Good afternoon

This is my 1st post and I am asking this question on behalf of my sister, so I am sorry if the details are a little sketchy.

I have performed a search and found many threads regarding diesels stopping and associated poor starting etc but not this problem. Your help is very much appreciated.

She was driving in the rain - it has been raining on and off all day today - on a dual carriageway doing approx 50-60 MPH. She pulled out to overtake a van and the car lost power - may have stopped running - she's not sure - but she had her foot planted and it wasn't accelerating. She says it felt like when you just get to the front of a lorry you are overtaking on the motorway, how it sort of pushes you back. The Glow Plug light came on whilst this was happening.

She managed to get the car over to the hard shoulder and she turned it off. After a minute or so to gather herself back together she turned the ignition back on, waited for the glow plug light to go out and it started straight away and there were no further problems for the remaining 1 miles home.

She's not sure if it produced any smoke at the same time as it lost power/cut out.

It has recently had a service and a new intercooler and associated seals.

It starts first time every time, so I don't think it is the camshaft or crank sensors.

My thoughts are something to do with water in the electrics? However it has been fine in the wet before.

I don't have any experience of Ford Diesels, but have plenty with Vauxhall and Rover/BMW.

Does anyone have any ideas? Any pointers for where I should start my investigations?

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

Hi Chris.

Sounds similar to a problem I had. The same experience only on an a-road with traffic coming at me. thought I was sent for.

Have the boost pipes checked by whoever fitted the intercooler as some of the may not have been tightened up fully. Boost leaks can be a cause of similar symptoms.

Is the fuel filter genuine ford? Some aftermarket filters don't flow as well as the ford ones or the aftermarket bosch filters.

 

Thanks Mikeyo

I will start my search with the intercooler pipework and take a look at the fuel filter.

Where is the fuel filter located on these? Is it obvious?

Cheers

Chris

 

there is a sensor in the end of the intercooler next to the drivers headlight check the connecton as if thats unplugged you wont have any power so if it came loose then could of made connection again to get home .

Fuel filters on the in side of the drivers side suspension strut iirc.

 

Thanks Steve

I will get across to her some time this weekend and have a look for her.

Have also had another search on here and someone has mentione dthat if the cam position sensor goes faulty it lights up the glow plug light and cuts the engine??

Might tell her to get a new and I'll fit it for her, just in case? Apparently only Ł15.

Once again, thanks

Chris

 

I did finally get across to look at my sister's car on Tuesday, this week.

What I found was that there was a hole in the air pipework from the airbox to the rear of the engine. This was clearly shaped to take something.

On closer inspection I found a sensor lieing in front of the injectors, neatly placed. The shape of the end of this clearly matched the hole in the pipework so I have put it back there.

My thinking is that either this sensor (air temp sensor??) was getting wet and throwing the ECU or that water was getting to the MAF via the hole in the pipework.

Car hasn't been driven in the rain since, however, have been told by my sister it is running smoother.

Also found that when intercooler was replaced very cheap jubilee clips had been used and these weren't giving a seal on the pipes. My sister had complained of a whistle when she accelerated hard. Replaced these and again she has noted an improvement in performance.

Will be back if problem isn't sorted, but fingers crossed.

Thanks for all your help, on here and via PM.

Chris

 

OK so here we go again.

This week it has stopped again. Accelerating to overtake a van from 40MPH on a 60MPH road, glowe plug light comes on and loses all power.

My sister has had it back to garage that carried out service and replaced the intercooler, they reckon it's the fuel pump.

They didn't give her any error codes, have quoted her Ł750 fitted.

What would you recommend, I have read on many forums, this one included that the fuel pump gets blamed for many things, and that after replacement the same problems continue.

Do you reckon replacing the fuel filter with a genuine Ford on ewould be a good starting point? See if the problems continue after that?

At the moment she is seriously considering getting rid and getting the Peugeot 206 she wanted. I was the one who told her to get a Focus over a 206, for the sake of reliability and she's so far had to shell out Ł600 on various bits plus whatever this is going to cost her.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Chris

 

If it's a tdci I had a similar problem and it turned out to be a cam sensor Ł22 from ford

 

Thanks, I'll let her know.

I have heard that the cam sensor can cause problems.

My sis has booked it into the local Ford dealers for them to a diagnostic check on it.

She no longer trust the garage she has been using up til now.

Chris

 

my money is on cam sensor or egr valve,
if the glow plug light is illuminating usually egr valve,
simple way to bypass to test is, cut a coke can ends off, fold thin metal in half, (minding edges -very sharp!), undo 10mm nuts on one end of egr tract and slip in can.
the egr valve will be forced open/closed under harsh accelerating so should be able to see if fault reoccurs.

 

She has had it checked out by Ford and they have said they found lots and lots of error codes stored and that it looks like someone who didn't know what they were doing has been messing trying to sort with the ECU.

They cleared all codes and took it out on the road where the problem has occurred several times. The only code showing after the drive was one for the throttle pedal.

Would you recommend a new pedal over a guaranteed working used pedal??? Have read these are quite a common failure item across the diesel Fords?

The other things they found were:-
Concern Customer states engine cuts out on bypass
Cause Requires throttle pedal
Correction IDS checks


Recommended Maintenance:
Operation Description
Air Con Check Air Conditioning System Check
Brake fluid Brake fluid system change

p/s/r coil spring corroded
p/s/r/ trailing arm bush perished
brake pipes corroded
exhaust centre section corroded
oil leak from engine
possible fuel leak
thermostat housing leaking
lf tyre 4mm - lr tyre 2mm - rf tyre 5mm - rr tyre 2.5mm

I have advised her brake pipes and throttle pedal are highest priority, closely followed by the 2mm tyre.

Considering this was recently serviced you would have thought they might have noticed the corroded brake pipes and tyre on legal limit?

Chris