[Andyford]

I been here a few times before to find out information on faults for friends, but now I actually own a Ford I suppose it was just a matter of time before I needed help myself

I currently have a Focus 1.6 zetec tdci 61 plate mk3. It's done 50k miles and I generally do any work on cars myself having worked in maintenance for the last 15 years or so.

The fault I have is the dreaded 'engine malfunction service now' warning, and although I have seen various topics posted about this, I am yet to see one that describes the nature of the fault I have.

The first time I saw it I was trying to overtake someone on an A road, and when I accelerated to build up speed before pulling out, the warning came on and the car went into limp mode. This was about 1 year ago. I stopped the car and checked in the engine bay for any loose, burnt, things and low levels etc, and decided the oil may need a top up. When I got back in the car and started it up the fault was gone and limp mode no longer active.

The fault has popped up a few times in the last 12 months but I couldn't quite put my finger on what was causing it. I have now figured out that when I accelerate heavily, in any gear, the fault appears, limp mode comes on, and the only way to clear the fault is to turn off the ignition and start it up again. Also the fault is worse when I have a full car of people, or even a full tank of petrol, which point me towards putting load on the engine.

I have been thinking it was something to do with the fuel delivery to the engine or air sensor etc, as when more power/speed is called for, more air/fuel are required.

The fault will not come on if I am in neutral and Rev the nuts off the car, but I can get the fault to come on every time I put high load on the engine.

I appreciate any help you guys can give me as this is a little frustrating now. I am reluctant to take it to a dealer just yet as I have seen plenty of posts where people have had loads of things changed by dealers with no improvement and I don't want to be ripped off. I would also like to get to the bottom of this and post a follow up to help others as most of the posts I've seen just fade off without any follow up.

Thanks.

 

[paul mex]

You've got to get the codes read to give you some idea where to start ? Could be many many things , over boost been a possible straight away !
Get the fault code and post away on here
Good luck

 

[Andyford]

That was one thing I forgot to mention sorry, there are no fault codes. I've taken it to a garage and they didn't find any, also used a cheap diagnostics reader whilst driving and the fault appeared on the car, with no fault code generated. I have run the test mode on the car itself and the only thing that came up was DTC C558_64, which I think is unrelated.

 

[Andyford]

Right, so a bit of follow up is required. I finally decided to break out the toolbox and do some stuff to the car. After reading many a forum post I though I'd start with the fuel filter and glow plugs. But after seeing the plugs were £12.50 each plus VAT for the NGK ones I though a £25 fuel filter would do for now.

Took off the fuel filter and replaced, primed the new one, I thought, and after a little trouble starting it fired up. I also decided to check the tightness of the air filter hose that goes to the turbo (the diagonal concertina one about 8" long). When I took it off there was a small pool of oil in a few of the coils of the pipe. i cleaned it out and made sure the hose clamps were tight as buggery when I fitted it back on to prevent air leaks into the system.

I also took off the air filter and used a cotton bud (ear cleaner/nose picker) with a little brake cleaner spayed onto the end to clean the MAF sensor in the pipe between the air filter and pipe mentioned above VERY carefully. I then dried it off with the clean end of the bud so no residue was left on there.

I tightened everything up and took it out on the motorway for 30 mins and ragged the hell out of it to get the fault to show up..............and hey presto, it seems fixed! Before today, I could get the fault to appear just by rapid acceleration, when driving up hills quickly, or by having lots of weight in the car and going over about 2250 revs. I have been up and down the motorway in all gears with a heavy foot for half an hour without issue.

So, for a bit of due diligence, I decided to crack open the old fuel filter to see if there was an octopus blocking up the holes or something. I will try and post the picture here, but if it doesn't work, believe me, the toilet in trainspotting was cleaner.

 

[nilagin]

Looks like you've either been using very cheap crappy fuel or that filter hasn't been changed in a long, long while.

 

[Andyford]

Yep, a bit of both I'm afraid. I need to start changing it annually.

 

[foci_st3]

The new focus does seem very sensitive on having this error pop up, I changed my air filter on my 1.6 ecoboost to a k&n element and I had this message pop onto the dash. I checked the error code with my local mechanic and it showed air flow error so a ford element went back in and the message has never appeared again.

I did read that th dpf can cause this message aswell on the diesels so make sure it's doing a regen or you give it a got long blitz out.

 

[Salah]

Right, so a bit of follow up is required. I finally decided to break out the toolbox and do some stuff to the car. After reading many a forum post I though I'd start with the fuel filter and glow plugs. But after seeing the plugs were £12.50 each plus VAT for the NGK ones I though a £25 fuel filter would do for now.

Took off the fuel filter and replaced, primed the new one, I thought, and after a little trouble starting it fired up. I also decided to check the tightness of the air filter hose that goes to the turbo (the diagonal concertina one about 8" long). When I took it off there was a small pool of oil in a few of the coils of the pipe. i cleaned it out and made sure the hose clamps were tight as buggery when I fitted it back on to prevent air leaks into the system.

I also took off the air filter and used a cotton bud (ear cleaner/nose picker) with a little brake cleaner spayed onto the end to clean the MAF sensor in the pipe between the air filter and pipe mentioned above VERY carefully. I then dried it off with the clean end of the bud so no residue was left on there.

I tightened everything up and took it out on the motorway for 30 mins and ragged the hell out of it to get the fault to show up..............and hey presto, it seems fixed! Before today, I could get the fault to appear just by rapid acceleration, when driving up hills quickly, or by having lots of weight in the car and going over about 2250 revs. I have been up and down the motorway in all gears with a heavy foot for half an hour without issue.

So, for a bit of due diligence, I decided to crack open the old fuel filter to see if there was an octopus blocking up the holes or something. I will try and post the picture here, but if it doesn't work, believe me, the toilet in trainspotting was cleaner.
View attachment 176778

Hi i have exactly this issue with my 1.6 mk3 diesel focus 2013, do you recommend to replace the diesel filter?

 

[PURPLE_2L_LX]

A good all around service and reading the fault codes with a decent code reader.

 

[omoledm]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ENGINE SINCE IT DISPLAYS ENGINE MALFUNCTION?

 

[Mondygeek]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE ENGINE SINCE IT DISPLAYS ENGINE MALFUNCTION?

Means it's absolutely toast. Probably bent conrods (if there's any left) burnt all 18 pistons and snapped 15 valves. Judging from all that I assume there's dog mess on the offside wheel too........ forgive me but you need to start your own thread if you have a problem and try give as much detail about your car and your problem as you can.

 

[PURPLE_2L_LX]

And since it happened 6 years ago its probably fixed or in the scrappers by now..

If you have an issue please start your own thread with more details.

What car. what engine, what gearbox what year, what spec????