Car is a mess

Amie1980

Heya all .. I have a 2011 Ford Focus titanium 2ltr. I had problems with the car loosing power and was told it was the dpf. (The engine malfunction message came up.). I was told to drive car in low gear and keep revs at 3.5 for a half hour journey on motor way to encourage it to regenerate .. after a couple of times it seemed to work power came back and life was good ... untilllll dum dum dummmmm the stupid pox broke down one morning on entering the motor way !!!! Well to say I had a potty mouth that morning was an understatement. I say broke down what I really mean is just stopped . No warning just stopped dead in the middle of the motor way . I left it for a few min and obviously had enough time for three nervous break downs and a whole lot of crying and bad language then bam! I pressed the button and off I shot driving all the way home with out any trouble how ever there was a hiss out of the car and when I tried to drive it later it kept stopping .. brought it to a garage and it was the dpf and some valve.. I was told the best thing to do was get it removed that would give me a year to save a 2500 for a new one before but and it would do fine .. that all been done the black smoke is pouring out the back and it's still doing it!!!!!! I was told the car needed RE mapping so I booked it in .. 250 Euro I was told but now it's gone up-to 450 and he said that shouldn't be the reason that it's cutting power .. what do I do does anyone have any ideas at all .. I've four kids and two months till Christmas I really don't have the time money or patients to play guess what with mechanics please please help !!!!

26000 Elephants

Sorry to hear that, and so close to Christmas.

Have you had a diagnostic done where they have told you - definitevely - that the issue is the DPF? There are several possible errors so it would be good to get the specific one.

The black smoke and hissing sounds like you may have a split turbo hose. Have someone to check the hoses. They split from the inside out, so are not obvious. But you will often see black oil spray nearby. Worth a try before you spend money on a remap ( which should have been explained to you before they removed the dpf)

(it could also be the ecu trying to regen by adding extra fuel, but in this case I doubt it.)

I do believe that you need to start looking for a different mechanic though,

Amie1980

26000 Elephants wrote: »

Sorry to hear that, and so close to Christmas.

Have you had a diagnostic done where they have told you - definitevely - that the issue is the DPF? There are several possible errors so it would be good to get the specific one.

The black smoke and hissing sounds like you may have a split turbo hose. Have someone to check the hoses. They split from the inside out, so are not obvious. But you will often see black oil spray nearby. Worth a try before you spend money on a remap ( which should have been explained to you before they removed the dpf)

(it could also be the ecu trying to regen by adding extra fuel, but in this case I doubt it.)

I do believe that you need to start looking for a different mechanic though,

So you think I should bring it somewhere else and see can they check the turbo hoses.. that sounds expensive . Do I need to get it RE mapped straight away and no it hasn't been on a machine I don't think how do I get that done

Jack lemmon

Amie1980 wrote: »

Heya all .. I have a 2011 Ford Focus titanium 2ltr. I had problems with the car loosing power and was told it was the dpf. (The engine malfunction message came up.). I was told to drive car in low gear and keep revs at 3.5 for a half hour journey on motor way to encourage it to regenerate .. after a couple of times it seemed to work power came back and life was good ... untilllll dum dum dummmmm the stupid pox broke down one morning on entering the motor way !!!! Well to say I had a potty mouth that morning was an understatement. I say broke down what I really mean is just stopped . No warning just stopped dead in the middle of the motor way . I left it for a few min and obviously had enough time for three nervous break downs and a whole lot of crying and bad language then bam! I pressed the button and off I shot driving all the way home with out any trouble how ever there was a hiss out of the car and when I tried to drive it later it kept stopping .. brought it to a garage and it was the dpf and some valve.. I was told the best thing to do was get it removed that would give me a year to save a 2500 for a new one before but and it would do fine .. that all been done the black smoke is pouring out the back and it's still doing it!!!!!! I was told the car needed RE mapping so I booked it in .. 250 Euro I was told but now it's gone up-to 450 and he said that shouldn't be the reason that it's cutting power .. what do I do does anyone have any ideas at all .. I've four kids and two months till Christmas I really don't have the time money or patients to play guess what with mechanics please please help !!!!

I was told the best thing to do was get it removed that would give me a year to save a 2500 for a new one before but and it would do fine .. that all been done the black smoke is pouring out the back

The obvious reason for the black smoke is the dpf removed and it's function of filtering soot n partials from exhaust fumes. A recondition dpf should cost no more than 500-600 all in! It may not have been remapped correctly either if the smoke is continuing.

Amie1980

Amie1980 wrote: »

So you think I should bring it somewhere else and see can they check the turbo hoses.. that sounds expensive . Do I need to get it RE mapped straight away and no it hasn't been on a machine I don't think how do I get that done

The hissing sound has now gone completely but there's slot of black smoke and it still looses power and cuts out .. the mechanic says it's because it needs RE mapping but that bloke saying its nothing to do with it ..

Amie1980

Amie1980 wrote: »

The hissing sound has now gone completely but there's slot of black smoke and it still looses power and cuts out .. the mechanic says it's because it needs RE mapping but that bloke saying its nothing to do with it ..

He just rang me back he said there's a problem egv or something it's blocked or broken does that make sense

Amie1980

Jack lemmon wrote: »

I was told the best thing to do was get it removed that would give me a year to save a 2500 for a new one before but and it would do fine .. that all been done the black smoke is pouring out the back

The obvious reason for the black smoke is the dpf removed and it's function of filtering soot n partials from exhaust fumes. A recondition dpf should cost no more than 500-600 all in! It may not have been remapped correctly either if the smoke is continuing.

It hasn't been RE mapped yet he's just rang me there saying the ecu or v is broke or blocked and he can RE map both dpf and that other thing for 400 does that sound right and do you think everything will be OK if I pay that

dev100

Amie1980 wrote:

It hasn't been RE mapped yet he's just rang me there saying the ecu or v is broke or blocked and he can RE map both dpf and that other thing for 400 does that sound right and do you think everything will be OK if I pay that

Egr valve ?

MarkR

Amie1980 wrote: »

It hasn't been RE mapped yet he's just rang me there saying the ecu or v is broke or blocked and he can RE map both dpf and that other thing for 400 does that sound right and do you think everything will be OK if I pay that

EGR valve I think.

martinr5232

First thing you need to do is bring it to someone who knows what they are doing.
You could have had the dpf cleaned for about 200 euro but thats not fixing the problem the dpf only gets blocked when its unable to regenerate. So the reason for that has to be found on that focus it could be an egr valve sticking or fuel vaporizer valve blocked.

Amie1980

MarkR wrote: »

EGR valve I think.

Yep that's the one haha sorry he's a foreign national that learnt to speak English in Ireland and I'm from Birmingham but have lived in Dublin fifteen years so communication between the two of us is crap Hahaha

demanufactured

Hold on for a sec....
What kind of driving do you normally do...What's your weekly milage for example...is it.mostly town driving?

The ecu would need to be remapped after the DPF is removed.if that hasn't been done you need to get that done .

Amie1980

martinr5232 wrote: »

First thing you need to do is bring it to someone who knows what they are doing.
You could have had the dpf cleaned for about 200 euro but thats not fixing the problem the dpf only gets blocked when its unable to regenerate. So the reason for that has to be found on that focus it could be an egr valve sticking or fuel vaporizer valve blocked.

Yeah that's what the bloke just said is wrong he's fixing it now please god listen thanks all for your help fingers crossed that will be it ..

JonnyM

Had similar problem with my insignia without the black smoke just losing power. Was told it was the dpf and drove it around in 3rd gear at high revs for a bit but didn't get rid. I had the car at a local mechanic who couldn't do proper diagnostic as with main dealer the can do a proper check and things can show up on their software that won't on others.

Long story short was cracked pipe leading to egr valve. My advice would be bring it to a Ford dealer and let them diagnose problem.

dev100

Amie1980 wrote:

Yep that's the one haha sorry he's a foreign national that learnt to speak English in Ireland and I'm from Birmingham but have lived in Dublin fifteen years so communication between the two of us is crap Hahaha

2 foreigners you mean

Also as one poster has asked about mileage a year? Basically everyone got this idea that daesal was the best and when cheap tax came around everyone decided that's the way to go . New laws came and all these valves were added to cut down on harm full crap coming out the exhaust. This system works if you do reasonable amount of driving. Unfortunately if u do small mileage on a newer car,the DPf valve and egr valve will get clogged up . In future to clear these you will drive it on the motor way and drive it hard for certain length of time and throw a drop dipitene in every now and then.

Amie1980

dev100 wrote: »

2 foreigners you mean

Also as one poster has asked about mileage a year? Basically everyone got this idea that daesal was the best and when cheap tax came around everyone decided that's the way to go . New laws came and all these valves were added to cut down on harm full crap coming out the exhaust. This system works if you do reasonable amount of driving. Unfortunately if u do small mileage on a newer car,the DPf valve and egr valve will get clogged up . In future to clear these you will drive it on the motor way and drive it hard for certain length of time and throw a drop dipitene in every now and then.

Yep that's exactly it I just wish I new this before .:( never mind I just prey that it will be fixed tomorrow thanks for the help.

demanufactured

If your not doing high mileage everyday you'd probably be better off with a petrol car.

Jack lemmon

Amie1980 wrote: »

It hasn't been RE mapped yet he's just rang me there saying the ecu or v is broke or blocked and he can RE map both dpf and that other thing for 400 does that sound right and do you think everything will be OK if I pay that

TBH you should have got the dpf repaired/reconditioned €600max! If this guy has quoted €2,500 for a new replacement then I'd be getting my work done elsewhere, main ford dealer would be less than half that! It's costing you a lot just to patch things up for the short term, as it's unlikly to pass nct even after remapping.
As said before modern diesels need frequent longish drives to burn off deposits from filter before blockage.

Irish Steve

May not apply to the Ford, but on some of the modern vehicles, the DPF regeneration will not be triggered if there are ANY other issues with the engine, even a pre heater failure (primastar) can mean that the ECU will not start a regeneration, and if that is left for any length of time, the end result is not good. If the vehicle is doing a lot of short distance stop start runs, that's another added aggravation that will not help.

There's no doubt that the "green" pressures from people that didn't know what they were talking about have resulted in some very inappropriate choices of engine for some of the vehicles sold in the last few years, and the lack of real enthusiasm for Electric or Hybrid vehicles at a Government level is doing nothing to help that, my guess is that the Finance lobby has made it clear to the other departments that they can't afford to lose the massive sums taken in each year on fuel duty and taxes, if we all start to move to electric powered vehicles, the loss of income to the state will be a significant issue.

OP, you need to find a mechanic or garage that can actually diagnose what's going on correctly, which means having the right equipment to check it out, throwing parts at this sort of problem is expensive, and not a good way to fix this sort of issue.

dieselbug

If the dpf has been removed and the software not modified (ie remapped) the car may be trying to regenerate a dpf that is missing which will result in lots of smoke.

The hissing sound was probably from the exhaust as it would have been blocked by the dirty dpf and the hissing is some of the resulting pressure leaking possibly through a joint.

If the dpf has been removed the software has to be remapped and take care of any underlying issues like the egr valve which can also cause running problems.