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Mystery problem

973 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  st tdci 
#1 ·
Hi, my car is a MK 4 Mondeo 2.0 Ghia 09 plate 108,000 miles approx. Car keeps jerking and cutting out after I've driven a few miles (between 1-10 miles) and throwing an Engine Malfunction warning. Also it won't start again for 15 - 20 mins after. The idle is slightly erratic and drops quite low when disengaging the clutch. The car drives ok with no problems when not presenting with this issue; it also seems to be worse in warm/hot weather.

I took it to a local repair shop a few weeks back and they said the fault was with the Throttle Position Sensor so they replaced that. However, that did not resolve the issue and the problem still remains.

I took it to another garage and they said they could not find anything mechanically wrong with it (it runs ok when not presenting with the problem) but when they checked the engine malfunction warning they said it was an electrical problem and I needed to take it to an auto electrician. They also said that it was throwing up a lot of codes and it could be a wiring problem between the throttle sensor and throttle body. Their exact words were: "it could be that something is going haywire between the throttle sensor and the throttle body."

I've had various opinions from Crankshaft sensor to Coil pack, faulty plugs to injectors, (was told injectors rarely a problem on petrol cars)

Any advice welcome

Many thanks
 
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#2 ·
Ask for your money back for the non faulty throttle position sensor :stir:

Take it to a good auto electrician or competent garage (I don't know how you find them!)

or

spend a few tens of pounds on an obd2 reader that can talk to your laptop or smartphone (not a stand alone unit).*

Read and research the codes yourself (youtube is a good place to start) and then start to understand that just because a code says "X has a fault", it doesn't mean that simply replacing X will cure it, e.g. if the wiring is dodgy or some other part of system is getting a bad values, that can upset everything.

*Stand alone units are limited, they tell you what they know and that's it. A USB/BlueTooth/Wifi reader attached to a computer has access to many free programs.
 
#3 ·
Thanks for that, I'll look into it. Spoke to another garage today, explained the problem & they said it sounded like a crankshaft sensor issue; they also reckoned that the second garage was just trying to fob me off by suggesting an auto electrician. Can't seem to get a straight answer from any of them.

Will probably do as you suggest and either buy a reader or bite the bullet and take it to an auto electrician.

I guess my only other option after that will be to take it to a Ford dealer :(
 
#4 ·
Thanks for that, I'll look into it. Spoke to another garage today, explained the problem & they said it sounded like a crankshaft sensor issue; they also reckoned that the second garage was just trying to fob me off by suggesting an auto electrician. Can't seem to get a straight answer from any of them.

Will probably do as you suggest and either buy a reader or bite the bullet and take it to an auto electrician.

I guess my only other option after that will be to take it to a Ford dealer :(
You'll have more success yourself than a Ford dealer trying to diagnose it. All they do is change parts hit and miss and hope eventually they get the right one.

Time is money to them and you're paying for their time at £100+ per hour.
 
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#5 ·
"spend a few tens of pounds on an obd2 reader that can talk to your laptop or smartphone (not a stand alone unit).*"

So what is the best reader to buy and how much do they cost? I'm a bit of a novice with codes and electrical stuff so any info, however basic would be a great help.

Feeling more and more that I should have a go at diagnosing this myself after getting pretty vague responses from various garages; time to get clued up to avoid getting ripped off I think :)
 
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