Ford Focus Limp Mode

TheBody

Hi folks. I bought my 131 diesel Ford Focus in 2016 with 16,000 miles on the clock (imported from the uk). Around once or twice per year, while driving, the car would go into limp mode. Upon turning the car off and on again, the fault would disappear.

Each of those times I bought the car to the local indy garage and he claimed that no fault code was logged and could not find the problem. Fast forward to the last 9 months and it is now going into limp mode on almost every trip over say 40mins long. This time I brought it to the Ford dealership and again they said no faults were logged and can't find the problem

For what it's worth, the car is regularly serviced. Changing glow plugs have made no difference. The fault does not seem to be weather dependent. The car regularly does long drives of an hour in duration and it is usually during these drives that it goes into limp mode.

I'm now at a complete loss. Apart from this, the car has giving me no problems but I'm beginning to think I will have to get rid of it due to this fault.

So my question is, do any of ye have any suggestions of where to go from here?

User1998

Can you bring it to a mechanic while its in limp mode?

Hellrazer

It sounds like a fuel filter to me. Ive seen it before on the focus when they use a non genuine one and the symptoms are exactly as you describe - looses power, turn the engine off and it goes away. But usually there is a trouble code for low fuel pressure.

When was the fuel filter last changed? Was it a genuine one?

Is it actually going into limp mode ie with an engine light on the dash or just loosing power and not revving over say 2800 rpm?

TheBody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120855474#Comment_120855474

I guess I could try that. I'm usually quite far from home when it happens but anything is worth a shot now.

TheBody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120855497#Comment_120855497

Thank you for the suggestion. Fuel filter is regularly changed. No idea what brand is used though. I just let the garage take care of that.

I lose power and on the dash it says something like "Engine Malfunction, service now". Again, apparently no fault codes seem to arise due to this. I was wondering if it might be something electrical. I was half thinking of bringing it to an auto electrician to see if they had any ideas.

Hellrazer

Im wondering if this is related. Software update in Ford dealer??

Is it being serviced by Ford ?

It sounds exactly like your issue.

https://www.cars.com/articles/2012-14-ford-focus-power-issue-1420682568190/

TheBody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120855762#Comment_120855762

Thank you for that. That article say it's the 2.0L engine that is affected. My car is a 1.6L diesel.

The car is not normally serviced by Ford. However, around 3 weeks ago, I said I'd see if the Ford garage could get to the bottom of this problem, guessing that they might have access to more advanced diagnostic software but they did not fix the problem.

mk7r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120855658#Comment_120855658

If there is genuinely no fault logged in the ECU and you can confirm this for sure then it's either an ECU fault or else the car has had a dodgy remap in its life.

It's common unfortunately for poor dpf and egr delete maps to remove ALL fault codes so no matter what happens the engine won't store a fault. The logic for detecting a fault maybe be left untouched though so you get exactly the situation you have.

Timfy

We had a similar issue with a Honda CRV. After a lot of messing about it turned out to be that the vent in the filler cap was blocked!

Zatoichi

I had the same issue. Turned out to just be a split air hose.

Meeoow

I had it when I put the foot down to overtake. It happened to me when I was on the wrong side of the road, and cars coming towards me, very dangerous. After trips to ford garages and indys I went to a diesel mechanic. Turned out to be a turbo boost actuator. Fixed the limp mode.