Glowplug light and loss of power

[JonnyG]

"aux belt tensioner noisy so what its a diesel if it did need replacing £30 from the motor factors 2hrs to fit maximum"
If you can get one for £30 to fit my car, i will happily tip you a tenner on top! The kits cost around 130 to 150 plus vat the tensioner alone is over £100, although you should be able to find a competent garage to do the whole thing for around £200/250, but that for everything belt tensioner and the pulleys, to do anything less on an 6 or 7 year old car is asking for repeated bills.
a two hour job, but the expertise needed so the thing correctly,is more important than how long it takes, people still think of this job as changing the fan-belt ! but if it aint done right, it will snap the belt or damage the pulley bearings or aircon bearings and then you get an even bigger bill!It it has to be done properly.
Mines been noisy for 2 years! my risk and i am happy to leave it that way.

Regards Turbo, Lisa, I am not sure what they are saying? do they think its so badly clogged up with soot ie sticking turbo vanes that they expect it to damage the vanes soon? or are there other signs? as that is a strange thing for a decent mechanic to say.

There is a prduct on the market cost about £50 and you really need the use of a decent mechanic too, it actually absorbs the carbon/soot and can save you a early turbo replacement, but £1500/£2000 for a replacement fitted, I presume is still taking the p.
I will find the name of that product, money well spent.
Alternatively...

"Italian tune up" Its not just a case of revving the car higher than normal lisa, you need to actually load the engine too, so reving higher in 1st or 2 gear is a waste of time and will not free up the turbo vanes. You need to make sure the car is properly warmed up ie 5 miles of driving, and then using say 4th gear from 1300 ish rpm put the pedal to the floor to 3000rpm!!!!!!!! Not nice and also means using a private road [cough] You then change up a gear and slow down gently.
But this sort of thing has to be down repeatedly 4 or 5 times in succession to try to free up the sticking turbo vanes and done on more than just one day.
If the vanes are sticking badly you car will go into limited operational mode, don't worry just pull over and switch off and then restart the engine.
Note if its really badly clogged up, even this will not work or might give temporary improvements.
http://www.stdrivers.co.uk/forum/topic/22349-euro-4-egr-jaguar-price/

Also try Jaguar for spare parts for some reason they are cheaper than Ford! link above

http://www.stdrivers.co.uk/forum/topic/22349-euro-4-egr-jaguar-price/

 

[LMH]

I have no idea.

First garage's fault result P0191 fuel rail pressure sensor - they reset it, so I don't if that's made any difference
2nd (Ford) garages fault result

Lisa

 

[seth1]

Begs the question was the first fault-fuel pressure sensor just an inactive fault all along?Perhaps due to a fuel filter change maybe.Very wise getting a second opinion.

 

[Surfer]

This sounds very much like a Diesel Particulate Filter fault. If you Google DPF you will come up with loads of links. The issue occurs with most recent diesel engines up to about 2010. It happens when diesel cars are not taken for a long run often enough.and the soot does not burn off. it is recommended that every now and then the car is taken for a run at high revs to burn off the soot. I am only going on information found on the Internet and various car forums.

 

[JonnyG]

This sounds very much like a Diesel Particulate Filter fault. If you Google DPF you will come up with loads of links. The issue occurs with most recent diesel engines up to about 2010. It happens when diesel cars are not taken for a long run often enough.and the soot does not burn off. it is recommended that every now and then the car is taken for a run at high revs to burn off the soot. I am only going on information found on the Internet and various car forums.

Agree the internet is an excellent source of info, but Lisa has a 05 plate mondeo, i have an 06, it is very very rvery very rare that a mondeo of that age actually had a DPF fitted.certainly not a UK model. Personelly as my nect car will be 08 ish and have a DPF fitted the first think i will do is to get the blasted thing deactivated...............

 

[Royston]

Well I have Vecta, the glow plug indicator which lights up on the dash during the initial start is for the glow plug warming session prior to starting.The engine sytem warning light looks like a drain connection, this will come on and immedtly putting the engine into emergency mode, which has the effect of suddenly heading into a gale force head wind , dropping your speed down making a emergecy stop on the nearest laybye .Switch the engine off and restart the engine is back to normal,when tested on the compute the code given applied to one of 3 possabilities.
What it didnt say was that in fact it was a earth problem, which the mechanic found and quickly rectified.
My car has a 51 plate and the computer is a very basic, hence my loathing to upgrade to a more modern car, which according to mechanice the on board computers are a pain in the ---e .
Royston

 

[Surfer]

This sounds very much like a Diesel Particulate Filter fault. If you Google DPF you will come up with loads of links. The issue occurs with most recent diesel engines up to about 2010. It happens when diesel cars are not taken for a long run often enough.and the soot does not burn off. it is recommended that every now and then the car is taken for a run at high revs to burn off the soot. I am only going on information found on the Internet and various car forums.

Agree the internet is an excellent source of info, but Lisa has a 05 plate mondeo, i have an 06, it is very very rvery very rare that a mondeo of that age actually had a DPF fitted.certainly not a UK model. Personelly as my nect car will be 08 ish and have a DPF fitted the first think i will do is to get the blasted thing deactivated...............

I was under the impression that DPF had been fitted to cars since about 2002 but maybe this was only for some manufacturers. It is a major problem on some older diesel cars, i.e. 5 years or more years.

 

[JonnyG]

Hi surfer, "most" cars built after 2006 will have a Dpf and i believe one is needed to pass Euro V emmisions but prior to that no they were not as common place as some would have you believe.
Also beware the hype of the internet and advertisers wanting your money.
Remember DMF [dual mass flywheels EGR valves, all seamanly forever going wrong! Well given that MILLIONS and MILLIONS of cars have these devices fitted, and we come across what less than a thousand stories a year, not that many really
Today we have the internet for spanish whispers, well can you imagine 30 years ago had the internet been around then?The internet would be full of stories concerning Engines knackered by 45k and people reporting clutches forever packing in after 2 years.....

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

"aux belt tensioner noisy so what its a diesel if it did need replacing £30 from the motor factors 2hrs to fit maximum"
If you can get one for £30 to fit my car, i will happily tip you a tenner on top! The kits cost around 130 to 150 plus vat the tensioner alone is over £100, although you should be able to find a competent garage to do the whole thing for around £200/250, but that for everything belt tensioner and the pulleys, to do anything less on an 6 or 7 year old car is asking for repeated bills.
a two hour job, but the expertise needed so the thing correctly,is more important than how long it takes, people still think of this job as changing the fan-belt ! but if it aint done right, it will snap the belt or damage the pulley bearings or aircon bearings and then you get an even bigger bill!It it has to be done properly.

sorry jonny I have to diagree "seem to be doing quite a bit of that lately

" it's a belt tensioner it keeps the belt tight and thats all replacing all the pulleys as well is ridiculess there is no mistque to it its not complicated the only difference on newer cars is, it no longer turns the fan and is called an auxilary belt, changing one is well within the scope of the average DIY'er although changing the belt at the same time is better practice as the old could be stretched adjustment is straight forward "refer to haynes manual" if it's not then sell the toolbox.
as I said in my first post the mondeo I had ran faultlessly all the time I had it, however at the last service and MOT before parting company a reference was made to the aux belt tensioner getting noisy I decided to leave it alone as the car was going but priced the part at the local motorfactors £29.95 inc VAT + £14 75 for the belt. yours could be different I accept that with the model change but the pincipal is just the same. mine was a 2002 new "at the time shape" with 147,000 miles on the clock.
mine was like this one,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FORD-MONDEO-2-0T-DIESEL-TENSIONER-PAS-BELT-00-06-NEW-/320697652123?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CommercialVehicleParts_SM&hash=item4aab11d39b

BUT this is not about me or you its Lisa thats got the headache not being mechanicly minded has to use garages and all that it entailes. if I have got this right it was serviced and tested in march and passed brakes and tyres were ok no inference to emissions that would indicate a fuel problem.
then a warning light comes on, after trips to a couple of garages has a list of faults that were not there in march ??? a set of new tyres and brakes later still has no idea why the light came on exept for a halved ar$$ed explanation from the main stealers about sticking turbo blades that could cost £2000 to replace.

I have only one more comment to make " Lisa you have got my sympathy and I am sorry that I could not have been more help"

colin.

 

[JonnyG]

Post deleted
Please don't hi-jack this topic to indulge in personal points scoring and arguments. You will have to agree to disagree or swap email addresses if you wish to continue your discussions away from the forum.

Parksy (Moderator)

 

[Dustydog]

Hi Lisa
Gradually catching up. Full marks to the Ford garage for growing their business at your expense!

I'm no expert but could this be the problem, something so simple and hopefully cheap??
http://www.ilexa.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=8644.0

 

[JonnyG]

Post deleted
Please don't hi-jack this topic to indulge in personal points scoring and arguments. You will have to agree to disagree or swap email addresses if you wish to continue your discussions away from the forum.

Parksy (Moderator)

Of course Parksy you are right,and indeed all i should have said is they "ford" vauxhall Mercedes,BMW FIAT ect ect,all sell "kits that include more than just a belt and tensioner.
Some tensioner have markers and an arrow on the tensioner to help set them correctly,the arrow needs to sit in between the markers,and some do not. The Ford mondeo does not.
I certainly had no intension of hi jacking the thread,but If Lisa had intension of getting this job done,i had/have serious reservations concerning some advice given that makes it seem like a really easy straight forward job,when ford trained mechanic and possibly many others use a special tool to actually help with the job,not dear at £2,but seemingly necessary.
Again sorry..

 

[Parksy]

Not a problem Jonny G, I know that you are trying to help but when technical arguments break out between to mechanically minded people who have strongly held but differing viewpoints the original point of the topic becomes lost and people resolve to avoid reading such topics (and sometimes this forum) in future.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

HI,
Note for Jonny G and Parksy,

Sorry for going off topic and my appologies to Lisa who is having a spot of bother at the moment with her Motor, but this has to be said and now seems a good time to do it.

When a member posts a question seeking advice or information the answers that they reiceve may or may not be helpful or indeed the answers they are looking for, none the less the answers they reiceve will be genuinely given. With topics of a techicnal nature there will allmost certainly be a difference of oppinion this happens most of the time and is to be expected as the posters who answer the questions will have a different slant on the topic in hand based on knowlege and experiences of their own.

Wether the disscusion is a turn off for others members who read the posts is a side issue, parksy may well be right, however if technical questions are asked then the answers that follow will also be techincal if that is not understood there is no point in asking or answering such question at all.

Any answers I give on this forum or any other are based on 60+ years of life and 40+ years of caravanning and thats all if the answers when given are not to taste "so be it" no one knows it all not even the so called experts.

And of course we all learm something new every day, like the question I asked about binding brakes on the van that recieved 0 replies strange that considering the ammount of experts on hand. In the end I had no option "other than take it to the stealers and pay a substantial fee" but to take the drum off myself the problem was obvious and easily recified the only cost being a new hub nut, but that is another fix in the memory bank.

Just lately though there seem to be a trend towards "poo-pooing" the answers given by the seasoned caravanners with a lifetime of experience behind them as immaterial or out of date in favour of the modern approach ie leave it to the experts and pay up,..... the hands on approach seems meaningless and sometimes it seems not worth the effort in bothering to reply as someone enevitably says it's wrong.

Its a sad day but with this in mind it seems a good time to hang up the keyboard and withdraw from an active part on the forum when the answers given in good faith are rediculed it really is time to stop. life,s too short when you dont have much of it left ??.

The forum is still worth a good read now and again but apart from that and the odd comment on non technical issues foget it!!!.

colin.

 

[JonnyG]

Again i am sorry colin. I do not doubt your own hands on skills for one moment, merely todays hands on skills seem to be lacking.

 

[Parksy]

Colin
Nobody is ridiculing answers that you have given and yes, obviously there will be differences of opinion when technincal matters are under discussion.
Lisa stated that neither her husband or herself are in any way mechanically minded so no matter what advice is given regarding a diy fix she would still be at the mercy of a mechanic to correctly diagnose the fault and repair her car.
The advice that has been given is valuable because Lisa will at least be armed with some facts based on your experience when she speaks to the mechanic. This means that she may be able to minimise the extent to which she is ripped off, it certainly looks as though the main stealers tried to blind her with 'science' in order to relieve her of some cash.
My recent intervention was purely because a dispute over the pulley wheel tensioner had started to develop into a bit of a crusade which didn't really add to the topic and would confuse the casual observer, if it had continued the entire topic would have ended up being about who to believe when belt tensioners on Mondeos are discussed rather than centering on the excellent advice offered by yourself and others to Lisa.
You summed it up rather well earlier when you wrote that 'it's not about you or me' to Lisa.
Your sage advice is always gratefully received on this forum Colin and I'm sure that Jonny G respects your wealth of experience as I do, we would both be disappointed if a minor intervention by myself caused you to stop offering advice

 

[Dustydog]

Car parts, even on Ford's seem to be getting more expensive.
The following article is of some academic interest and perhaps demonstrates a "genuine" Ford part is not cheap.
http://www.fordwiki.co.uk/index.php/Auxiliary_belt_tensioner_replacement

 

[LMH]

Hi

Thanks all for the replies. Just an update, we had two new tyres fitted, full wheel alignment, new brake pads and discs, plus the rear light sorted. The garage (not the Ford one) looked at the aux belt and said it did not need replacing right at this very moment in time. They said its just got signs of normal wear and tear.

However, tonight, whilst driving home, the damn glow plug light came on again and there was a loss of power. I pulled over and turned the ignition off, then after a minute or two, turned it on again. I'm gutted

I'm going away on Wed for a week (by myself) and it's a 400 mile round trip. I'm afraid I'm going to risk the journey, whether that's right or wrong, I don't know. To be honest, I've had a rubbish 24 hours what with one thing and another and to say it's exactly seven days ago since Ford unfreezed the turbo vanes and everything was hunky dory (bar all the jobs they wanted to do), I'm really cheesed off.

I joined Green Flag on Tuesday as a back up but I haven't had an email confirmation which is surprising,

so I'll have to chase it up at this late hour.

Lisa

 

[LMH]

Infact, this will come as a great shock to the people who have known me (and my fiery temper) on here for a few years, but I could actually cry right now.

Lisa

 

[mostavern]

Lisa,
i have got a 53 plated ford focus tdci which when it was six months old did exctly the same thing, glow plug light came on complete loss of power, ford stealer baffled....etc....
if i remember rightly it was, i think the crankshaft senser that had caused all the problems,
just a thought........
Mark.

 

[seth1]

Lisa my love,this is dead easy,save your self a bomb.Go on ebay type in Texa and it will come up with EOBD 16 pin datalink Logger.
Buy one and plug it in the EOBD plug in the car and leave it there,Jonny will know where the plug is as im not to familar with Mondaos.
As soon as the fault comes dont turn of the ignition carry on driving it for at least 1 minute due to the fault threshhold time.The fault in question will be logged.
Retrieve the code,post on here and i,ll define it for you which will be my pleasure.
Or,
Get the car plugged in at a workshop i.e a delphi agent,clear the EDC fault memory.Run the car till the fault appears,see what fault/s have returned,rectify faults.

 

[Dustydog]

Infact, this will come as a great shock to the people who have known me (and my fiery temper) on here for a few years, but I could actually cry right now.

Lisa

Lisa
Don't upset me . You are far better than that!!

I still think this is an obscure earth fault and nothing that's going to cause a major breakdown!

An old mechanic told me many years ago when the electronics go into safe mode switch the engine on and off 10 times in rapid succession and the system will reset itself.
That aside hopefully you will have the breakdown cover in place for peace of mind. Now if we all knew where you going we could be on standby

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Infact, this will come as a great shock to the people who have known me (and my fiery temper) on here for a few years, but I could actually cry right now.

Lisa

hi Lisa don't get upset it's only a car, sometimes they go wrong but most of the time they don't,
you have done the right thing joining a breakdown service just in case but it probably will be allright.
in the meantime just keep restarting it as this resets the ecu a bit like rebooting the computer after it's crashed (well it's the same thing really) if it does it when you have a little time call out the service tell him whats gone wrong,
with an electrical fault he will undoubtedly plug in the diagnostic equipment to get the fault code, yes I know you have done that allready but it will either confirm or conradict the findings you have allready. and that is vital information you never know he might acctually fix it or discover the real cause.
meanwhile keep your chin up were are all thinking of you and it will come out right in the end just you see,
colin

 

[LMH]

Thanks for the support folks, I really appreciate it. Providing the car doesn't totally konk out whilst I'm away, when I get back, I'll take it to the other garage again and ask them to plug it in and get the fault code and then post it on here. (It's not a Ford garage though).

I'm going up to Appleby for my annual pilgrimage to the horse fair, I'm riding in on a horse drawn bow top waggon pulled by one or two gorgeous black and white gypsy horses.

(Thinking about it, they're more reliable than cars).

Lisa x

 

[JonnyG]

Hi lisa, good on yer just keep going, these sort of things can be difficult to diagnose, as sometimes they simply do not throw up a fault code! your plug for the diagnostic is on the right hand side at the bottom of your plastic facial trim by your right leg, it pulls down if indeed you want to try to investigate this your self .

Do you tow with the mondeo? I ask because our old Galaxy used to over boost as they say [sticking turbo vanes] and yes with the caravan on board never ever had that problem. i always assumed the extra load and effort needed to tow the van helped to A keep the vanes clean and be stop the car from being caught out and going into limp mode.
But to be honest, as has been said there are so many reason for the car going into limp mode, its just a shame there are no codes to help investigate, but Sticking vanes is a good place to start, and as much as i slate garages, one has to remember Ford most properly see more mondeos and there diesel range than we as punters come across and possibly use the experience of seeing the same problem on the same model over and over again to build up a good picture of the most probable cause
Good luck, and try to find an hour or so of time to do the Italian tune up i stated in an earlier post, it can actually work, and with a long run planned too,put together they could help clear up a possible fault