Engine System Failure Ford Focus

coxtrans · 12-05-2009, 10:00 PM

I have joined this site in hope that someone can help me. I have purchased a Ford Focus TDCI Diesel 2.0ltr and since new the car will intermittently go into limp mode. Two lights come on. One red which displays "Engine System Failure" and the other one orange which displays "ESP System Fault". When the red light goes off the car resumes power. This seems to happen when I accelerate heavier than normal. I have taken the car to the Ford Dealership and when they plug the computer in, it is showing fault codes to do with fuel - low fuel pressure, low injector pressure. There are many more codes and they all revolve around a fuel problem. Ford tell us to have the fuel pump and injectors changed and want to charge us but when the cars not in limp mode it runs perfectly. The car has only done 24,000kms and it has had this problem from new. I have looked at this problem on the internet and it seems there are other Focus's around the world with the same problem yet no one can fix it. Will appreciate any advice.

marg99 · 12-05-2009, 10:50 PM

Fuel presure is critical to these high pressure common rail diesels. The Holden Astra Diesel had problems with their fuel pumps but had not heard of Ford having issues.

jweb · 12-05-2009, 11:01 PM

. The car has only done 24,000kms and it has had this problem from new. I have looked at this problem on the internet and it seems there are other Focus's around the world with the same problem yet no one can fix it. Will appreciate any advice.[/QUOTE]

Is it still under warranty?,if not was the problem identified whilst under warranty and do you have proof.This comes under fault manufacturing and should be covered under the guide lines in the ford warranty stipulation.You need to read the fine print i am afraid,If i have time will skim read it.

However i am certain they should be paying for the parts,labor is another thing which you must check in the warranty conditions,cannot remember them.

If you find you are entitled for the repair be it parts or labor or both,and they will not do it.Ring Ford,or even better right a letter,as it is usually taken more seriously,make sure you document all dealings.Or in the worst case or first case talk to the ombudsmen,cannot remember exactly which.

Read the link below,and go through the ford warranty information and highlight relevance.This should not be happening,and they should fix it,The dealer will not car as much as for Australia itself,as ford Australia knows what kind of damage to its image you could do if you took it to the media,If they dont they are idiots.

ACC-Warranty information

coxtrans · 13-05-2009, 10:33 AM

Thanks guys for replies. The car still is under warranty but because the codes that are coming up are to do with a fuel problem they say its because of bad fuel and that it's not Fords fault. 12 months ago they drained the tank etc because they said it was bad fuel, changed the filter and charged me $660 (the car was brand new) and said they had fixed the problem. They haven't fixed the problem and it continues to do it. They go down the same track of bad fuel every time I go in there. They won't look outside the square. They are very frustrating.
My husband is a diesel mechanic and he argues relentlessly with them. He was thinking maybe the car needs an in-line fuel pump as it doesn't have one. The problem does seem to be when you accelerate harder than normal.

BlackLS · 13-05-2009, 10:48 AM

Sounds like you need to do 2 things.

1. Contact 13FORD Ford Australia Customer Care - Plan ahead and write down every detail from the day you purchased the car to now including how they ripped you off and didn't fix the problem.
2. Find a new service department.

zetec jim · 13-05-2009, 11:37 AM

Agree about finding a new place to go, unless the warranty stipulates you go to that dealers service Dept. As for low quality fuel..... ALL DIESEL IS LOW QUALITY FUEL!!!! Being a diesel mechanic, your husband will well know this. Blaming it on the diesel quality is not an argument, sounds like they're fobbing you off.

coxtrans · 13-05-2009, 05:35 PM

Picked my car up from Ford again today. He wont listen to me, talks over the top of me. Still using the bad fuel excuse. I tried to tell him that when the car is not playing up in between its hissy fits it runs perfectly. Bad fuel my ****! Time to go elsewhere I guess. So frustrating...

marg99 · 13-05-2009, 05:39 PM

My sister has a 2 y old VW convertable which is diesil and it had similar problems which they tried to blame on fuel quality but ended up confessing there were both injector and CPU programing glitches.

BlackLS · 13-05-2009, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coxtrans

Picked my car up from Ford again today. He wont listen to me, talks over the top of me. Still using the bad fuel excuse. I tried to tell him that when the car is not playing up in between its hissy fits it runs perfectly. Bad fuel my ****! Time to go elsewhere I guess. So frustrating...

Ford Australia need to know if one of their dealers representing the brand is not pulling their weight. I'd still get onto 13FORD - demand compensation for
a. paying something that didn't fix the problem and
b. should have been covered by warranty.

zetec · 13-05-2009, 10:12 PM

Agree with BlackLS. Call 13 Ford and state your problems, let them assist.

jweb · 13-05-2009, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zetec

Agree with BlackLS. Call 13 Ford and state your problems, let them assist.

Yep thats a good idea, remeber to document calls :
1.brief description of what they said and what you said.
2.when-date and time.
3.Get the persons name,make sure you get last name or last name initial,as the call centers can be very big and have various people by the same name.
4.If they say they will call you on a specific day and do not,record it!!,that way if things heat up you can bombard them with times dates etc.

when i had an issue with Midas they had 56 Jacobs on record,so i had no leg to stand on.If they do not assist then there are measures to take it further,as i outlined above in my lengthy post(sorry).

coxtrans · 14-05-2009, 06:34 PM

Thanks for all the replies. I have got some information from a Ford Tech in the UK and low and behold they have the same problem with TDCI Ford Diesels over there. He suggests reprogramming or more specifically, recoding, of the injectors themselves which cures all sorts of problems and reprogramming of the ecu with upgraded software. I have printed his information out and hopefully Ford here will take this on board. My car goes back in Monday. If I have no luck next week then I will ring Customer Care.

coxtrans · 07-06-2009, 03:34 PM

Ford had my car for a whole week and still can't fix the problem. It is now out of the dealers hands and a Ford Engineer from the city will be looking at it with his team of people. Hopefully they will resolve the problem. Its frustrating crawling along the highway.

Buzz Box · 08-06-2009, 11:23 PM

We have a petrol LT and we had the same problem it wouldn't start and all we got was the engine fault light and it says in the manual ring/visit dealer immediately and slow down no high revs etc.

So I ring the dealer and as above...... oh it must be bad fuel of course its bad fuel nothing else. But we put 98 fuel in last and in both cars and its been fine so on Tuesday we will be ringing ford to see WTF is going on...........

BlackLS · 09-06-2009, 01:05 PM

I used to get the same at around 25000kms, the TPS needed replacing.

coxtrans · 21-06-2009, 05:08 PM

Final Decision - Trading the piece of crap in and it won't be a FORD!

coxtrans · 15-08-2009, 03:18 PM

Now number 3 injector pipe has broken at 28,000kms. Smoke pouring out of the bonnet. Diesel all over my car. They have fixed that but the original problem continues. They have no clue at all. They still try to blame it on bad fuel yet they sold me the car with a full tank of fuel. It could of been their fuel. Piece of crap and will never buy another one again. Hate it hate it hate it and they are a bunch of ignorant @$$!*%#$

BlackLS · 16-08-2009, 09:59 AM

Typical Ford customer service in play. Blaming everyone but themselves.

bloodbox67 · 16-08-2009, 08:50 PM

Hi,
What a pain...sorry to hear about it.I know nothing about the pump set up on the focus but have they checked the obvious stuff like seals on pump, air locks etc.

cheers
Paul