Advice required- mechanic worked on car but fault is back

L_MCG

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone on here can help me. I have a Ford Focus Lx and recently the engine warning light came on and the car would not start on occasions. I brought the car to a garage nearby and they ran a diagnostic which said the speed sensors needed to be replaced. They told me to come back if the light persisted which it did. They replaced the speed sensors at a cost of 150 euro but 2 days later all the lights came back on the dashboard again I brought the car back to the garage who said that i should bring it to a Ford garage to see what exactly is wrong with it.

Is this acceptable? I'm not sure what to do next....

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!!

kildare.17hmr

Did they plug it in the last time you went back to see if it was the same fault? there are many reasons an engine managment light can come on.

guil

is it a new shape focus, if it is have a pull one of the spark plug leads off and look in, if theres water there i'd guarantee thats the problem, same thing happened to mine last year and the start of this year with the wet weather, the EMI comes on and it runs like a pig

make sure the ignition is off before doin it

ya have to change the water jets cos they leak

kildare.17hmr

The frost plugs on those focus leak too and cause the same problem as the leaking washer jets!

guil

someone suggested that but its never lost any water

Hal1

Same happened me, the EML came on figured it was the coil pack as there where no crossed ht leads and cylinder head sensor was ok. Once it was changed light went away car running fine ever since.

Nissan doctor

Sounds strange, the speed sensors are part of the ABS system and would have nothing to do with the car not starting, also any fault with the ABS system would not show up if they were running an engine managment diagnostic test.

corktina

Hal1 wrote: »

Same happened me, the EML came on figured it was the coil pack as there where no crossed ht leads and cylinder head sensor was ok. Once it was changed light went away car running fine ever since.

had similar with my Fiesta recently . Coil pack costs about €70 and is fitted with four screws...easy DIY fix. (my mechanic afterwards recomended changing plugs and leads as well at same time but mine seemed to run great without doing so).
(Its a very common fault with a Zetec im told, the heat fries the coil pack and the new ones come with a heat sheild.)

Row

L_MCG wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone on here can help me. I have a Ford Focus Lx and recently the engine warning light came on and the car would not start on occasions. I brought the car to a garage nearby and they ran a diagnostic which said the speed sensors needed to be replaced. They told me to come back if the light persisted which it did. They replaced the speed sensors at a cost of 150 euro but 2 days later all the lights came back on the dashboard again I brought the car back to the garage who said that i should bring it to a Ford garage to see what exactly is wrong with it.

Is this acceptable? I'm not sure what to do next....

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!!

If you give the year and engine then this may help...:)

langdang

Row wrote: »

If you give the year and engine then this may help...:)

It's a 1.4 petrol, I guarantee it!!
No start = Speed sensor? Seems strange to me also.

Hal1

Do the dash dials fluctuate wildly or has the speedometer stopped working? check the battery terminals too for corrosion, there could be a bad earth in there too.

Dempo1

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Sounds strange, the speed sensors are part of the ABS system and would have nothing to do with the car not starting, also any fault with the ABS system would not show up if they were running an engine management diagnostic test.

I agree

Similar situation with Engine warning light showing, unfortunately i got caught for a complete replacement of a cat converter (€600) and the light remained on.

To cut a long story short, this problem is occurring quite a lot on modern cars. My engine warning light came on early last year, the car had been in storage for quite some time, prior to a NCT requirement i had the car fully serviced along with the cat converter based on the advice of the mechanic. After the service the light remained on, i passed the test but a year later the light remains on only going off on a full tank of petrol.

Three mechanics later (one a main dealer) the light remains on after numerous diagnostic checks. Eventually i got a local mechanic to check it out, he was able to tell me it was an air flow sensor and that mechanically it had no bearing on the day to day performance of the car. Prior to my second NCT test, he met me, plugged in his diagnostic reader, turned off the light, i had my test, passed and shortly after the light came back on.

Almost a year and half on from the light coming on, i now live with it, there are no side affects such as non starter, fuel consumption and mechanically the car is fine. Its an 04 with low mileage. My humble advice is to leave it alone, there could be literally 100's of possibilities most of which do not affect the cars performance. It could end up being a costly exercise trying to eliminate the fault with no guarantee's the light will remain off.

L_MCG

Thanks so much for all your advice.

It's a 1.4L 06 Petrol.

When the mechanic first plugged the car in, the diagnostic read fault with the speed sensor. But these have been replaced so presuming the light shouldnt come back on?

Basically what is happening, is i'll start the car and it wont start but will after messing around with the keys for a while (possibly a problem with the immobiliser?) or the car will start normally but after driving it for a while, the light will come on.

Just really annoyed- if you pay 150 euro for something, you expect it to be fixed...or maybe i'm naive!!!

Nissan doctor

L_MCG wrote: »

Just really annoyed- if you pay 150 euro for something, you expect it to be fixed...or maybe i'm naive!!!

Absolutly not, Any good mechanic should be able to diagnose a problem correctly first time.