i have recently purchased a 09 plate Focus Style 1.6 TDCI .

I have noticed that on occasions

1. whilst 'cruising' at low speed (30mph) in 3rd/4th gear, the engine intermittently experiences a hesitation in power and then its fine again.

2. the engine experiences a loss in power when changing up in gears - normally occurs after driving for a while (about 30 mins) but can be intermittent. When I set off for work in the morning, there is normally a punch in the acceleration as I change up in gears and revs. At other times I dont know if I am imagining this or not ??1?

I have also had one experience where I couldn't get any more power whilst going up a mild to moderate hill (10-20% gradient ?) no matter how much I pressed on the pedal. Even changing down and then changing back up didnt seem to make any difference.

There are no messages or faults indicated on the dash and the engine idles nice and smooth.

This is my first diesel and so I need some guidance/

Sounds like it could be fuel filter related, alternatively, it could be a clogged EGR or damaged turbo.

Do you get excessive smoke at all? or do you have a whistle under the bonnet often?

When was the fuel filter last replaced?

dpf?

Thanks but no idea what 'dpf' is.

Dont know what EGR is either?

As for damaged Turbo or blocked fuel filter I honestly would not know - as I said, I am new to diesels.

As far as i can see or hear there is no smoke or whistling. No unusual (to me anyway) sounds whatsoever?

I also mentioned that there have been no icons lit up on the dash. This would suggest that the management system cannot or has not picked up a fault.

Yeah I am thinking maybe just check the service history, find out when the fuel filter was last replaced and if it hasnt been done of late, then just get that done. Worst case scenario, you waste around £50 if you get it fitted, or about £25 if you do it yourself, but to be honest it can only improve the car anyway.

As for the EGR, you dont always get an error light, if its coked up then the sensors still work, but its like running and hurdling - the difference in how it performs!

thanks for the further comments

Today , on my way back from work and about 30 mins into my drive, I noticed a loss in power during acceleration. Everything was sort of fine up until this point. As I was queuing to get onto an island, I decided to rev the engine to between 2000 to 3000 revs and keep it there for about 5 secs at a time. I did this a few times.

I also switched the engine off and then back on and found that the power had miraculously returned. However a couple of mins further down the road, the engine icon lit up and stayed lit up!! This is the first time I have seen this and can I have to ask if this is associated with me revving the engine (??). However despite this warning light being displayed, the power was still there - well up until the next 30 mins??

As I dont have a diagnostics device, I guess its a trip down to the garage. I do have a 6 months sales warranty worth £500 per claim which may or not help.

if ur local to stoke, i may b able help... code reader etc anyways lol

not really - but thanks for the offer :)

the ecu has logged a fault with a sensor some where.. try the dash code trick and see if you get any fault codes logged in there

dont know what the 'dash code trick' is - pls explain

or if u can tell me which scanner to get, i think Ebay do them for about £15 e.g. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-MaxiScan-Diagnostic-MS309-Code-Scanner-Reader-CAN-OBDII-OBD2-EOBD-UK-STOCK-/171224683835?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item27ddc9553b

if you have a andriod phone, down load the torque pro app, cost around 3 quid..... then u will need a elm 327 bluetooth adaptor found on ebay/amazon

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Interface-V1-5-ELM327-OBDII-OBD2-Diagnose-Bluetooth-Auto-Car-Diagnostic-Scanner-/310722531793?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item48588191d1

all done... around a tenner n loads better than the cheap hand held

read http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/1486-focus-dashboard-secret-trick/page-4

i've read http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/1486-focus-dashboard-secret-trick/page-4b

However my Focus doesnt have a trip reset button like i've seen in this Youtube vid

Everything is done from the indicator stalk/lever where you have to press menu and scroll to Trip reset setting and then depress the end of the stalk until the 'odometer ' is reset. Can the 'dash code trick' be activated this way?

Thanks for the 'TRICK' Martyntdci, unfortunately my motor still shows no fault codes.

Hello surfing69, take a look at my extensive post and what has been changed without improvement, if my explanation fits your fault then you will at least know what not to change and save plenty of cash.

Click on my signature for guidance on buying a code reader.

With regards the error, and the MIL lighting up, I dont believe its related to revving, its probably the sensor somewhere has decided its not seeing things correctly.

1) Fuel filter - as I mentioned before, this could be choking the fuel to the engine, the high pressure means the fuel isnt getting to the engine quick enough, so a reduced fuel and more air means that the car hesitates and will run rough / unresponsive, until the pressure equalises and returns to a reasonable flow. This may be why after you have turned the engine off, the pressure has dropped, and restarting it has offered full normal driving.

2) DPF - Diesel Particular Filter - This could be old and choked. Check the service history and make sure that the EOLYS fluid has been topped up every 3 years, or if the DPF has been replaced every 6. If this is the issue, then you will likely need a forced regen at a garage, or a lot of steady motorway miles to help heat it up to catalyse the reaction. Alternatively though, If it is this, I expect you will need to replace the DPF and top up the fluid. The other option of course is its removal, but this is now an illegal activity.

3) Engine sensor - this is why you need a code reader. If you have one you can check what the car is shouting is wrong, if its throwing the EML light up, it should refer to an error code that helps to clear the issue up.

Hope some of this helps!

Thanks James, have already ordered the one that Martin mentioned and am still trying to download the app to my phone for realtime updates whilst driving.

DPF has been on for about 10k, majority of which is dual carriageway mileage and there has been no changes at any point prior to or since it was changed. Fluid is something I asked the garage about but they said that the dash will light up a warning when a fill up is required. Is that right do you know??????

We have been looking at the fuel pressure sensors as a possibility but it never shows any fault codes and my mechanic is feeling guilty at how much of his house I've paid for now.

Someone in another post has mentioned injectors being out of 'sync' and as fuel looks the most likely issue it's something I'm now looking at on here. We discussed checking the fuel pipes for blockages etc earlier today funnily enough.

Thanks for your input

OK well that dealer didnt know much :p basically the EOLYS fluid is serviceable every 3 years or 37.5k miles, a warning light comes on when there is a fault with the system, not when the system is running low and needs a topup. I suspect that you will probably need to top this up and reset the counter. You can do it yourself, there is some sort of JML fluid that you can buy as opposed to Fords own, but you need to get it drained into the bottle, then its something like open and close the fuel flap 9 times quickly, or something similar in order to reset the counter. Last job might be to reset the error codes and start again.

thank you all for your help and assistance.

Today i want to my trusted garage and they ran a Foxwell diagnostics which flagged the code P042F which refers to a faulty EGR unit. They advised me to go to a specialist diesel diagnostics repair garage because if the EGR needed to be replaced, the new unit would need to go to be coded to the engine which my local garage couldnt do. (?)

The garage also suggested using a can of a good EGR cleaner before going down any repair/replace route as this could cost between £300-£400.

However when I called MVC (http://www.midlandvehiclecomponents.co.uk/) to enquire about an EGR cleaner, they suggested using a Wynn brand. They also advised they had a new EGR for my car at £113 and it would 'match the engine code' without the need to have it coded to the engine as it would be a simple case of old one off and new one on as a straight replacement.

At this time I need to make an appointment with the specialist garage.

Incidentally, I purchased this car on 19 March 2014 from a dealer who gave me a 6 month warranty with a £500 per claim limit. My garage suggested that these types of warranties where as useful as toilet paper! I need to look at the small print in the warranty .

Incidentally can you provide instructions or Youtube links to how to clean the EGR unit - either with the spray can or removing it from the car and physically cleaning it.

Whynns is good, but its not the same as take out and clean.

Basically WHYNNS will just brush past the surface of carbon and take a little off, I can only describe it as brushing the sand at the beach! so it might help to clear a little, but then you have the risk of lumps of carbon breaking off and going into the engine and thats not going to help!

You basically need to undo the bolts and remove the entire valve (similar procedure to placing the EGR Blanking plate in).

is their a link to a YouTube video on the location and removal of the EGR valve?

Also, if I blank the EGR is this legal and will it affect MOT emissions and/or engine management unit warning lights ?

best thing to do is have a look at Lenny's guide on the EGR blanking and taking it from there. I havent seen one for the MK2/2.5 Focus so cant send you a video link, there is one for a CMAX which is not too dissimilar, just google "FOCUS 2008 EGR Removal".

I know it was a long time ago but was this ever resolved ? If so how ? I am having the exact same happen with my car, same sort of age etc