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Ford Focus Power Issues *please Help*


crazyshelby
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Hi All,

I would appreciate any help you guys can give me. I appreciate my comments are quite long winded but I thought best to give as much info as i can. Last year I purchased a Ford Focus 56 plate 2.0 litre
TDCI for 2k. Although the mileage was 150k, the car looked to be in good condition overall as mainly it was used for long motorway trips.

I started experiencing issues a few months after purchase. When drivingalong as I put my foot down suddenly there was very little power. I could hardly accelerate and instantly a warning light came on. This
was diagnosed via the mechanics computer, as the diesel particular filter being blocked. I appreciate this can be a very expensive issue, if you need a new filter. Speaking to a local garage, I was
given the option of a 'regen' which although sounding quite bad for the engine etc I decided to go ahead with. A few weeks after I was losing power again, however I never saw the diesel filter issue come
back on. Instead I was greeted with an engine management light showing the car had gone into 'limp mode'.

After a few limp modes and clearing codes with the garage, I put the focus in for a full service. The mechanic replaced all the oil, filters etc and it passed the MOT. After a lot of looking he found that one of
the hoses attached to the engine/turbo area had come undone. With all the work, I thought the car issues had been sorted for a while.

What I will say at this point is that I have a full service history with the car. However there are no lists as to what work has been carried out over the years. So as it stands, I don't know whether cam belt,
gearbox,etc etc has been touched...

Coming into this year, I noticed that the car was starting worst each day during winter, as in turning over and over. I replaced the battery and for a few months this seemed fine. However the car starting
declined all of a sudden, to a point where I had to jump start the engine. On taking it to my mechanic, they fully charged the battery as it was showing as dead. They believed either the battery or
alternator was having issues, as under full load i.e lights/radio etc the battery was struggling to cope.

I decided to go to the battery shop down the road and they were pretty sure I had a a dodgy battery. So that was replaced. I went back to my mechanic and asked for the spark plugs to be changed. I have seen a

lot of people in the Ford forums advise sparks can be a main problem with starts etc... Since then the car starts after a couple of turnovers (before it was 5/6+).

So at present, my issue again is power. Over the last few months I can be driving along absolutely fine. Then suddenly I can feel a loss of power when I shift. My engine sounds overly noisy and it will rev for
example up to 4k-5k in 3rd but my speed will be 30 to 40mph (compared to 3k and about 60mph). I can put my foot to the floor and there is nothing there. What is very strange, is I can pull up at traffic
lights, turn my engine off/on and then it suddenly drives normal speed again! Throughout this, there are no engine warning lights.

Bearing in mind everything I've gone through, does anyone have experience of this/know what could be causing the power loss? I'm wondering whether the turbo could be on its way out/piping come undone?

Should I be heading to my mechanic or speaking directly to a ford dealer etc? (appreciate that can be more expensive). Is there a way of getting someone to do a full look over a car, to check pipes?

Thanks for reading

Paul

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Hi Mick,

Currently showing as no fault codes. Like today power went half way to work. After leaving car for 8 hours or so in the car park, it drove fine back. Any ideas?

I tried posting on here and the site kept crashing, looks like it has done multiple posts.

Paul

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Wat diagnostic machine u using to check faults if car goes into limp it usually shows up an error code is these same syptoms as when dpf problem an is it same diagnostic machine ur using

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

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Hi Mick

The mechanic used his machine a few months ago so I dont have the current codes. It was just a standard machine that came up with diesel particular filter blocked. At present the car almost feels like it is going into limp mode as before, however there are no lights etc showing up. I don't know if we plugged a machine in whether it would still show issues...

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I don't know which machine was used apologises but I can try and find out

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I'm no expert but it sounds like the turbo could be the main suspect. Other thing that springs to mind it could be the gearbox or clutch if it's revving at high rpm with no power. Again I'm no expert but it may give you some idea as to what to look at

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Ford OC mobile app

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I have changed my mechanic since last year after moving house and only used one diagnostic machine. The symptoms do seem very similar to what I experienced with the diesel particular, without the warning lights.

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Hopefully you will get a solution to your problem but posting the same message 11 times in quick succession is not necessary.

Your other 10 messages have been tidied away.

You mention spark plugs, on a diesel?, surely you actually mean glowplugs?

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Yeah u need find out cause some cheap code readers ain't upto job did ur last dpf problem not show a light on dash did u go to ford for regen and faults to be checked

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

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Thanks Stoney871, I posted once however I kept getting 'service unavailable' please try again. So I tried again as the server was showing as down. Then suddenly it showed as 11 posts and I couldn't remove them.

Yes glow plugs would be right

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Extra posts have been cleared, looks tidier ;)

Have you had the air/fuel filters changed recently?

A dirty filter can cause any manner of performance problems.

A dirty fuel filter in particular is a real pain abd will throw up engine system fault warnings on heavy accelleration due to a drop in fuel pressure which will show up on a code reader.

A diagnostic and a good full service may be all you need.

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Mick the machine used was from a local garage, not Ford. It was a red and black machine (I know not very helpful) but I can't make out in the pic I have on my PC of a make etc

Stoney, I had a full service and filters were all replaced, any other ideas?

Thanks guys

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Well I would definitely try another code reader before throwing any money at problem

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

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Mick for some reason I took a video of the regen and can see the coding machine used. It was a Solus Snap On Diagnostics if this helps in any way. This fed back nearly a year ago that the diesel part filter was blocked initially.

What I don't understand is if something has gone like the turbo etc, why does the car spring in to life sometimes after I've turned it off and on again? The machine can still get up to say 60-70mph but takes an age to get there with very high revs/little acceleration.

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hi paul have you checked for leaks in pipes like the boost pipe or the pipes leading to your intercooler.

also have a friend handy to rev the car to 2000 revs and head to the back of the car to see if you have any black smoke or if you can smell anything. if you can smell something like antifreeze sort of smell (best i can compare to) then it could be your clutch going.also might be EGR valve. its quite a common problem.

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Hi Tmzy,

Thanks for the reply, I think the next course of action is to have all the pipes checked etc. Thanks for the tip on the revving bit though I haven't tried that, will give it a go and see if we can see/smell anything. I do hope its not the clutch etc or something big. I don't get any gear slippage and seems to change fine. With doing just over 150k miles and no sign on the logbook of things like the clutch being changed in the past it could be anything. The power loss comes at totally random times. Yesterday I drove to work and I suddenly felt the power go. Then getting in the car 8 hours later it was fine. I've found today driving that the engine is very noisy while accelerating.

Cheers

Paul

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If it's intermitting most likely an electrical issue how often does this occur does it only happen when hot cold certain temperature u can buy little obd box records live data while u drive if no faults showin at least u can see wats going on with live data an wat changes when fault occurs

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

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Hi Mick,

I can get the issue once in a couple of weeks and then suddenly 3 or 4 times in a week. Totally intermittent and I would say it comes more if I'm careful of my mileage/keeping revs down. If I keep revs up a bit like the regen procedure, the car seems much more responsive. When I lose all of the power, the car is still accelerating but very slowly along with alot of noise. No turbo there etc. Thanks I will have a look a the Obd boxes on lunch now. I would say it happens more in cold conditions than warm

Thanks

Paul

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I bet the EGR valve has never been replaced although they usually go before 150k. My focus experienced similar problems to what you are describing and it did turn out to be the EGR valve. Dont think i threw up any error codes either

Do you ever experience the revs just dropping off when your say stopped at a roundabout and the car stalls?

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Hi APJ,

Thanks for the info, I will have a look into the EGR valve. I haven't had the car stall but feel like its struggling for revs sometimes and a bit stuttery (if thats a word).

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Would anyone recommend a EGR blanking plate?

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Thanks Tmzy/Mick I have ordered a blanking plate to install and try

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