Hello all, I've been lurking on the site for ages, its far better and more friendly than some I am a member of!
Anyway, I've got a 2002 TDci 2.L Manual 130BHP Ghia X Estate - all the usual trimmings - leather/nav etc.
About 4 months ago it developed the 'white-smoke-limp home mode-tricky starting-throbbing and lumpy under load, 30mpg max, fault'. The car was owned by a friend of mine at this point - he had spent over £1500 on bills with the Ford Dealer and a generic mechanic and was at the end of his tether - I mentioned that he might want to take it to a diesel injection specialist but before he did that to rule out any other possible route cause. By this time, he was so fed up that he offered to sell me the car and has since moved on to a newer petrol model.
So, I went through the recent service history and the bills had indeed been eye watering:
new glow plugs and relay
new injectors
another new injector
5 days labour at main stealer rates...
they had diagnosed Fault P2339 relating to Cylinder 3 (which I understand is the 4th to fire) being over it's knock limit. This certainly would explain the limp home mode and the 'throbbing' missfire under load and the white smoke - horrendous on start up but always present - as is the whiff of diesel. Replacing and rotating injectors has not solved the issue so I am suspecting a deeper cause.
So this is what I have done to date:
1/ checked positive and negative main battery cables
2/ checked terminals at battery, starter motor, earths
3/ removed, stripped and cleaned starter motor
4/ checked turbo actuator
5/ checked turbo fins for play
6/ removed inlet manifold - caked to 0.5cm with yucky oily carbon deposits
7/ removed EGR Valve - equally caked with gunk
8/ removed and bench tested glow plugs - ok
9/ tested wiring to glow plugs - ok
10/ removed CAM position Sensor
11// cleaned inlet manifold and EGR - horrible hateful job - almost enough to put me off diesels!
next steps:
12/ replace fuel filter with new one - this car was doing 30k a year from 2006 till 2010 - since 2010 the car has done town driving - the fuel filter on it looks rather old I know Ford say 37k but real world experience has always taught me to change diesel filters on TDCi engines used in town at the same time as an oil change - ie every 6000 miles.
13/ replace CAM Sensor
14/Blank EGR Valve - I have made 2 blanks - one plain one and one with a small hole - I will use the total blank first and after 1000 miles replace with the holed blank - this will keep the emissions light off
15/ examine old fuel pump for metal debris (suspect fuel pump)
16/ run the car for a couple of hundred miles
17/ add fuel system cleaner twice
now, this is where general knowledge runs out and model specific knowledge comes in so I would be grateful if those who have more experience of this car than I do check what I have done so far, is there anything I have missed?
If after doing the above works - do I need to 'clear' the error code to remove the limp home mode or will the ECU learn the new settings with time?
If I do need to have the code cleared at this stage I will take the car to Lawson Diesel in Edinburgh who will test the fuel pump and the injectors on their specialist machine - the only one of its kind in Scotland - if the fault lies with the pump, I'll buy one of their refurbished ones - I will get them to check and recode the injectors.
Does this sound like a good strategy - I'd rather not replace the pump at this stage until I have tried a filter and CAM sensor- do I need to consider the fuel pressure regulator?
thanks in advance and for all the info I have gleaned to date
rich
Anyway, I've got a 2002 TDci 2.L Manual 130BHP Ghia X Estate - all the usual trimmings - leather/nav etc.
About 4 months ago it developed the 'white-smoke-limp home mode-tricky starting-throbbing and lumpy under load, 30mpg max, fault'. The car was owned by a friend of mine at this point - he had spent over £1500 on bills with the Ford Dealer and a generic mechanic and was at the end of his tether - I mentioned that he might want to take it to a diesel injection specialist but before he did that to rule out any other possible route cause. By this time, he was so fed up that he offered to sell me the car and has since moved on to a newer petrol model.
So, I went through the recent service history and the bills had indeed been eye watering:
new glow plugs and relay
new injectors
another new injector
5 days labour at main stealer rates...
they had diagnosed Fault P2339 relating to Cylinder 3 (which I understand is the 4th to fire) being over it's knock limit. This certainly would explain the limp home mode and the 'throbbing' missfire under load and the white smoke - horrendous on start up but always present - as is the whiff of diesel. Replacing and rotating injectors has not solved the issue so I am suspecting a deeper cause.
So this is what I have done to date:
1/ checked positive and negative main battery cables
2/ checked terminals at battery, starter motor, earths
3/ removed, stripped and cleaned starter motor
4/ checked turbo actuator
5/ checked turbo fins for play
6/ removed inlet manifold - caked to 0.5cm with yucky oily carbon deposits
7/ removed EGR Valve - equally caked with gunk
8/ removed and bench tested glow plugs - ok
9/ tested wiring to glow plugs - ok
10/ removed CAM position Sensor
11// cleaned inlet manifold and EGR - horrible hateful job - almost enough to put me off diesels!
next steps:
12/ replace fuel filter with new one - this car was doing 30k a year from 2006 till 2010 - since 2010 the car has done town driving - the fuel filter on it looks rather old I know Ford say 37k but real world experience has always taught me to change diesel filters on TDCi engines used in town at the same time as an oil change - ie every 6000 miles.
13/ replace CAM Sensor
14/Blank EGR Valve - I have made 2 blanks - one plain one and one with a small hole - I will use the total blank first and after 1000 miles replace with the holed blank - this will keep the emissions light off
15/ examine old fuel pump for metal debris (suspect fuel pump)
16/ run the car for a couple of hundred miles
17/ add fuel system cleaner twice
now, this is where general knowledge runs out and model specific knowledge comes in so I would be grateful if those who have more experience of this car than I do check what I have done so far, is there anything I have missed?
If after doing the above works - do I need to 'clear' the error code to remove the limp home mode or will the ECU learn the new settings with time?
If I do need to have the code cleared at this stage I will take the car to Lawson Diesel in Edinburgh who will test the fuel pump and the injectors on their specialist machine - the only one of its kind in Scotland - if the fault lies with the pump, I'll buy one of their refurbished ones - I will get them to check and recode the injectors.
Does this sound like a good strategy - I'd rather not replace the pump at this stage until I have tried a filter and CAM sensor- do I need to consider the fuel pressure regulator?
thanks in advance and for all the info I have gleaned to date
rich
