[Closed] SingletrackCarWoesWorld

Any ideas?

It's haunted, like that Stephen King one?

Sounds like the turbos EGR valve is on its way out. Just not enough for the ecu to notice yet. Try cleaning it but that has never worked for me on GM petrol cars.

Or leaky boost hose is quite common on these I think

What I don't get is, why does restarting fix it?

I'd guess at re-calibrating the MAP sensor, I could be talking twaddle but it's where i'd start

I'm on a Honda [marine] outboard engine forum and whenever an issue with not getting over xxxx revs crops up the solution is invariably linked to fuel pressure - usually blocked filters/screens.
But an error code is thrown when this happens.

Turbo would complicate this.

Can you get a Ford specific code reader? Very often generic code readers will only read generic codes....

Have a 2013 1.2 tsi 30k mile Golf where the wastegate pivot would seize up when hot (but not all the time), meaning no turbo and slow car / not revving properly.

It would work fine when cold.

That threw a code for the electronic wastegate actuator, but it was actually the pivot on the wastegate that would seize. These are all in one casting with the turbo, so new turbo time, ca-ching £1650 fitted..... but I found one off a written off car with 2k miles £200 was dead easy to swap.

See if you can find the actuator on your car and see if you can move it by hand when cold. Then (careful!) when its hot and you are experiencing the problem.

@wzzzz if it was seized, switching it off and on wouldn't fix it.

Turning the engine off and on will be resetting whatever fault is causing the car to drop in to limp mode. Faults are of different types some auto latch and remain fully until reset, some might leave light on but reset with ignition and others will clear completely. I'd echo the above of make it do it, take it to garage and get them to re codes before turning off with a pro level scanner.

"Turning the engine off and on will be resetting whatever fault is causing the car to drop in to limp mode."

I plugged in a scanner last time it was "limping" and there wasn't any fault codes.

It is at the local independent garage now but I'm guessing they won't find anything.

I plugged in a scanner last time it was “limping” and there wasn’t any fault codes.

Not all scanners are equal. Ranging from Christmas cracker OBd units with torque app which just about tells you the car has an engine to dealer level diagnostics which will tell you the cars service history and usage patterns......

Unless you've had dealer diagnostics on it you may well be missing the code causjng the fault. It's rare to get limp without a code these days just not all readers read all codes)

Are you using Torque to read the codes?

If so go into the pending codes rather than the stored codes. It needs to see a fault a number of times before it logs it as a full error.

I'm using an OBD2 Reader NEXPEAK NX301.

I checked stored codes and pending codes and it said none present.

Try the solenoids.

Boost control solenoid could be blocked or have a small leak. This would reset when turning the car off and then drive okay.

When does it first occur? is it when boost has been called for such as when going up hill or sustained acceleration?

Sometimes cheapo scanners don't read everything.

It sounds like standard limp mode behaviour. This happens when some sensors either give implausible readings or don't match up with each other. The car then decides that something's wrong and it doesn't actually know how much boost is being applied so it backs off nearly all the way to make sure it doesn't inadvertently blow something up.

But you'd expect a code when this happens.

Leaky boost pipe could cause this but it would be a permanent state of affairs, not limp mode randomly.

Wonky lambda?
Fuel map can't trim to keep the co within range for given revs v. Throttle position

@scandal42

Yes, I definitely felt it go when accelerating up hill.

I had similar issues with an different older car and it was an ignition relay and sensor that caused it.

molgrips

Subscriber

Sometimes cheapo scanners don’t read everything.

It sounds like standard limp mode behaviour.

It does, apart from not having the CEL come on. A bit odd.

Mates diesel mondeo would do this when you floored the throttle, due to injector issues. He learned to turn it off and on quickly whilst still driving to clear the status if on the motorway, and just live with it

Just called the garage, can't find anything wrong with it.

🙁

Sticking wastegate actuator? Sounds similar to the issue on a 1.2tsi Ibiza we had

I'm not too familiar with that car/engine combo, and without being able to have a poke around it's difficult to say but:

Have you checked the ECU/MIL light at key on engine pre-start to make sure the light is working? (Not trying to offend with the question but I've seen it stump mechanics)

I'm going to hazard a guess that either the accelerator position sensor or the TPS is on its way out. They are the only things I can think of which can produce the symptoms you describe without necessarily setting a code - e.g. the ECU can't tell the difference between the you not pressing the pedal hard and the sensor not transmitting true position.

If you use the torque app you can log parameters and you can set up the display to show specific things. Some standalone readers can do the same. If you have that capability with your set up, that's what I'd do. If the problem occurs and you see in real time that the ECU is showing 10% throttle when you've got it to the floor, you'll know where you are.
Equally, if you log and look at where it happens vs similar speed, load etc. where it doesn't and the TPS is reporting vastly different things, you'll have a good idea of whether it is the problem.

Can't help with the actual fault, but if your using a generic bluetooth code reader (such as Elm 327) with a Android app, try using it with FORSCAN instead on a laptop.

You will need a bluetooth enabled laptop but its a free Ford specific code reader so general gives a bit better results/ detail than the android/IOS apps

I used it on a CMAX with better results than Android apps..

See below:

https://forscan.org/home.html

Might be worth going round and squirting electrical contact cleaner on all the connections for various sensors - unplug, liberal spray on both ends, and re-connect.

My car is 17, but I've had the odd 'air bag' warning over years. I have a re-set 'sequence' that re-scans the system, (6 air bags) and then turns the light off if OK. The issue has been 'age' of the car and the connectors not quite performing to spec. I've sprayed the drivers seat and the steering wheel connectors with electrical cleaner, and it's stopped the alerts (the 'scan sequence' alerts you to what sensor is causing it).

Mine is a Nissan, and they have built in tricks to 'read' the sensors without an ODBC sensor - and air bags aren't ODBC sensor 'enables'. you use a combination of ignition sequences, or 'pedal' presses for engine stuff.

You just need to get on a Ford forum and see if they have the electronic service manual.

Cromojolly’s probably on the right lines. I’d also check operation of the clutch and brake pedal sensors (brake light switch and equivalent for the clutch). It uses these to verify the demand request from the throttle: if you’re pressing the brake why should it provide power?

Boost control solenoid might be it, but usually they just die completely.

We had a 2012 ecoboost turbo 1.0. Main issue was the engine overheating and so the coolant was used up rather quickly and suddenly. This resulted in loss of power, so we limped to a garage, topped up the coolant and drove away with no further issues. The engine temperature light didn’t come on, but the engine warning light did, but then cleared.

Notice the massive fish mouth grill? One line of thinking was to deal with the cooling process that hadn’t been properly worked out on the previous 2009-2013 1.0 turbo charge model.

Throwing in a wayward one here. My car started acting strangely, ran great up to 40mph if I accelerated slowly, then it'd almost die, as if there was a throttle limit, just like a limp mode, it wouldnt go over 2500 revs.
After some head scratching and googling, the best advice was to start at the fuel filter, and, lo and behold, the output pipe on the fuel filter was loose, so on acceleration, the pump was sucking a lot of air through. Once reseated, it was fine again.

so on acceleration, the pump was sucking a lot of air through

I'd have expected that to set all sorts of codes - lean mixture, O2 sensor, possibly MAF etc.

Do you drive normally after switching it off and on again , or do you drive more gently as you are happy to be moving againa nd dont want it to conk out at an inopotune moment , like pulling onto a motorway?
I am thinking VVT nozzle sticking / stuck. Boot it , it either overboosts and goes LHM , or the air flow / TP goes out of the map because the turbo isnt spooling as it should = LHM
Or Boost controller if its old skool , or wastegate.
If it drives fine at partial loads then fails under hard aceerelation this could cause it , as could blocked fuel filter
If you are in the AA make the car throw a wobbler on a sunday morning around 0800 and they should be with you very quickly and will pull the codes straight away

Not a clue about your fault but we have a 64 plate Focus, base model 1.0 with the 105hp engine. It drives perfectly, but an odd thing I noticed, it won’t rev beyond 4k when stationary, but will do whilst actually driving. Not sure if it’s some kind of rev limiter.
It’s a fab little car though.

Just get codes read by ford (or forscan yourself) if the fault is over boost it may not be emissions relevant and therefore wouldn't necessarily light the MIL. My Audi did the exact same when one of the boost controller pipes snapped off. No codes spotted without vagcom.

Takisawa, loads of other cars do that too.

Those sorts of faults are a pain. You need to do some data logging and see what's happening.

My gut feeling would be sticking actuator or vanes but it's a wild guess

My guess is electrical as it’s cleared by restart. Coil packs or a sensor. Start with cheapest fix first and work ‘upwards’.

Had similar on the wife's golf. Turned out to be spark plugs and not running premium fuel. VW wanted 2k for injectors. New sparks and vpower and its been fine since

Did you get anywhere with this?