Problem with focus tdci 2009 reg

[Spav]

Hi, I've joined today because I have a problem with my 2009 focus tdci econetic. I'd really appreciate if you can help me resolve it.

I bought this car in February 2017, it was fine for about 5 weeks then as I was driving along the engine malfunction light came on and the accelerator had no power. The engine remained running and all the lights, radio etc stayed on.  The brakes and power steering also still functioned. I stopped and the ecu screen said engine malfunction power steering. I switched the engine off and tried to restart it but it wouldn't. After a few minutes I retried and it started and I was off again. A few minutes later it happened again, I pulled over and repeated the above. Over the next couple of weeks it happened a few more times so I took it to my local garage.  They cleared all the faults with a diagnostic unit and took it for a test drive and it was ok. A week later it happened to me again 3 times in one short journey. I took it back to the garage and they suggested a new fuel filter which was then replaced. I then had an electrical specialist test it and he could find no faults. He said there was a possible problem with the alternator as there had been a possible spike of voltage, fault code 18v. I then had a new alternator fitted and tried to start the engine but the malfunction alarm went off again. The technician then removed the glove compartment and disconnected the ecu then reconnected it like a reboot. It ran fine for 3 months and approx 1500 miles but a week ago it started happening again both while driving along or from starting engine while parked. It seemed to take longer (5mins) before it would allow me to restart it.The key fob works OK by the way.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

 

[ThePowster]

Hey Simon.

Welcome to the place to be.

I am sure someone will be along shortly with some advice, unfortunately I am still new and learning myself.

Just a thought can you not disconnect / reconnect the ECU yourself? to see if this rectifies matters, I wonder if it could be a faulty ECU?

As I am finding out it's a process of elimination with all these problems and it's great you have a new alternator and fuel filter, that's 2 things you know wont give you any bother for a while.

Good luck mate

[Spav]

Could this problem be caused by an after market fuel filter rather than a genuine ford part?

Any ideas please?

[Dee_82]

sounds like your garage is fishing for a problem and your paying for their guess work.

Your power steering message, does that keep popping up?

 

[Spav]

Dee, thanks for your reply, It only pops up in conjunction with the accelerator failure.

 

[Dee_82]

 potential issues could be something on the CAN, due to the nature of the network a problem at any point could cause issues anywhere else. so a problem with ABS may cause problems with the PCM, problems with the HEC could cause issues with ABS etc.   

if it were me, the first thing I would do is use my ELM 327 device and use forscan to check out all the DTCs and see if that will help narrow things down.

your not using any OBD devices whilst driving about are you?

without seeing all the DTCs there isn't much to go on

 

 

[Lennyc]

Hi everybody i have just today bought a ford focus 1.6 tdci 2009 i filled up with diesel on way home from purchasing my new pride and joy as a first car i gof home fine and then ***** my kids footfall training with me for the 1st time so we were all very exited my kids especially as iv just recently passed at 30 years old lol on way back from football i called into Halfords for a headlight bulb as 1 is out i then started car and got that dredded engine malfunction light and turned off car straight away i spoke to chap at Halfords he said get it on a diagnostic machine i said can i drive it home he said yes i then proceded to drive home the car was sluggish i think its in limp mode ??? Anyway my neighbor knows alot about cars and on turning it over and givving a good rev he said he  couldn't hear turbo whistling any ideas chaps would be great as my heads in my hands 2500 for the car and 2500 insurance spent today 5k total lol so not happy at the mo!!!!! Cheers 👍

[Dee_82]

2.5k insurance?! Damn... that sucks

it could be absolutely anything. get a code reader on it asap. There are a number of things it could be from fuel flow, pressure, injectors, air flow, pressure . DPF, Power steering, turbo or just a sensor issue on all of the above.... or any of a dozen other things

It might well have been limp mode you were in, but giving it a good rev is going to achieve very little, the turbo wont spool up fully, it will barely make half a bar without a load on the engine. Fuel flow and air will all be down and kept down until the car is doing some work.

Any guess at this point is just fishing as it could be anything.   the car has a built in code reader albeit its pish. you can buy basic code readers or if you are reasonably savy with a computer id strongly suggest buying https://tunnelrat-electronics.fwscart.com/USB_Modified_ELM327/p4541936_17045457.aspx

then use Forscan on your PC which will give you a much stronger postion to start to diagnose it. ive brought a dozen of these for myself and mates and I highly recommend this company for selling them.

If you don't fancy that or getting a basic standalone reader your going to need to get it to a garage. all I would say is that spending 20 quid now, might save you 200 quid later if the garage isn't the best at fault finding.

 

[Lennyc]

Oki doki i suppose a diagnostic machine il have to buy then cheers for the message buddy top geeza 👍👍👍

[Dee_82]

 

This can maybe give us a head start. the code reader is more reliable and will give you much more information. Some codes wont display on here.

besides, Forscan is really useful tool to have access today. I check my car every month to see if everything looks good.

 

[Lennyc]

Hi again all... had egr done today garage said take for half hour run on motorway halfway home had to drop my son back as didnt want him in the car on motorway as havent driven on there yet so wanted to be on my own and its back in limp mode again very disheartened as this is myfirst car bought yesterday for 2500 and charged 245 today for new egr valve and labour any other ideas anybody cheers lenny👍

P.s taking back to garage tommorow as the diagnostic shown up as dpf fault also if it helps anybody cheers 👍

Edited February 21, 2018 by Lennyc

[F0CUE]

@Lennyc here's some info that may help.

 

[Dee_82]

they were fishing, this was the danger I was pointing out if we don't narrow it down. If you take it back again they will probably say its the injectors or the fuel rail, or the turbo before finally getting the DPF and emptying your wallet

If its a DPF error then you got a problem.

the very first thing you can try is to do a forced regen on the car. you will need that bit of kit I was talking about. a garage can do it as well if they have the right tools.

If its too late for a forced regen then your going to need a new DPF or attempt o have it cleaned. Our DPF doesn't lend itself to easily cleaning due to the shape of it but there are some ultra sonic cleaning baths that may work.

If it is DPF related its down to one of two things. (or 3)

1, your not driving it correctly, and its full of soot, it needs a good hard drive at least once a month where the car can gets hot enough to burn the buildup of soot. this needs to be sustained driving, start stop driving will not work, so it requires a good hard drive on a motorway (without heavy traffic!)

2, its full of ash.

3, the temp or pressure sensor Isnt working.

The DPF collects soot from the exhaust, as you drive about it fills up, every now and then it will do a regeneration where it gets even hotter and literally burns the soot in the DPF, which turns it in to much smaller ash. eventually that ash will also fill up the can which will mean an attempt to clean it or to replace it. Cleaning may have mixed results and needs to be done correctly, putting water through it and not properly flushing it out will turn the ash in to something similar to concrete so don't try do it your self. on other designs of DPF its fine as its a straight pipe so you can blast it with ease but on outs, it has two bends that make it much harder to do, so the only real way to clean it is a sonic bath. but don't hold your breath. a replacement is often required.

You can get cheap replacements but there has been a couple of folk who didn't get much mileage out of it.