03 1.6 Fiesta - engine light on dash

theteal

Hi folks, my feelings at this point is that it's beyond my limited skill to fix and it will have to go for a look see but I'll ask here anyway, if you please.

I've got a straight forward solid engine light (not flashing) on the dash. There were no strange sounds, there was nothing strange happening with the car, just this light came on and I noticed it almost immediately. After a quick inspection under the bonnet I was surprised to see the coolant level was below the minimum line - for my sins I never include coolant in the usual checks, lesson learned there. Anyway, a quick google later leads me to think that this could well be the source for the light on my dash, so I topped it up to just below max with about 600ml of water - water being enough according to my old school mechanic aul' fella.

From what I've gleaned from a couple of sources it can take a bit of driving for the light to knock itself back off after such an issue. I've done about 25 miles over the last week - most of it in 1 sitting on xmas eve and the light has remained on. Not only that but I have also noticed that when I first start it up, it's over-revving by about 5-600 revs when idling i.e. 15-1600 revs. When the car temp increases to within the "normal" range on the little digital dash display, the revs come down to their usual 900-1000 revs when idling - within 3-4 minutes of starting the engine. The engine light on the dash still remains though.

It was MOT'd on xmas eve and I got the lads to check the error code but their thingy was acting up and wouldn't give a result. I know I'm going to have to bring it to a garage but I'm completely broke just now after moving house so I'm not exactly relishing the thought.

So lads, any help/advice would be appreciated.

corktina

disconnect the battery for 5 minutes (worth a try, works on my focus, not for this problem though)

1.6 fiesta? Is it a zetec S? pics welcome (to me anyway!)

theteal

just a standard 1.6 zetec, they're not unheard of over here, I specifically wanted a little extra poke coming from my old 05 1.4 Focus - it's soooo much quicker even though I was officially downgrading

i've no decent pics but it's basically this car in silver/tope which looks much better imho. It's been a great car up to now

shamwari

Disconnecting the battery might put the light out but it won't cure whatever caused it. It needs to be code read to see what's awry.

Wheelnut

If that light is the engine management light I doubt if it was caused by the low coolant level.

corktina

shamwari wrote: »

Disconnecting the battery might put the light out but it won't cure whatever caused it. It needs to be code read to see what's awry.

if it stays out the fault isn't there permanently and it could be a faulty sensor or just one of those blips that happen (in my case I know what causes it....)

Waterson

You need a proper diagnostic plug in otherwise you'll be wasting your time and money with anything else. A decent indie down your way shouldn't be charging any more than £35 for a simple diagnostic plug in. Then post up the fault codes and we'll help you out star.

theteal

The guy where I got MOT'd said he'd hook up the diagnostic device for free when his manager wasn't there , so I'll call in on Saturday morning. I'll let you all know. Thanks for the responses

theteal

I'm a little late posting back here. The code is P0030, something to do with an O2 sensor. I'll have a look at sorting it at the weekend

dieselbug

This may help to explain.


http://www.permoveo.ltd.uk/tabid/122/OBD-Error-Code/P0030/Diagnostics/Ford/Default.aspx