Last week i had a service done on my 2004 focus 1.8 tdci and I've had rough running since.
My friend did the work who is a mechanic.
After the fuel filter was fitted my friend used a hand pump to fill the filter and the car started straight away afterward and sat ticking over perfect.
It wasn't until I tried to drive away there was a stutter and alot if diesel knock. I covered 5-10 mile and the car seemed to smooth out and was driving lovely.
However all of this week the intermittent problem has been coming back and the car dosent feel as smooth I get alot of hesitation when using light throttle but it clears if I plant my foot.
I've had no management light on but we have searched for fault codes last night and a p2288 has shown up
I'm not sure if that has shown up due to the tuning box I have fitted.
The code has been wiped and the tuning box disconnected and I'm going to see if it returns but the car still has the problem.
However I can't help but think why was the car running fine before th fuel filter was changed and now its shit. Are fuel filters prone to being faulty from new. It's a genuine ford and cost me 35 quid

 

er! -- go back to the machaniic?------

 

The mechanic is a mate of mine. He dosent no what the problem is. All he did was oil change and fuel filter change.

 

I have had these filters that allow air in through the connections , could be that or the pipework that has been disturbed , can be a pain to find but would say that is the favorite area to look at

 

Cheers mate I'm going to have a look at the connectors tonight see what the score is

 

Yea, sounds to me like it may be drawing abit of air through a pipe connection at the filter,
take it off, clean all the connectors, put a small smear of grease on & refit, making sure they are right on & rebleed.

 

Well things have gone from bad to worse Took the connectors off tonight give them a blast with some carb cleaner even tho they were spotless. refited and the car started fine but has now got major diesel knock and white smoke out the exhaust if i hold the revs anywhere between 1000-2000rpm. It really is running rough and drives like a pile of shite.
Just had my mechanic round whos plugged it in to his snap on scanner and its showing no fault codes.
Hes gona try another fuel filter tommorow and im going to ring ford see if they do fuel filter connector seals.

Wish id never had the dam thing serviced now. It was running perfect before

 

Got to be air in the lines. Have you tried cracking off the unions at each injector?

 

No no yet mate but to be honest i thought these tdci's were self bleeding. Something is obviously not right with this fuel filter or as you say air in the system.

 

Defo air in the lines. Do you have a hand pump? Pump this until it's hard and keep a close eye on the fuel system for leaks.

 

White smoke is defo air as said, don't believe all the crap ford, and others put out about what it will and won't do, with reference to self bleeding, try a filter change on certain transits, end up tow starting the shitty things!!
tabetha

 

They are a total total fucker to get all the air out!

 

Can I just say that maybe a slight issue here initially will be the carb cleaner used .... we are sometimes VERY naughty with the bad ones and use brake cleaner as easy start to get them running but this causes some F**cking serious diesel knock for a while until it has cleared out , carb cleaner in the diesel lines will do a similar situation , but it will last longer as it will recirculate through the system , I would say you might of found our secret "air leak and fuel pipe suction leak " location tool ............ if we have an air ingress through a pipe we sometimes spray brake cleaner on the connections in turn , any suction leak will draw this into the lines and cause the knock , tabetha might not like it but desperate problems call for out of box solutions

 

Trust me I've done some desperate measures in my time, the worst that I can recall was a drive from folkstone to inverness whilst holding two wires in me hand, a bodged fuel pump circuit, as the original wires had caught fire, and we needed to get the car there on time, we made it, after about 10 billion times touching the wires together, it helped that the pump also stopped working at times so we stopped and banged it, the car was a moggy minor.
Also towed a range rover on a 2 axle trailer all the way to scotland from east anglia with a 1.0 metro, christ knows how I didn't get stopped, come to that christ knows how I stopped, I came back on a big yellow truck, with a broken clutch and gearbox, after it ripped the main stay out, brakes weren't too hot either!!
At the end of the day so long as the solution is safe and harmless and it works then go for it I say, mine weren't safe(in towing) or harmless wrecked my poor little "amy".
tabetha
tabetha

 

Hi ya, did u get the focus fixed ok in the end??

 

Hi sort of. Put another filter on and cleaned the connectors as best as possible with carb cleaner. Bled the system and it started on the key. However it drove like shit for 100 mile (very hesitant) and still is first thing in the morn and very clattery. After a min tho it's fine and goes like stink with very little smoke.
Dont think it will be having another filter change while I own it seems to have just caused a load of hastle when it was running A1 before.