Hi all - can someone help???

Starting my 56 reg Ford Focus Diesel Sport on Thursday, and without it warming up, I immediately turned hard right onto our road to drive to work. The lights were on, the windscreen wipers, heater and fan were all on and I was the only person in the car.

Immediately a red light came on, on the speedometer side of the dashboard, right next to the computer screen. At the same time a message appeared - " Acceleration reduced"

I slowed down and stopped but did not turn off the engine, for fear of setting off the immobiliser. Continuing to work, the only thing noticeable with the car was that there was a lag in acceleration after each gear change.

After arriving at work, about 15 minutes driving, I parked the car, turned off the engine and restarted it. It worked straightaway and no warning lights came on. I can only surmise that this was because the car had warmed up.

After work, about 10 hours later, I returned to the car and when I turned the key I had no reaction from the ignition, all the lights on the dashboard lit up, a red light at the top of the dash started flashing and the computer screen said:

"Steering Assist Failure"

followed by:

"Engine Systems Fault"

That was it - I could not start the car, although I could sit and listen to the radio or even have the fan switched on, so I presume it was the immobiliser kicking in.

The car seemed fine during the week when it was cold outside, even freezing, it was only when the car had sat in the damp and rain over Wednesday/ Thursday night that it had a problem.

It seems to happen when I am turning hard right, although that could just be a coincidence, and the engine is cold and it has been damp over night.

Any ideas?

Thanks

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I have been quoted £20 plus £10 delivery and £4.50 VAT from online breakers yard (£34.50 total) for a used replacement with 30 day guarantee, this seems excessive! If anyone has a better alternative for parts I would also appreciate advice.

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As I am travelling there will be a thud as if I have hit a speed bump. The car slows and sticks in a low gear and will not go beyond 40 mph. A message says 'check gearbox' and the red spanner shows on the dashboard display. Once I pull over and stop the car and then re-start everything is OK until the next time I experience this problem ( it used to be infrequent, now it happens every hundred miles or so ).

I have had it in to the garage and they have plugged it into the diagnosis machinery, but no faults ever show up. One of the service people suggested that it might be a solenoid, but, beyond that they don't seem to have any ideas. Has anyone else experienced this or can offer help? Read more

Rather stupidly, but perhaps understandly, I bought a Ford Ka brand new in early 2008, believing that it came with a 3 year warranty that covered pretty much everything. Unbeknownst to myself, this is not how it works at all. It's actually 1 year base warranty and 2 year "dealer" warranty. So basically everything is covered for 1 year, but after that, its very hard to get Ford to do anything. I have actually had success in getting Ford to do various things as goodwill gestures, but it's sad it has to be this way.

When the front driver's side shock absorber required replacement at 5,000 miles (just outside of 1 year base warranty), the dealer I bought it from wanted me to pay for the part + labour, something like £200 they wanted. I actually checked the cost of the part myself and it can be obtained for less than £30. I eventually got Ford to pay for everything as a gesture of good will. Now I'm having to do the same again, water leak into driver's side footwell. But water ingress is not covered in the remaining 2 years of the warranty! I have yet to hear back from Ford regarding what % they are going to pay, but I'm hoping for something in the range of 80-100%.

Ford do have an Extended Warranty programme but when I asked 3 different dealers about it they couldn't tell me how much it costs or what it covers.

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I have a Peugeot 206 with a 1.6HDI FAP engine, manufactured in 2006, with 68000 miles on the clock. I am aware of the well documented problems that the diesel particulate filter may cause as the car gets older. Filter blocking up, EOLYS fluid needs replacing, forced regeneration / replacement filter etc etc.
To avoid these problems, I am thinking, why not just remove the DPF, maybe cut out the filter inside the can, or replace the DPF entirely with a straight through pipe. I can't find a straight through pipe for sale anywhere, but there is a small exhaust manufacturing company local to me who can fabricate up a straight through pipe relativley cheaply.
The question which needed answering was will the ECU go into fail mode if there is no DPF in the exhaust pipe, and prevent the car from working properly. My hunch was that it should be OK, because the differential pressure sensor that triggers a regeneration cycle, will never register a differential pressure (indicating a blockage), if the 2 small hoses are in free air. My other hunch was that with the DPF removed, maybe the engine will gain a bit of performance with the massive blockage in the exhaust pipe taken out, the exhaust gases can flow a bit more freely.
Only one way to find out, take the DPF out and see what happens. Removing the DPF was much easier than I anticipated. Bit fiddly but straightforward. Once out, the pressure sensor pipes were just hanging in the engine bay. There is also a sensor (a temperature one I am assuming) situated just above the filter in the can, and that stayed in place. So with the filter out, went to start the engine......and no problems at all. No lights on the dash, everything was fine. Went for a drive in it, and it was good. It seemed to me as well to accelerate harder from 2000 to 3000 revs.
My next step is to get a staright through pipe from the back of the turbo down to the main pipe made up and try it with that. I don't really want to cut out the honeycomb filter element inside the DPF, it is too valuable an item for that I think.
Some questions I have no answers for yet, is what the ECU will do when the EOLYS fluid tank runs empty. Maybe I should try removing the magnet sensor in the fuel flap, to stop the EOLYS dosing taking place each time I fill up.
Any comments would be appreciated.

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