I have just discovered that my Focus TDCi 115 is not as whizzy as it ought to be.
Symptoms: When I start to use more than 'normal' power, the engine appears to lose the will to pull. It's OK for say the first couple of bends on a nice B road, or an overtaking squirt on the motorway from 70mph, but after the 2 or so corners / straights or if I'm going at 80 and want to accelerate - nothing there. I thought it was the fabled dodgy fuel pump, but the only fault code we could foind was P1200 - 'faulty injector'. The technician said that he has seen a lot of TDCi's with knackered injectors (they seem particularly prone to damage)which feed back data to the ECU, which shuts down the fuel delivery, presumably to prevent further damage. it's not a critical fault, so the glow plug light does not flash. I am told that the best you can expect to pay for an injector is around £300 from an independent, but you still have to get the injector calibration details programmed in by Ford. I have also heard that this is illegal... Ford cannot stop other companies from doing the work. It seems that a mild dose of petrol or water will do an injector, so be careful.
I am stuck with an underperforming car, which I bought on the understanding that it was one of the most reliable cars out there. Wrong. Beware. Any advice would be most welcome.

Smarty

(Martin Curtis)
Chepstow Read more

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