I bought my Ford Focus 06 diesel 1 year ago - 49K on clock. In October - alternator needing replacing.

In november sudden loss of power and amber engine warning light. Started up fine after losing power, with no warning lights but kept doing this recurrently. Garage thought was EGR valve problem - recommended cleaning it. This seemed to solve the problem.

Had full service in Jan with oil and filter change. Since then intermittently stuttering, particularly in 1st, 2nd gear at low speeds. One occasion of engine systems warning light came on - enter rev limited mode and limped to garage. Diagnostics gave fault code for DPF and also EGR valve. Cleaned DPF but recommended may need replacing.

Since then ongoing stuttering and engine systems warning light comes on and off - have done 300 miles since came on most recently, some at high speeds on motorway. Car not driving well, but not in limp mode.

Could all these problems be related or is it just coincidence? Replacing the DPF could be expensive and I don't want to do this if it is not necessary. It seems a fairly young car to need routine replacement of parts, only done 60k miles. Mostly short journeys but not sure the DPF should fur up so quickly.

I would value your advice on how to proceed.