JulesT

TDCi 115

Before fitting the plate, my car used to smoke on acceleration and the engine was shaky at 1250rpm and around 2200rpm.

So after fitting I took it for a test drive and the results are:
1 It is still shaking at 1250rpm but not so much at 2200rpm (when driving at 70mph).
2 At first it was still smoking when accelerating but after a little while the smoking seems to have stopped, even when I floor it I cant see any smoke behind me, but it is windy so maybe the smoke is being blown away before I see it...
3 The power delivery seems to have evened out, I mean it doesn't have the sudden explosion of power before 2000rpm, it feels more gradual. It also feels more responsive at lower rpm and a bit more torquey between 2000-3000rpm.

Although when I had joined the dual carriage way, I put my foot down in gear 2, the car was hesitating from 2-3000rpm (and I s***ing my pants) but after that it was fine.

As for fuel economy, I will have to do a test for that. I usually test it by seeing how many miles from quarter tank it goes til the reserve light comes on. My record is 87 so far.

uruk hai

Interesting !

Nice one mate, you don't hang about do you

What was it like to fit and how long did it take ?

Sorry for all the questions but how many miles has yours covered and before you had the turbo replaced were there any symptoms that it was failing ? Was it burning any oil or was there any loss in performance ?

JulesT

Lol... better get it done now rather than after work and burning my hands

It was very easy, it took about 10 minutes. I only had to take out 1 bolt from where the pipe joins the exhaust manifold and loosen the other (the plate has a hole and a slit where you can slide it into the other bolt holding it). The put back the bolt and tighten the other one.
If you do this then don't buy it from samrolfe4653 on ebay. Thats who I got mine from and it is scratched up, luckily not where it covers the hole but around it and the guy is a rude a** hole!

It had 78,000 miles on when the turbo go replaced. The symptoms were loud whistling on acceleration (not normal turbo whistle, sounded more like a person whistling), loss of power at 3000rpm and one day a big bang with lots of smoke coming out the exhaust. After that, it was still drivable, but very slow, smoky and the turbo was making a scraping sound. At least it didn't go in "runaway" mode, then I would have been in trouble!

No worries mate, that's what we're here for, to help each other... although not many people seem too interested in helping with diesels, its more Escort and Sierra Cosworths etc...

uruk hai

Yes, I know what you mean regarding being helpfull ! Sounds like you had a classic case of the turbo giving up and your spot on regarding what you call "runaway mode". They can end up burning there own oil as fuel and the car can rev so hard it will be knockinng like you don't know what, when this happens they have to be stalled to be stopped !

I would think as you drive yours it will settle down and should get better over the course of a few hundred miles, good luck and thanks for being so willing to share your experiances.

JulesT

No probs buddy.
Cheers

dervburner

Interesting post lads.
Having spent half a day trying to get my EGR valve off for cleaning and failing at the bolts behind exhaust manifold I read a bit more on threads.
My problem is (1.8 tdci 115ps) is a hesitation after starting from cold.
If I drop it down a gear and boot it all seems well and the car will run fine all day. I have had injectors reconditioned 5 months ago at a cost of £970 so contacted the fuel injection specialist and explained the problem.
They advised could be weak diaphragm in EGR causing valve to open to soon just as turbo spooling up, seem to make sense to me but I’m no mechanic, car 2002, 122,000 miles
I also mentioned that fault code reading p103 MAF which they said would come up because of EGR problem.
I am now going to try blanking the EGR off like so many have and will let you know if anyone is interested.

uruk hai

Thanks for the contribution, will be interested to see how this pans out ?

JulesT

Hi,
I also want to take off my EGR and intake manifold to clean them but I'm too scared to
When I saw your fault code and the letters MAF, I heard "mass air flow sensor" being shouted in my head! And I did a google search which confirmed that is a problem with your mass air flow sensor. This is located between your air filter box and its pipe...

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums...a-trip-thingy/

So I would not trust your garage my friend, I have had my fair share with Diesel specialists over charging me, causing me more harm than good, even one stole fuel from my car! I am not a cynical person but £970 to get your own injectors reconditioned seems alot to me. You can get reconditioned injectors from ebay from £75-£150 each.

JulesT

I forgot to mention, you can take out your MAF and clean it with MAF cleaner, but it is very delicate and is probably covered in dirt and silicon which runs down it over time. I would but a new one from ebay.

dervburner

Jules, thanks for your replies, have had a look at ebay and contacted a number of sellers who all say their plates don’t fit the 1.8 tdci which is odd because that’s what they advertise! Anyhow decided to make one myself armed with scissors and cardboard, trimmed it to fit between the bolts and cut a 1.5mm thick alloy plate the same size.
Now it should be said after trying to take the EGR off yesterday and giving up the car was running rougher than ever this morning. The turbo didn’t spool up until the revs got up beyond the point it normally comes in and the car felt like it was missing at 70 mph and pretty much through the rev range. It might not have helped yesterday when I checked the slide on the side of the EGV was moving and not seized. I probably took it past the normal operating movement making things worse.
After yesterday I was ready to admit defeat and put it back in the fuel injection specialist. After discussing the problems with a nice technician called Matt he said the first thing they would do was blank the EGR off so I thought I would give it a go.
Well !!!!!!!! After trying the car up the road all the hesitation seems to have gone, yah. It always seems worse from cold in the morning so I guess I will find out tomorrow but it seems a hell of a lot better, cher- ting cash saved.
The car has cost me a fortune this year with dual mass clutch and flywheel, recon injectors then water pump went

Recon injector bill was diagnostic check £93 remove and refit £155 overhaul and recon seals and nozzles £512 plus the dreaded vat £154 making £912
The reason for the injector overhaul was poor starting and lumpy running first thing in morning. I read elsewhere on this forum about a guy that was having the same problem. Car starts but feels like it was running on 3 cylinders, drive to end of my drive 20/30 metres and car ran fine all day long. Only really became a problem last winter as it was spanking the battery with the cold temperatures. Turned out all 4 injectors were leaking into the bores some worse than others. New injectors were only £20 each more but I thought the cars done 120,000 so recon seemed to be the way to go.
Still the site was a great help in diagnosing the problem so I will keep reading.

uruk hai

Sorry to read you've had such a hard and costly time with your car and I hope it all turns out to be O.K now, fingers crossed !

JulesT

Well done mate! Ofcourse if you have the tools, you can make your own plate . I'm glad you've sorted out the problem and hope nothing new crops up... You know I thought I would save money when I changed my car, (I had a petrol Focus 1.6 before) but mine is also costing me a fortune too, and still is!
So is the car still running ok now?

Soon I will report on my mpg test, but it is not looking promising. It has done 55 miles and is near reserve. But I need to consider that this week I am only doing town driving (I usually do a mixture of motorway and town) and the colder weather should have affected it too.

dervburner

2 mornings now and car seems to be running fine, sorry to read and hear you still have troubles. I find it frustrating when I don't understand a problem and with these cars it so difficult to do much yourself without diagnostic equipment.
I know the petrol focus is not that great on petrol as a guy has one at work. This is my second Mk Zetec S as last one got wrote off after being rear ended. I could have brought the Mk3 but didn't like it when I had a courtesy car you tend to sit low down or the dash is that much higher.
The zetec s has quite a stiff ride but it goes round corners well!!!
I never really checked mpg with mine but wasn't impressed the other day when I put £10 when light came on and came back on next day having only done 70 miles. I should point out I was doing 90mph on dual carriageway most of the way as was I late for appointment. Have had better mpg when I went to Lake District and averaged high 40s.

What problems are you left with?

JulesT

You have 2 Focus's? (or Foci )...
I love the Zetec S, I was looking at one a few weeks ago, it was a black 3 door and was just beautiful! But if I change my car, I don't think I would get one because I would want something more powerful without the 2.0 Peugoet engine... Maybe a Mondeo 2.2TDCi.

If I do 80mph or more then my fuel consumption goes up alot, it could do with another gear, it would be brilliant cruising at 70mph at 1500 revs.

I've had to replace my fan belt and turbo, I have a ticking sound coming from the camshaft area, could be a stuck lifter and a problem somewhere around the gearbox, maybe DMF, clutch because sometimes when I put it into gear 4 too slowely, it judders.

But I am quite glad that it is not perfect because I do like to work on my car and I am teaching my self the basics and saving some cash

JulesT

MPG Test Report!

At 65 miles the orange reserve light came on. (This is from quarter tank to reserve)
This probably isn't great but it was only driven in town.

Maybe when I get the lifter sorted and have a full service, the mpg should shoot up.