2006 FORD FOCUS ESTATE 2.0, 136 bhp DTCI:
Hi. I am afraid that I appear to be another gullible Ford owner who appears to have fallen foul to Ford?s long running list of excuses to explain away the problemsd they encounter with their diesel injectors. Tales of ?water in your diesel? & ?a batch of cheap fuel? all sound too familiar having now researched this site.
Having purchased a new DTCi Estate in May 2006 I was initially pleased with the car?s performance. However, by mid-Nov?06, the car developed annoying hesitation issues during cold-engine acceleration. It became very lumpy and difficult to start, often emitting copious grey/white smoke on turnover. It would be laboured & hesitant on acceleration for the first 200-400yards, and a real pain to drive on cold mornings. I took the issue to the local Dealer about 3-4 times, only to be told they could not find anything wrong with the car. The car eventually became a nightmare on a journey between Kent and Warwickshire, at junctions & roundabouts, when the throttle system ceased to work, albeit the engine would continue to tick over. After 40-90 seconds, the throttle would kick back in and become active again! I limped back to the dealership the following morning, where it remained for 4 weeks. After numerous phone calls, and woeful tales of circuitry diagrams and personal site visits for Ford Technical Services, they identified as a faulty throttle sensor and a 1-2 injectors (replaced). After this work, the car behaved like new for several months.
However, 6 months on, the vehicle again developed the same issues, spluttering and showing hesitation at low revs and low road speeds. I returned it to the same Dealership, and after yet another 4 week in dry-dock, I was told they had replaced yet another faulty injector (after a 2 week trial/error testing to I/D the faulty injector). I was further informed that the EMS had required a full re-calibration, as it was showing up as a 1.8 PETROL EMS setting, (* not the 2.0DTCI vehicle it was mounted in!). I was told that this was nothing to worry about, as the EMS had been successfully recalibrated. The Service Manager added that he had personally experienced the pronounced hesitation in acceleration prior to any work having been executed on the car. He remained equally concerned (and honest enough to say so) after the work had been completed, as he felt that there continued to be a hint of hesitation at low revs (i.e. 1000-19000 rpm ) & low road speeds. He also unofficially informed me that there were 2 other 2.0 DTCI vehicles in the workshop that day with identical problems. Following the return of my car I have completed about c.750-800 miles motoring, and sadly the car continues to hesitate at low revs, particularly in the cooler misty mornings which are now upon us.
Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the new diesel Focus? I now have little faith in Ford's ability to resolve this long standing problem. Sorry this is long winded tale, but it needs putting into context. I see from my search of the site that the injector theme is very common. I fully intend to take Ford on over this issue.
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Lovely cars to drive these latest generation diesels, but too damn clever for their own good IMO (not just Fords, but seemingly most makes). Far too many scary stories like yours for my liking I'm afraid.
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It is worth pointing out that this is a Ford / PSA engine and is also fitted to various Peugeots, Citroens etc and is unrelated to the Mondeo III TDCi /Jaguar X-Type unit that you may have seen mentioned here re water in the fuel.
Politely write to Ford customer service, a Coventry address these days I think, and explain in detail including the time off the road etc, a polite and rational letter should get them on your side putting pressure on the dealer.
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megan
Did this problem start soon after a routine fuel filter change? If this is the HDi unit; [I've lost track of which of the five 2.0 diesels is which] then injectors failing at this rate suggests a common cause.
[How it can take them 4 weeks to find a failed throttle sensor defies belief.....]
All these tales just go to add weight to my personal view that the common-rails have now become too complex to be understood, maintained and diagnosed by the average dealer. All this baloney about the ECU being configured as a petrol!! Petrol engine don't fire their injectors at 80 volts!
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I read somewhere (can't for the life of me remember at the moment) Bosch were trying to get some standardisation on parts.
At present they produce in the region of 40 or 50 different types of injector for CR diesel.
You can imagine the fun and games you have trying to get replacements nevermind going to a remanufacturer and obtaining the correct refurbs to pop in.
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"Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the new diesel Focus?"
Nope. My 2.0 TDCI has none of these symptoms (new to me in June 2006 ... built in April ) Sorry to hear about yours though . You might want to head over to the Ford Focus specific website (ffoc.co.uk) and post in the diesel section.
There were issues with EGR valves at one point. I know mine is supposed to have the redesigned part (according to build date) . This might be a possibility I suppose ....
Have you tried using quality fuel ( Shell/BP) and giving it a good blast ?
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Sounds like a extreme version of the EGR vave symptoms that my 2.0 tdci suffered early in its life. A modified EGR valve and software cured my car, and was fitted to new builds from about march 2006.
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It may be worth asking your Ford dealer if Technical Service Bulletin 7/2006 dated 17 March 2006 applies to your car. This TSB is about the EGR valve problem that affected some early 2.0 tdci's.
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