9318 Fault code - occasional engine stop and rought starts

[ianmccracken]

Hi All,
I have posted something similar before and received no replies but I think I am a little further along in my diagnosis now so I thought I would try again...

I have two problems with my 2001 1.8 TDCi....150k Km.

#1 Approx. 1 out of 10 starts are "rough". Engine starts unevenly and sounds rough...after 1-2 seconds engine runs smoothly. Sounds like it only fires on 3 cylinders to begin with. No pattern to this...happens on cold starts and warm starts. Engine runs normally aside from starting with smooth idling and good acceleration.

Problem started about 1.5 yrs ago. All glow plugs and their leads have been changed but problem still exists. This issue occurred more frequently a few months ago - maybe 1 out of 5 starts were rough.

# 2. This may or may not be related.....this one is also completely random...whilst driving the glow plug light flashes (a fault code is being written) and after 15 seconds the engine loses all power. I have to pull over, switch off and re-start at which time the engine runs normally again. I have had this problem for 6 years. There is no pattern to this problem other than it never occurs at idle...only when underway at 2-3k rpm. Occurs on 1 out of approx. 50 times I use the car. Occurs no more frequently now than 6 years and 60k Km back.

The car is not used every day and many trips are short - under 10 km. The starting problem was worse, occured 4 times out of 5, when the car was only used for short trips and it did reduce to 1 time out of 5 after a few motorway runs....but it is still there. Diesel filter and air filter have been changed.

Diagnosis so far:
At a recent service a mechanic read a P1200 fault code. Was not able to investigate further.
When I run the dash board check the only dtc that comes up is 9318. There are a lot of other numbers and codes that come up when I scroll through using the trip mileage reset but 9318 is the only dtc.
Shouldn't the P1200 code show up?

Any ideas?
Someone suggested cleaning the EGR valve - the problems above may be symptomatic of a dirty (but working) EGF valve. On my car it appears to be attached to the intake manifold so that looks like a long job but if someone can tell me it's easy enough I will do it.

Any other ideas?

Many thanks in advance - sorry for the long post...

Ian

[Sponsor]

[BC_ZX3]

Originally Posted by ianmccracken

When I run the dash board check the only dtc that comes up is 9318. There are a lot of other numbers and codes that come up when I scroll through using the trip mileage reset but 9318 is the only dtc.
Shouldn't the P1200 code show up?

My contribution:
Powertrain or "P" DTC codes can only be retrieved with an OBD II scan device through the OBD II port. The DTC codes from the dash diagnostics are only relevant to the instrument cluster circuitry.

9318 is a low battery voltage code, iirc.
P1200 is an OBD II code relating to the fuel injector circuit. Can't provide any more help as there are no diesels here and info appears limited.

[ianmccracken]

Thanks very much BC_ZX3.

Sounds like I need to bite the bullet and take it to Ford. The engine cutout underway (with blinking glow plug light) has been occurring more frequently whilst the rough starting has occurred less (with more use of the car).

So I *think* the two issue may be unrelated.

The immediate question for the forum is if people think it is worth cleaning the EGR? Seems like a lot of work for questionable benefit.

Or is there anything else I can do to check the fuel injector circuit? That does sound complicated and best left to an expert.

Thanks again! Ian

[ianmccracken]

Hello All,
Want to let everyone who was interested in this thread that the problems I described above were related and they have been fixed. It sounds unbelievable to me but all the dealer did was add a cleaning additive to the diesel in tank and drive around a little. The injection system was getting clogged up due to Bio additives/diesel blends used in Norway. I am not sure if newer cars will tolerate this or if diesel mixes in the UK use less Bio derived diesel. These issues have caused me so much grief over the years....unbelievable that the fix so so simple. But I am happy about it!!
Cheers everyone,
Ian