Nobody any idea????

I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Actually on 2 occasions in the cold when i have driven away the engine has kind of stalled for a split second then carried on, this happened while i was doing about 30mph, i noticed also at the same time as this happening the speedo dropped really quickly towards 0mph even though the car hadn't really slowed down, then it picked up again when the engine recovered.

I know next to nothing about cars, this is my first and i 've had it about 2 months. In that time its had a Service (No problems), MOT(CV joint covering needed replacing everything else fine), oil change and cam belt change with no problems, its done 140K miles.

 

Speedo dropping when the engine cuts out implies of loss of electrical power.

Start with the "stupid" stuff and check (remove, clean & reinstall) the battery terminals, check all cable connections, especially the grounds - get the battery tested (over here there are places that do that for free, as well as testing the charging system) - then see what happens.

The light going out immediately sounds wrong, as the manual said it SHOULD stay on 'till the glows get warm in cold weather...

Getting it checked for engine "codes" would be the next step - just to see if the computer recognizes a "fault" in the glow plug system... (for starters)..

Luck!

 

Ok, thanks for that, i'll try and look into it this weekend.

 

Righty ho, just an update. Took the car to the mechanic, they had it for a week. It's been nice and cold so the engine has been cutting out for them as well. They ran some diagnostic tools on it, the onboard computer isnt coming up with any error messages even when it stalls, the fuel injectors are working fine, the only problem he found was that there were air bubbles appearing in the hose between the fuel filter and fuel pump, so he bypassed the fuel filter, the air bubbles disappeared but the car still stalled. So they ran out of ideas and gave up, but didnt charge me.

This morning was a nightmare, -5C and the car was stalling it's butt off, every junction, about 7 times in total, and I was loosing power a few times, even on the motorway doing 70mph the speedo dropped to zero as i lost power then it jumped back up as the power came back this happened 2 or 3 times, no lights went off from the dashboard as this happened. But as before, once the engine had warmed up, no problems at all. Got to work, sat in the car park with the engine idling at about 800rpm, no problems at all.

So booked it into a proper Ford garage, £85 + Vat per hour, OUCH!!!

Praying for a cheap solution.

 

I guess in the interest of some other poor sucker having a similar problem i'll keep the updates.

Right, got the car back from the Ford garage. They say the fuel pump is not holding pressure when it is cold. Why? they don't know because they don't repair fuel pumps, they only replace them, so that's £1000 (That's pounds not dollars!!!!). On the plus side it only cost me £90 for the diagnosis.

So next step is to take it to a local company that specialise in fuel injector pump repairs to see if i can knock a few hundred pounds off that bill. Fingers crossed.

My guess is that it is a cracked rubber seal that shrinks when it is cold making the crack bigger and releasing the pressure and then expands when it warms up filling the crack and allowing the pump to keep the pressure up. That's my hope anyway, a nice cheap rubber seal, got to keep optimistic when you have bills that size staring you in the face.

 

I guess the potential for a huge bill has spurred me into action. I've been googling my problem and found a lot of stalling problems are caused by the idle control valve. Even some problems that don't generate an error code on the computer and cause a drop in pressure within the fuel pump.

Does anyone think this could be a possible cause for my problem?

The thing im not sure about is the loss of power i experience when im moving, does the idle control valve play any part when the car is moving along?

 

Well the so called fuel pump experts cant test or fix my pump because it is a siemens pump, apparently there is only one place in the country that has the necessary equipment and the cost is more than fitting a new one, which kind of doesn't make sense. The guy also said he's never heard of an idle air control valve, which either means he's not an expert or i've been reading a load of rubbish. Anyhow he reckons the idling is controlled by the ECU.

Other suggestions from friends have been, the automatic choke and possibly a crappy battery.

Are there really no suggestions from anyone here? i would really appreciate it, the fact is im not going to change the fuel pump, i'd rather put up with the problem.

 

Hi not sure if you've already fixed this but I had something similar on an old 1.8 TD Cavalier... apart from glow plug light....turned out to be the fuel filter was building up water and over time would mix with the fuel and make it cut out unless I kept the revs up at junctions, try taking it off and drainging it and if that works could always just buy a new one. hope this helps.

 

Hiya, nope the car is still a nightmare, especially now with this really cold weather. I had the fuel filter and it's housing replaced a couple of months ago and it made no difference, i've also had a new battery but no effect. The car will be sold when the weather clears up a bit, i've had enough of it, definitely won't be buying another diesel as mechanics seem to know nothing about them, if the computer doesn't tell them what the problem is then they're stumped. Just have to chalk this one up to experience, nice car in the summer, pile turd in the winter.

 

Arh thats crap, thought it was worth a mention just in case it worked, good luck with it.

 

Hello Rovey

I’m sorry to hear of the problems you have been having, and unfortunately I can’t offer any advice or consolation other than my (ex) 4 year old 1.6 TDCI Focus had exactly the same problem.

Like you I experienced numerous engine cuts when the weather was cold. Around freezing point the engine was fine, but at around -5 degrees centigrade it would cut out two or three times on a half hour journey, and at colder temperatures it was almost impossible to drive the car. The car was most likely to cut out when the demand for power was high, for example pulling away at junctions or joining fast moving traffic streams. Whilst the car was in warranty I took it back to the dealer numerous times, but to be honest the mechanics had no idea how to fix it and Ford didn’t want to know or help. Ford wouldn’t even talk to me unless I rang a premium rate number!!!!

I did get some advice that the problem can be caused by diesel fuel waxing in the fuel filter, and after getting the fuel filter changed the problem might have improved for a while but to be honest I don’t think it ever really fixed it. In the end, and once the car was out of warranty, I replaced it with an Audi (hopefully a more reliable make??) that runs on petrol (hopefully less to go wrong???).

The experience was very disappointing, and it was very annoying to have an unfixable car at only 30K on the clock. Buying the Focus proved to be a very costly mistake and I count myself lucky that at least I was in the fortunate position to have the cash to change to something else – but not everybody has. All in all, I’ve been very badly let down my Ford. The only positive thing I can say is that it was marvellous to get rid of the Focus and drive to work this week in temperatures of -8.5C without a single problem!

Best of luck.

David

 

Thanks for the replies. I wish my car only cut out 3-4 times in half an hour. At around 2C and below my car tries to cut out at least once a minute, so my 30min drive to work is perilous especially, as you say, pulling away at junctions, i look like a new driver as my car bunny hops down the road as it desperately tries to stall, im getting about 20mpg at the moment down from over 40mpg cos i have to keep the revs up constantly, at lights, junctions and any other time i stop or else it will stall, and when i am going slowly. Occasionally the car goes limp and i get the Engine System Fault warning on the display so i have to restart the engine and hope it doesn't happen as im going up hill. On the plus side it forces me to stay alert at all times, cannot wait to get rid of the damn thing, im buying a flat in the next week or so , so im stuck with it for at least a few more months. I will also go with a petrol car, probably from a garage as well so it will have a warranty, you live and learn.