richiefirefighter

hey guys im new here and have a pretty serious problem!

Here it goes.

I booked a ticket to get the ferry to ireland tuesday morning on the 02.40 sailing. i have a 2005 ford focus 1.8 tdci so i didnt think that journey would be any problem to a car like that, (i was wrong) i drove the car on the motorway at about 75 mph on cruise controll for about 3 hours, no signs of any problems, temp needle in the correct place, plenty of diesel and so-on. the car just cruised like i would expect it to..

anyway about 100 miles from the ferry i needed a toilet break so i slowed down to pull in and suddenly the car cut out and all breaks and steering got very very heavy.. but i managed to pull in to a lay by. it would not start for about 10 minutes but it eventually did.. it proceeded to do this twice more when i arrived in ireland.. i did get a message on the dash saying engine systems fault but when the engine does eventually restart that message dissapears.. leading up to this fault occuring i noticed that on the odd occasion when in any gear and between 1300-2000 revs whilst slowly accelerating the car will hit a flat spot where it looses power for a split second and then regains acceleration. the only way i can explain it is it feels like someone has tried to pull the car backwards and let go.. both these problems happen when the engine is hot or cold.. please help guys or im stuck in ireland and garages here charge an arm and a leg..

D16PJM

possible a injector issue or diesel pump but im sure someone will know.

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

Unlikely if the car just stalled with no running problems beforehand.

bookwyse

Could well be an injector or pump problem. They are prone to occuring when the pressure drops and then builds up again.

Whereabouts in Ireland are you as I am over here at present in Waterford and have a laptop with me. I can use the obd lead from a mate of mine here to try and see if we can help.

Jeff

richiefirefighter

im in co clare.... i just took the fuel filter out and its a paper one. what i noticed is that the small rubber ring on the filter head is out of shape!! could this be the problem?? its not the big ring that seals the whole unit but the little one inside.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

bung a new filter in - should be pretty cheap

failing that try and contact bookwyse

richiefirefighter

bookwyse???

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

the guy who replied earlier saying he is inreland and has a laptop too

cheapest option would be to put a new filter ion but not sure that will solve the issue

bookwyse

If the O ring on the filter is out shape then there is a strong possibility that there is air in the system which could cause the symptoms mentioned.

Try putting a new o ring on it and seeing if that works.

Jeff

richiefirefighter

ok i will get a new fuel and air filter!! i just emptied out the fuel filter contents and have found two ir three minut particles of metal.. these are very very tiny and i can just barely make them out.. thats not normal is it???

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

defo not normal mate - just hope any other particles havent found their way round your engine

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

those particles could also block the injector nozzles too

bookwyse

Particles of metal in the fuel filter is a very very bad sign. Any metal particles can spell the end of the injector pump, fuel rail and injectors. The issue with the common rail is the high pressure involved and any foreign particles can cause failure.

Fords recommend that if any traces of foreign eg metal particles that the pump, rail and injectors are replaced at huge costs.

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

chuck some injector cleaner down it - may help

DangerousBryan

its more common than you think. more so on the 2.0 tdci. we are always finding bits of metal in the botom of the fuel filter housing.

richiefirefighter

if they were in the injectors wouldnt the car be running lumpy all the time??? i will bung in a new filter today and try to reconstruct the failure and see what happens.. if i had to change those bits how expensive is it??

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

diesel pump is around the 1k mark - possibly more.

injectors a couple of hundred each from ford

If your pump is fooked, i know where you can get it recon'd fairly cheap.

D16PJM

i had a pump on a mondeo TDCI and it was close to £800 supply and fit.

Pete

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

800 aint too bad - i had to have a pump one a fiesta i once owned and got that all in for about 600

richiefirefighter

i heard that the pump in the tank can cause these problems!! how easy is it to remove this one for inspection and does anyone know which side of the filter the big o-ring goes?? cap side or underneath side??

timrud

I just sold one of these pumps for £200

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

tim -

richiefirefighter

have just changed the fuel filter and the car is running fine but then again it was an intermittant fault so i will have to see if it happens again on the way back to uk... i need to know the name of the silver unit that sits in top of the inlet manifold as it makes three rapid clicks after turning off the engine!!! it has a plug in the end with the black piece bolted on and the rubber hose comes out the other end!! any ideas??

turbochild

i'd of parked it and reported it stolen when i got home lol

richiefirefighter

dunno if i would get my money back lol.... anyway i wanna fix it cos its a lovely car otherwise, all the way to ireland in comfort except for the breakdowns...

richiefirefighter

any of u guys think i should take off and clean the egr valve and can this be done??

timrud

Won't do any harm cleaning it, but might nt be the fix your looking for?

Ran - I put it on eBay and thats all it made!

rich123

iTrader: (3)

same thing happened to the sprinter at work turned out to be a small o ring on the fuel reg causing no fuel pressure

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

my mate has my old fiesta which he has killed the turbo so might get him to put the diesel pump off that on egay as the car is still there doing nothing.

timrud

Took a few listings, had a few people offering me like £80. Some guy wanted me to send it to Brunei (maybe it was the Sultan for one of his cars ) then these lads from Wales phoned me up and offered £200.

Be patent and you will find your buyer. Now I just have a load of VAG diesel turbos to get rid of!

richiefirefighter

is it hard to remove the EGR valve and i have to re-use the old gaskets

richiefirefighter

cleaned the egr valve as best i could with the thing still attached to the car, used petrol in a spray bottle and a tooth brush, got alot of crud out, cleaning that and changing the fuel filter have made a big difference to the running of the car and my mpc has increased by 12 mpg so its looking good plus it seems to have cured a slight vibration at certain points along the rev range and my flat spots too now just to see if the original fault re occurs on the way back to england on tuesday,,, fingers crossed