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Why is my Ford C-Max speckling my caravan with black spots?
I have a Ford C-Max 2.0 TDCI Ghia on a 55 plate with the Euro IV engine. When we first had the car, when it was 18 months old, the car went in under warranty due to low mpg and no power when pulling off. The power issue was fixed with a software update but the fuel economy has never improved on average above about 34mpg. Six months after the update the EGR valve failed and was fixed under warranty.
At the same time we purchased a caravan and have used the car to tow it multiple times. The car seems to have no trouble towing the van, but we have a big issue as every time we tow the caravan, the front of the caravan is covered in small black sooty/oily specks. The same can be found on the back of the car but to a lesser extent. The last time we used it the problem has become much worse and the caravan was covered in specks after about two hours of towing. The car has been to multiple garages and no fault is found. The exhaust looks much blacker than any other 2.0 TDCI I have seen. When we do not tow the caravan, I have noticed that when the car is fully loaded the back of the car has fairly clear oil spotted all over it.
At the same time we purchased a caravan and have used the car to tow it multiple times. The car seems to have no trouble towing the van, but we have a big issue as every time we tow the caravan, the front of the caravan is covered in small black sooty/oily specks. The same can be found on the back of the car but to a lesser extent. The last time we used it the problem has become much worse and the caravan was covered in specks after about two hours of towing. The car has been to multiple garages and no fault is found. The exhaust looks much blacker than any other 2.0 TDCI I have seen. When we do not tow the caravan, I have noticed that when the car is fully loaded the back of the car has fairly clear oil spotted all over it.
Asked on 23 August 2010 by LeeWye
Answered by
Honest John
That's no good. I ran one for a year and averaged over 40mpg. An equivalent Peugeot might have a FAP diesel particulate filter (I ran a 307 with the same engine alongside my C-Max and it did). If the C-Max doesn't then these smuts are probably indicative of incomplete combustion of all the fuel fed into the engine. It needs the attention of a diesel injection specialist.
Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.
Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.
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