Evening all. Please help me diagnose this problem before I drive the car into a river.

I was driving to work the other day when the engine on my 1.4 TDCi Fiesta cut out. It started again straight away after I pumped the accelerator whilst turning it over, but it keeps happening approx once a day, especially when it's a slightly colder day.

Sometimes the car feels quite sluggish and struggle to pull away, whereas other times it can feel quite nippy and can get away quite nicely.

Also, the revs seem to jump around a bit when idle. When I first start the car they will hover around 900-1000 but after a few minutes of driving it will drop to around 750. The bugger seems to shudder quite a bit when at a standstill. It feels like it's about to stall.

Please help!

Thanks!

P.S

The bit I've circled in red isn't 100% secure on my car. I'm able to twist it from side to side and I can feel air coming from it.

Had one in a few weeks back doing the exact same thing, loads of different codes stored, tried cleaning up the bad earths on the chassis under the Battery and still no joy, turned out to be a broken wire within the loom that runs over the top of the engine, where to circular multiplug is, I would strip the tape and covers back and just look for any breaks, I was able to bypass the connector with my own wire and the fault was gone :))

The 1.4TDCI has a bad reputation for turbo failure due to blocked oil feed lines.

You may need new glow plugs, a new fuel filter or evenn just a new air filter. May be worth checking your Egr valve too.

The high revs at start up is simply the choke warming the engine through by the sounds of it.

How many miles has the engine done? When was the last service?

Have you checked the oil for any white substances? Any blue or black smoke on start up?

The part you've circled in red is just your cold air feed and shouldn't affect the running of the engine noticeably.

Thanks for the advice so far guy, much appreciated!

Had one in a few weeks back doing the exact same thing, loads of different codes stored, tried cleaning up the bad earths on the chassis under the Battery and still no joy, turned out to be a broken wire within the loom that runs over the top of the engine, where to circular multiplug is, I would strip the tape and covers back and just look for any breaks, I was able to bypass the connector with my own wire and the fault was gone :))

I'll be sure to check this first thing tomorrow morning

The 1.4TDCI has a bad reputation for turbo failure due to blocked oil feed lines.
You may need new glow plugs, a new fuel filter or evenn just a new air filter. May be worth checking your Egr valve too.

The high revs at start up is simply the choke warming the engine through by the sounds of it.

How many miles has the engine done? When was the last service?
Have you checked the oil for any white substances? Any blue or black smoke on start up?

The part you've circled in red is just your cold air feed and shouldn't affect the running of the engine noticeably.

I think I'll fit a new air filter first of all and go from there.

The car's done 85k miles and the last service was at 84,200 miles which was at the end of January. There was 4 years between the last service and the one before that though. I only bought the car a couple of months back so I'm wondering how long the garage had the car for and if it had been sitting unused for a few months bar the odd test drive.

Will any white substances be visible from just checking the dipstick?

I had a friend turn the engine over whilst I checked for smoke earlier today. There wasn't any smoke at start up but when he revved to around 3000rpm some black smoke came out the exhaust. Not sure if that's normal?

It's probably already pretty clear but I have no idea about the mechanical side of cars at all! Thanks for helping me out :)

Also, I put some Millers Diesel Ecomax in the car about a week ago. As I was driving home from halfords and for the next few hours after the car seemed to drive perfectly. A few hours later and it seemed like it was back to normal though.

If smoke came out at 3k then take it to some nice roads and drive it like you stole it for a few miles. And go from there

White substances would be visible from the dipstick and filler cap

If smoke came out at 3k then take it to some nice roads and drive it like you stole it for a few miles. And go from there

White substances would be visible from the dipstick and filler cap

Cheers mate, will do that tomorrow!

Cheers mate, will do that tomorrow!

Also worth trying some forte diesel treatment. Genuinely works unlike alot of the other rubbish

Did this issue get resolved ? If so what was it ? 

 

The 1.4 TDCi has no issues, its the 1.6TDCi DV6 engine that does, my 1.4 TDCi is currently on 156k miles and still ok, my guess that this issue might have been air in the lines - remove the airbox and check the fuel lines for bubbles, might also be something as simple as a loose connection on the injectors.