Peugeot specialist so has loads of experience on these lumps. He has looked at multi plugs for signs of corrosion on contacts, traced routes of cables etc for pinching, scalping and for being overly taught with no indication of problem.

Given that vacuum and or fuelling are the most likely issue has anyone else had similar problems that were resolved by fuel pressure switch replacement?

There are two under the bonnet, one on the fuel pump itself which can be replaced without the need for a new pump itself and the one on the gallery as previously described.

Would love to hear from anyone who has any thoughts on these possibilities or can offer other ideas.

Thanks in advance

Papa

[xdazx]

I had a fuel problem with mine not long ago had a complete new fuel system near enough (£1000) including fuel pressure switch that cost about £60 from a place called tt automotive in loughborough they are a diesal speacialist the car ran like a dream after that but now i need a dmf and clutch kit which i just got at a bargain price £280 from a clutch speacialist in coalville just need it fitting now then hopefully my mondeo will be back to near perfect :)

[xdazx]

Just a thought have u had the injecters back tested to make sure 1 of them is not leaking

[Papa Lazarou]

In all honesty the focus (pardon the pun) has not been on fuelling issues other than a brief moment leading to the filter change, not sure why but guessing that garages follow a set route to problem solving.

EGR are renowned as a source of problems so I get that one, given the nature of and my description of the fault I can also understand why vacuum has been number one suspect to some extent.

Lets see if anyone else who reads my posts has had similar problems, no substitute for experience after all.

[Stoney871]

When they changed your fuel filter did they also change the seal?

Once disturbed, old seals never bed back in properly.

Even a small amount of air getting into the system can cause problems.

[xdazx]

Also leaking injecters like i mentioned b4 can cause problems (so im told)

[Papa Lazarou]

Cheers Stoney, I think that the fuel filter fitted is a sealed canister type that you swap the connectors on and off you go. I will double check though, thanks for your input.

Yeah Daz I hear that these Valeo injectors aren't the best, will get him to check them out.

[Papa Lazarou]

Okay fitted a new 'wastegate' or 'actuator depending who you speak to. This was on the advice of a diesel specialist in the Stoke area but it has made no difference so nobody else waste your cash on that part.

[xdazx]

Try the next idea 👍

[Papa Lazarou]

OK for the benefit of any other unfortunate victims reading this, the EGR was the fault all along, the 'new' one I had fitted was also faulty.

Insist on a decent branded one, preferably Valeo if funds allow.

On a further note, I read on here about coding and yes, a new EGR if it is electronic needs coding to the ECU.

Changing your DPF also needs resetting of the 'soot' counters in the ECU.

The manual way of resetting the EOLYS counter didn't work on my car either.

So changing the turbo actuator / wastegate and later the DPF sensor (at not a small cost) were both a waste of hard earned money.

Hope this info saves others some money.

[Grahamford]

Hi yes on my 57 plate focus diesel zetec, a strange intermittent fault that cures itself if I take it easy for a while then put my foot down again. Having the ecu remapped so

Veda this until a week ago then the fault appeared again, usually when climbing a hill. Will try your solution tho