When starting the Focus TDCI there is a knocking and banging sound from the engine area. Looking in the engine, when starting the car, the engine rocks about while the banging is going on.
This problem has been getting worse in the last few weeks and the car doesn't start as well as it used to. There are no lights on the dash. (bad ones I mean)
I called at my local garage today, but they were too busy to have a look. I wonder if someone has any idea what the problem is please?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 13/12/2007 at 18:14
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The words "Dual Mass," "Flywheel" and "Mortgage" are coming to mind.
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Oh no, how much do you reckon? It's only done 28000 miles.
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Prices vary considerably; but it's around five hours and the parts are £500 upwards depending on their source.
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Thanks Screwloose, would you tell me why this happens please?
I have been reading all these TDCI threads recently feeling pleased with myself, thinking it will not happen to me!!!
My Passat still is OK, but I am starting to worry.
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If it's the DMF - and without confirmation, it remains an "IF" - then that's what happens when an indestructible solid-steel disc becomes a complex, rubber-bonded, internally-geared, contraption subject to multiple types of stress.
The failure rate of DMFs is intolerable - it's just nobody knows how to solve the problem. Returning to solid flywheels is no longer an option.
The standard Ford test for a failed DMF is to remove the starter and check it's nose housing for steel dust. This should be done urgently; driving it to destruction could write off the car.
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Thanks for the answers Screwloose.
Some months ago my independent garage replaced the diesel filter for me. They did not fill the filter with diesel like they should have, but tried to start it with the starter. After the battery went flat they used a charger/starter thing, squirting brake cleaner into the air filter. During this the car would fire and bang a bit and stop. After doing this for 45 minutes and failing to start the car, they towed it for about a mile before it started.
So the question is, do you think this has made the DMF fail? And if so should I try to get them to help with the bill. And would you trust them to do the repairs?
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That would have put unusual stresses on the DMF; but it's not possible to be 100% sure that it caused the postulated failure.
It won't have done the high-pressure pump any favours either. I'd think long and hard about getting them to investigate this problem - but do get it looked at fast. If it comes apart, you may need a new engine and gearbox too.
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>>I'd think long and hard about getting them to investigate this problem
That puts it extremely politely SL - very tactful!
Diesel engines in cars have been routine now for over 20 years, and fitting fuel filters isn't exactly an unusual task. There's no excuse for not doing the job properly.
I would say that a TDCI is definitely beyond them (and seemingly beyond many dealers too!)
Number_Cruncher
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is DMF's fitted to diesel and petriol engines?
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Generally just diesels; post c.1990.
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So the question is do you think this has made the DMF fail? >>
That is horrendous way to treat a car!
Concidering that the car has only done 28k I would say that is the cause though can you prove it is the big Q. How soon after the filter change did the symptoms start?
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I have witnessed people trying to start Ford diesels after a fuel filter change without priming and the results are horrendous. The LP pump is really incapable of priming the filter (arguably, it's not really up to its job) and the stresses on the engine, starter and of course the DMF must be intolerable. There is no manual primer.
I would suggest that if your DMF has failed, this brutal process will have brought about its early demise.
It's such a pity - priming the filter is so easy with a 1 litre oil gun used in reverse as a suction pump. One good pull and the filter is primed. Any fuel in the oil gun is then squirted back into the tank.
I'm very sorry to hear that this damage may have happened and wish you luck in getting it sorted out - a hard one, I think.
659.
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Thanks everybody for your replies.
I know that you are all right about my garage, they are hopeless with new complicated engines. They used to bevery good with my Sierra. But the trouble is I do not trust my local Ford dealer, whenever I have used them there have been problems and they just don't care.
I don't know what to do, I've asked my wife not to use the car and to use the Passat. Oh I don't like it, it's too big!! she says.
I did find on a Focus forum that the starter motor might be faulty, I might change that and see what happens. It will be cheaper than the DMF change.
This would happen now when we are busy plucking turkeys for Christmas. If I leave the key in the ignition do you think someone will steal it? Perhaps I will put a turkey on the back seat and double the value.
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Cheddar, the symptoms did start after the fuel filter change, but I don't know when exactly. It has been getting steadily worse over a few months, I don't drive the car very often and my wife hadn't noticed that anything was wrong, but yesterday when I took it to be filled up it was much worse.
I knew when they were doing the job that there must be doing it wrong and I told them, but the mechanic said they were all like this! Although it has done only 28K it has had alot of short runs, but some long ones as well.
You are right about proving whose fault it is, they will never agree that they were wrong. They told me that it was OK to use ordinary oil in my VW, so I now take it to a Audi/VW specialist.
Cheddar I have often thought that Ford should give you a new car for all the PR that you have given them, also perhaps VW should give me one for my efforts on their behalf! A nice Golf 1.9 TDI would do very nicely indeed.
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Mine did the same thing - it was the starter motor in the end. Luckily it was done under warranty at about 50k miles
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