bigdel

My sister in law has a 2013 1.0 Focus Ecoboost

The engine fault light came on so she took it into the local Ford dealer to have it checked out

They couldn't find a fault so they charged her £120 for looking at it plus MOT'd it and gave it back to her

Soon after the light came back on so she took it back to them.

They've now come back and said it needs a new Catalytic Converter plus associated sensors (£700 for the cat and £495 for two sensors)

I find it odd that a 4 year old car with less than 30k on the clock should
suddenly need a new cat. Even more concerning when you consider it also had a brand new engine fitted about a year ago due to a problem with the stop/start system.

She's been on to Ford UK and is waiting for them to come back to her.

Anyone heard of anything similar?

cossynut2

Less than 30,000 miles and it needs a new cat and sensors!! I dont think so! Looks like the garage is just trying to get a lot of money out of her without finding out what the real problem is.Seems piss poor to me that its already needed a new engine on a 2013 car! Not a good advert for anyone thinking of buying one.

gcfcos

That's sounds terrible mate, £120 for looking at it but no fault found even though the eml light was on? That must have thrown up a fault stored in the ecu for them to at least investigate. Funny how they didn't find anything the first time but now it suddenly needs a cat etc? Sounds like their gonna just start throwing bits at it and hope for the best. Sadly I hear this story on a daily basis where a customers been in to the garage and spent tons of money on parts and I get to it broken down again and I can diagnose it in 10 minutes flat. Not sure what these people are doing but soooo Many garages now have no idea how to diagnose faults on modern cars correctly and just throw parts at it hoping it will fix it. It's a massive lack of training on diagnostics that's the problem. So many people think u can just buy a code reader and fix anything but that couldn't be further from the truth. Hope u manage to get it sorted mate

bigdel

That I could understand if she was taking it a backstreet spanner monkey, but this is a Ford main dealer.

Sounds absurd to me. My missus has a 04 Fusion that we've owned from new. All that ever needed is a few tyres and a battery

Mad_Mat

In my experience it's the monkeys that are working for the main dealers

A few years back my girlfriend took her MR2 to a Toyota main dealer for a service. To be fair she just wanted to keep up the full dealer history. They advised it needed a new clutch except the clutch had been changed just a couple of weeks earlier and was perfect.

Gazzonator

iTrader: (9)

Sounds about right for a main stealer!

What's the fault code that keeps coming up?

bigdel

Dunno they just gave her a quotation with no detail.

she's going to send me what the garage gave her layer so I'll have a read of it and post it up here

oldford

The catalyst could be defective - as a result of another problem, like a defective coil or a defective injector. But even then you would NOT need the two oxygen sensors, but only the cat. So, at least they are proposing to change to much parts.
As said above, what are the fault codes? If possible complete with numbers.

cosmatt

We have a 2013 fiesta st180 thats done 29k and eml came on saying cat problem too. I cleared fault and it will stay off for a couple of months then re appear. Cant remember the code off top of my head tho...

cossynut2

Some main dealers will always "find " something else that needs to be fixed to get you to fork out more money if you just accept it without question.
Years back I was told by a Nissan main dealer that the brakes needed sorting out on my Primera estate as the slave cylinders were leaking fluid. Seemed strange as no fluid loss and the brakes worked fine. Told them I would fix it myself and when I took it to an independent Nissan mechanic he told me the wheels had never been off the car and were "grown" on to the hubs and very hard to get off! Did they have x-ray vision to see inside the brakes without taking the wheels off? None of the slave cylinders were leaking and were bone dry so I was glad I didnt let them "fix" it!

RSmark84

These new Fords dont seem as good quality as the old ones. My 2012 Fiesta(bought brand new) the front o/s suspension spring snapped yesterday morning going over a ramp. the bottom coil snapped. It made one hell of a noise.

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

So if it needs a cat how did it pass the mot. Surely if the cat was fooooked the emissons would be all over the place.

I find it strange it also needed an engine due to the stop start system???

bigdel

my thoughts exactly on both counts.

very odd. Still waiting for more details

oldford

That's quit possible. The amount of exhaust gasses is relatively low during the mot test and a lot more during driving.
During the mot test the catalyst may just be able to clean the gasses, but not any more when driving.
And the engine's ecu monitors the catalyst's performance during driving.

cossynut2

I dont know how the Focus ecoboost cat works but when the cat in my wifes Ka packed up it really affected how it ran in a big way. It was like it was in limp mode with no power at all and mpg figures went from 45 to 20 and there was no way it could have passed an mot in that state.

oldford

Normally when a catalysts performance is too low, the mpg doesn't change.
So, your example is a bit more extreme than normal failures. I suspect the catalyst was partly blocked in your case.
And yes, if the mpg goes up that much and with a partially blocked cat, you won't pass a mot.

mark826

Hugely doubt that the engine was replaced due to the stop start system. This is an electronically controlled system. Funnily enough we have a 2013 focus on at work that's done around 35k. Not long since had an engine and the cat is knackered causing it to run like crap. I'd find out why the engine was actually replaced in first place as this may well be consequential damage etc

cossynut2

Why are these Focus cars having major problems with such a low mileage? I would be well pissed off if I had one!!

bigdel

Fault code is P0420

Seems to be a generic emissions type fault which could have many causes. Jumping straight in with a new cat and sensors seems to be pretty heavy handed to me

https://www.obd-codes.com/p0420

oldford

You can check the performance of the cat by reading live data with a scanner during driving and checking the signals of the Oxygen sensors. See: https://www.picoauto.com/library/cas...with-mil-p0420

In the end you will need a new cat, after you've eliminated the cause.
Unfortunately, that cause can be hard to find.
Have you had problems with misfires?
What was exactly wrong with the previous engine? Maybe that was the cause.
Have you checked with the dealer if there's an update for the engine software?
I have seen updates from Ford that cured "misfires" and even "heavy misfires" in the past on several engines for several vehicles.

bigdel

She hadn't mentioned any running issues and Ford tried loads of software updates prior to replacing the engine so I'm reasonably sure the firmware will be as up to date as possible.
maybe the damage was done before the engine was eventually replaced by whatever the problem was then.

oldford

The engine was replaced a year ago. There could be a new update.
It's worth checking.

bigdel

If we fitted a 2nd hand cat and sensors like this, would the fault need to be reset, or would it clear itself once the replacement cat was in place?

Tracey Swain

i have the same problem with my 2016 ford fiesta codepo420-09 catalyst

oldford

Tracey, what has been checked?
Did you experience any running problems or excessive fuel usage?