Recently took delivery of a brand new Ford S-Max 1.8tdci Zetec. Its a fabulous car but has been let down by a string of minor trim and fitting faults, all of which have been sorted by the supplying dealership.
However one fault still persists, which is that if you do not turn and hold the ignition key long enough it is possible to make the engine produce an almighty clatter, but not fully fire up. This clears if you shut the engine off and start it again.
I just wonder if any other S-Max drivers have found the same fault and whether their dealer was able to remedy it? Ford are aware of the issue, allegedly, but have not come up with a solution - so until they do their line is 'if you start the car according to the Handbook it will start without problem'.
This is a very annoying problem for me, as it is not difficult to recreate this fault if you inadvertently start the car too quickly.
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Do you start it with the clutch down or not?
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I had a previous generation Focus TDCi that did this if you didn't hold the key in for long enough, my current petrol engined BMW will also die (although without the clatter) if you don't hold the key long enough. The answer, hold the key long enough! :-)
I know on my old Focus the starter automatically cut out as soon as the engine was running no matter how long you held the key in for, so really there's no risk of starter motor damage by holding the key too long, so hence I would say there's no reason to release the key before the engine has started...
Blue
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Yes the starter motor does cut out automatically if you continue to hold the key. Ford or the Dealer have never attributed the fault to glowplugs but rather that if the ignition is not turned fully before releasing, the engine management system doesn't have the chance to get all systems running.
Yes it is a very refined engine and, I'm led to believe, much quieter and more flexible than the 2.0 tdci version!
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Yes it is a very refined engine and, I'm led to believe, much quieter and more flexible than the 2.0 tdci version!
IME the 1.8 TDCi in the old Focus (all but the same engine as yours) is more refined than the newer Ford/PSA 1.6 TDCi unit in the C-Max.
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My S Max started making a clattering sound after 5 days on the sixth day it started losing power and running like a bag of nails. I became real friendly with the AA and eventualy after three break downs the car was towed into a main dealer. Apparently there is a "known fault" and ford dealer tech are aware of it, it can be resolved by turning your engine off for a couple of mins. They expected me to take the car on the road as the fault could be owner rectified, whilst ford develop a programme to resolve the issue. Even when the local police said they would prosecute me if I had an accident in a vehicle that i knew to be defective, ford insisted I had to take the vehicle and would not allow me to have a hire car, I have refused and will bill ford for the hire car. Customer service is awful, if you want a laugh read fords values, they should read the customer is a doormat. Its now a week and I still have not had my S max back.
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I also went through the mill with ford CS, eventually after demanding only to speak to the manager of the callcentre (and eventually getting his deputy) I got a replacement (850quid) exhaust on my ST220 with 90% payment by Fords.
The guy I eventually got to deal with was excellent, but I have a hitlist of 6 people there who should be fired. FYI: allegedly the problems are to do with relocating their cs staff from Scotland to Coventry.
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I have had truly superb courteous service from Ford Customer Relations in Glasgow, totally above and beyond the call of duty, perhaps things will settle down shortly if they are in the process of moving, they may have temp staff in place etc.
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I hope Ford CS does improve I am into my second week without my S max and they dont seem to care. They nearly laughed when I asked for my money back, oh well off to the solicitors.
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They had trouble when they moved them upto Scotland in the first place.
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My S-Max has been a real horror story - though I thought I had got all its faults (bar that wretched ignition thing) nipped in the bud. However, I discovered this weekend that my car has been fitted with 2 x offside 3rd row seats, meaning only one of the seatbelt sockets is in the centre. Anyone sitting on the nearside seat has nowhere to plug in their seatbelt!! I had previously discovered that one of these seats was not completely bolted in, with one bolt complete out of its fixing hole.
So, in summary I have experienced faults in virtually every area of the car - interior, exterior, engine and paintwork.
Does Ford actually implement quality control any more? If so, they missed this car out, for sure!
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"So, in summary I have experienced faults in virtually every area of the car - interior, exterior, engine and paintwork.
Does Ford actually implement quality control any more? If so, they missed this car out, for sure!"
Makes you wonder how well they fitted the other parts you can't see!!
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