'06 Focus 1.8 TDCi - "Engine Systems Failure" was on dash, now gone ?

SilverSpider · 19 Apr 2010 at 10:19

Hi guys,

Hoping for a bit of advice please.

Been driving less than a year and know very little about cars this being my first and only car.

So on Saturday night I was driving along going to get some take away, when I noticed a red light on and the message "Engine Systems Failure" on the dash cpu display.

So knowing nothing about cars I just decided to turn around and drive straight home, rather than keep going and risk having to call breakdown out.

So I got it home fine and parked up, never touched it again until yesterday afternoon at which point I went out and turned the engine on and the red light and message have now gone ?

No garages near me were open yesterday to take it to and my family are away until tonight, So with no option of getting a lift I ended up bringing it to work this morning (7 Miles) and it seems like it's driving normal to me ... (but what do I know

)

I'm thinking of taking a half day from work and trying to get it looked at by the local Ford dealership which is about half a mile from my house.

Can anyone advise on if this is the course of action I should take and if so what the garage are likely to tell me the problem and cost could be.

I have £900 tax and Insurance to pay before the end of the month :eek:

and an MOT due next month, so this has come at the worst possible time if it's going to be costly.

Thank for reading and any advice you can give.

iaind · 19 Apr 2010 at 10:29

Could be all number of things - best bet is to get it somewhere with a code reader and get them to pull the fault code. Don't take it to a main dealer as they'll charge you a full hour's labour

SilverSpider · 19 Apr 2010 at 10:40

iaind said:
Could be all number of things - best bet is to get it somewhere with a code reader and get them to pull the fault code. Don't take it to a main dealer as they'll charge you a full hour's labour

Okay thanks pal,

So I'm with you on avoiding the main dealer at this stage, as I don't fancy paying an hours labour before I even know what it is.

So do most garages have these fault code reader machines then ?

LEK-89 · 19 Apr 2010 at 11:36

Not all of them do, there are not many of them around where I am that do it. When my GF had her Fiesta MK4 hooked up to the ECU reader they charged her a tenner. What from I gather most places can charge up to £40. Before you do take it up there was there any other warning messages / engine management lights come up at all anywhere else on the dash - or look at the Ford manual to see if there is a description of it in there?

Liam

SilverSpider · 19 Apr 2010 at 11:44

LEK-89 said:
Before you do take it up there was there any other warning messages / engine management lights come up at all anywhere else on the dash - or look at the Ford manual to see if there is a description of it in there?

Thanks for the reply,

In answer to your question ... Nope, no other lights at all ... just the plain red one that is used for everything and that message, that was it.

I never looked in the manual as I figured if it was even listed in there, that it would just say to take it to the dealer etc.

Will have a look when I finish work though, thanks.

Fr0dders · 19 Apr 2010 at 13:49

play the waiting game initially

my vauxhall used to throw codes all the time that disappeared if you restarted the engine. Wait and see if it comes back. If it keeps continually comming back then get it looked at

but its not worth it for a one off.

The_Abyss · 19 Apr 2010 at 14:33

Last time my ord went wrong, they plugged it in and instead of analysing there and then, the results are uploaded to Ford HQ in Deutschland, and the result takes a little while to come back.

LEK-89 · 19 Apr 2010 at 20:16

SilverSpider said:
Thanks for the reply,

In answer to your question ... Nope, no other lights at all ... just the plain red one that is used for everything and that message, that was it.

I never looked in the manual as I figured if it was even listed in there, that it would just say to take it to the dealer etc.

Will have a look when I finish work though, thanks.

Knowing Ford it wouldn't suprise me, but take a look you might see something about it in there, also have a good search on google and see what comes up. You may be re-directed to forums where other people have had the same problem.

Liam

SilverSpider · 20 Apr 2010 at 11:48

Little update for anyone interested,

Took it to a local garage and spoke to the guy a few of my family use ... he said it's probably nothing to worry about and just the CPU playing up.

He also said that he had 2 Vauxhalls (as MrLOL mentioned above) in this week with similar engine warnings that just went away and when checked on the machine turned out there was no fault code and nothing wrong with them.

I asked him if he would have a look and hook it up anyway just for peace of mind, so left it with him for a couple of hours and went home.

Couple of hours later he called and said there was no engine fault codes or anything like that stored and the only fault it was showing was an Air condition pressure fault/warning ? which he reckons has been there for a while and isn't related.

Charged me £30 ... which I suppose is my fault for insisting he have a look at it

... when he told me it was likely nothing to worry about.

So should I just let that be the end of it now and forget about it, unless this warning comes back at some point ?

Also can anyone advise on the Air conditioning pressure fault he mentioned ... I never use it (2 days last summer, if that) but is it anything pressing that I need to get looked at or can it wait, in light of my £900 Tax & Insurance to pay shortly and it's got to have an MOT by middle of next month anyway ?

Thanks

Fr0dders · 20 Apr 2010 at 11:57

yeah just leave it

you only need to worry if it starts comming on regularly.

as for aircon, does it work ? again if it works id ignore it. Its from a long time ago which again implies it was one off and again can be ignored.

iaind · 20 Apr 2010 at 12:04

You should really use the air con a bit more than 2 days a year, stops things like seals and bearings perishing or seizing up.

Helps clear windows in winter for a start

Chris_Hebden · 20 Apr 2010 at 12:09

iaind said:
You should really use the air con a bit more than 2 days a year, stops things like seals and bearings perishing or seizing up.

Helps clear windows in winter for a start

Good advice. If anything like this happens again and its on for a long period of time (especially after turning the engine off, leaving it for a little while and starting it up again) i would take it to a local bosch garage. The ones i have used local are all really good and like cash

SilverSpider · 20 Apr 2010 at 12:41

MrLOL said:
yeah just leave it

you only need to worry if it starts comming on regularly.

as for aircon, does it work ? again if it works id ignore it. Its from a long time ago which again implies it was one off and again can be ignored.

Thanks, I'll just forget about it and hope it doesn't come back. Yip, aircon works fine from what I can tell and I only plan on keeping this car one more year anyway, so not mad keen on spending more money to fix all it's little niggles and stuff like that ... becoming a new driver and buying and insuring a car has been expensive enough in this 1st year !

iaind said:
You should really use the air con a bit more than 2 days a year, stops things like seals and bearings perishing or seizing up.

Helps clear windows in winter for a start

Again thanks pal, to be fair the aircon does seem to come on automatically on some Fords (I Googled that one a while back) happens only when the windscreen demister setting is selected on the different styles of blower dial ... and I have often been driving along for a while before noticing it has come on and turning it off, so it does get some use accidently but only used it for the 2 full days mentioned in the summer.

Will use it more often, think you have rung a bell there from something I read ages ago in the manual saying to use it once a month at least or something.

iaind · 20 Apr 2010 at 13:05

Has it got climate? If so, just leave the A/C on - it will cut in and out as it needs to

SilverSpider · 20 Apr 2010 at 13:45

Chris_Hebden said:
Good advice. If anything like this happens again and its on for a long period of time (especially after turning the engine off, leaving it for a little while and starting it up again) i would take it to a local bosch garage. The ones i have used local are all really good and like cash

Cheers for this ... never knew there was specific Bosch garages, just been on the website and it all seems pretty customer care focused and repeat business etc, they also mention their reasonable costs quite a bit.

Just did a postcode search for the nearest one for future reference - but the closest one is 10 miles away and a bit out in the sticks as well, so not ideal for dropping the car off and then going about your day or getting to work from there.

iaind said:
Has it got climate? If so, just leave the A/C on - it will cut in and out as it needs to

Not 100% sure ... It comes up as Zetec Climate on all the official bumph like HPI & Insurance docs and stuff ... but it doesnt have anything fancy like being able to choose what degree celsius you want it to be in the cabin or anything like that.

Just has the usual 1-4 blower strength dial and then the Red/Blue heat dial and then the direction or type of air output dial and an AC button next to those 3 dials .... so not sure if that makes it climate or not pal ? sorry for being so thick with cars

I hope to get better as the years tick by.

iaind · 20 Apr 2010 at 13:49

I dont know how the climate system works in Foci, I dont think it's digital climate so you may well have it..check the manual

SilverSpider · 20 Apr 2010 at 14:02

iaind said:
I dont know how the climate system works in Foci, I dont think it's digital climate so you may well have it..check the manual

Cheers, so in that case I'm taking it that just the Blue/Red dial would control the climate when the AC hits it's temperature and comes on and off I assume.

I read the manual cover to cover (to a point) when I first got the car, but the problem is the manual seems to be a one size fits all for the Foci range even the ST and sometimes you aint sure what exactly applies to your model and what doesn't - there are a fair few models and specs covered in the one book, but yeah I will have another look in it and see if it's any clearer this time.