2010 Smax Cutting Out...help

[RichBaker]

Hello there

Got a bit of a dangerous issue, I've got a 60 plate Smax titanium 2l petrol, its been great, 40k faultless miles, but then in the last couple of weeks has just been cutting out, engine just dies. no pattern, can be driving along, stationary could be 10 times in 2 miles or can drive 20 miles without an issue (as far as I dare take it). Pop it straight into Park (its an auto) foot on brake and fires up straight away. I don't think I'm far off getting rear ended. I've taken it to a local indie who got a couple of codes of of it:

P2540...LOW PRESSURE FUEL SYSTEM CIRCUIT/ RANGE PERFORMANCE. SIGNAL AMPLITUDE GREATER THAN MAXIMUM

and

P2636 FUEL PUMP "B" LOW FLOW PERFORMANCE. SIGNAL PLAUSIBILITY FAILURE.

He (the indie) didn't get any further than that (he prefers the easy gigs methinks) . Its booked into the main dealer to take a look but can anybody help me with whats going on so I can be a little be prepared for what they say, or even better how to fix it. I've googled a bit but no real joy, some suggestions might be blocked fuel lines (it fires up ok on restart) but no real answers

Thanks in advance

Rich

[jeebowhite]

Sounds as silly and potentially as simple as a replacement fuel filter, I had not too dissimilar issueso n my Focus a few years back.

[bluebon01blue]

Hi, I am new here.

I have exactly the same issue with my smax 2010 2.0 powershift car. - code P2636 FUEL PUMP "B" LOW FLOW

I have been told that it could be the fuel pump inside the tank.

Can you tell me please how you resolved your issue.

[jeebowhite]

I Would start by checking your fuel filter as long as its not in the tank!

[Merlinx80]

Wow !! I have exactly the same problem!!, (same year of car also) Mines the S-Max titanium x sport Ecoboost engine. the stalling / hesitation started about about 2 weeks ago. 6 months prior to this, every time I fill up with Fuel it takes 2 attempts to start the car! no other time does it need to attempts, any other time it is 1 push of the button. This really does point to some kind of fuel / pressure issue, admittedly the last few weeks it has taken many more engine cranks to start on occasion. - i have mine booked in to the derby Ford main dealer this Friday to investigate this issue. I was told there is no typical serviceable fuel filter with this car, this was the first area I suspected was the issue, It looks to be a complete pump unit inside the tank. Will let you know what they tell me, if you get to the solution first would be very interested to know the detail. thx.

[bluebon01blue]

Mine has been to a Ford dealer and had its high pressure pump in the engine replaced and not resolved the issue and then had the fuel pump inside the tank replaced again without any joy - I didnt have to pay for the parts as they were removed.

Its now been sent to another Ford Dealer where a "Master Tech" is checking it.

If you have any joy on Friday please share with us.

Thanks

[theredfox]

sounds real serious this problem

[RichBaker]

Hello there

Yes so the car eventually went to Main dealer who tbh didn't really have much of a clue. They guessed it might be the fuel pump in the fuel tank so they replaced it (no test of it). There is no fuel filter to replace apparently. Since then (a year ago) its been fine so I guess that was the issue. Was not impressed to have to replace something that I think is fair to say should last the life of the car, they chipped in a bit of good will but still it cost us a rather painful £650 or so. Took a while to restore the faith in the car but now runs ok. Sounds like the problem is widespread.

[Cat11pillar]

Hi

I had a similiar issue.

Mine issue was pointing to low fuel pressure and car would idle rough on start up as well as taking time to fire up. It also cut out a few times but mainly when fuel was low (about 20-30 miles left in tank).

Since the ecoboost petrol engines dont have a seperate fuel filter the main dealers changed the fuel pump at the rear.

Once the job was done the problem occurred straight on start up again! Was then told the high pressure fuel pump in the engine needed to be changed!

This has now been done and car has been fine since. Mileage was around 60k. Hope that helps.

[A name]

Hi,

Apologies for resurrecting a very old thread but this was the best resource I found to help me solve the (scary!) intermittent engine cutting out problem so I'm posting in case someone else finds it useful.

At the time of writing I have an Smax 2010 Titanium X 240PS 2.0 Ecoboost (Petrol) and this problem started happening randomly at approx. 65000 miles. Sometimes the engine warning light would come on after failing, sometimes it would clear itself and sometimes it would fail with no warning lights at all.

Having had some very poor experiences at main dealers in recent years* I decided I would try and diagnose the issue as best as I could and try and work with an independent garage to get it solved. Firstly I have a cheap bluetooth OBD scanner and Android app so when the engine warning light came on I could diagnose - a "P2636 Fuel Pump "B" Low Flow / Performance" problem. Having done my internet research, the most likely cause of random cutting out on this car seems to be fuel flow problems and as this model has no fuel filter it was presumably either the low or high pressure pump failing. Although I couldn't find definitive advice on whether fuel pump "B" was the low or high pressure pump more search results indicated the latter (high pressure pump).

Then I found this thread which gave me a little more confidence I was on the right track.  I spoke to a mechanic who agreed that this was likely the best way to go (and also pointed out if trial and error is the only way forward then the HP pump is cheaper to replace than the LP pump so good to try that first).

So I took a bit of a leap of faith with this information and the balance of probabilities and asked my local independent garage to replace the HP pump (without any diagnosis). It cost ~£300 parts and labour. When I first restarted it the engine warning light was off (and hadn't been cleared by the garage) so that was a good start. I did a couple of short journeys to rebuild my confidence in the car, then some slightly longer ones and then I've now had a few days of normal usage all without any hint of an issue (yes I am touching wood whilst I type this!).

So it's a big relief! Obviously I don't know whether I just got lucky with my attempted diagnosis but the joy of not having to entrust my car's fate to the main dealer and all the issues I usually experience dealing with them is very significant. Thank you to those that took the time to post information and experiences here! I hope my tale may help someone else in the same predicament...

Cheers,

 

James.

*most recent terrible main dealer experience: car wouldn't start reliably in the winter even after jump starting and going on a long journey (I had already had a new battery put in). Main dealer said yes they found a drain they believe coming from the dashboard and it would be £2k(!!) to replace. I invested in a battery jump start pack and drove it home in disgust! Then I spoke to a friend who said their "weekend" car had similar issues and he had bought a decent battery reconditoner/charger which solved his problems. He kindly lent me said battery reconditioner which I use once every 6 months or so especially after a period of not using the car much. Needless to say the issue has never returned.

[Callum levy]

I’m having a problem with my ford smax and is cutting out when driven I have change the pump in the engine bay and change the fuel pump in the tank I no longer got codes come up but dose keep cutting out when doing 40mph has any one done this and got a fix out of it or not no one knows what’s going wrong with the car 

[Jyotin]

 have the same issue Callum - Have replaced fuel filter. I can start the car using brake cleaner in the air intake when it stops. Local Garage investigated but could not find any issue. They got it started by putting a hand pump on the fuel line before the filter and pumping fuel in manually. Am going to try replacing the fuel line from the tank to the filter, apparently that is often an issue in SMax's - https://www.whatcar.com/news/common-ford-s-max-problems/n10107

 

[Mark muzz]

I have a Ford Galaxy 07 plate with same type of problem of cutting out whilst driving . It is an intermittent problem and hard to diagnose. I’ve given it to a auto electrician who has bypassed and ECM wire which had high resistance but to no avail and still having the same problem! I have installed a new battery which hasn’t helped diagnostic machine comes up with a generic code of low voltage so I have absolutely no idea where to start any ideas please help me!!