Mystery of Ford SMax

Jimbob1977

Hi all,

I'm drinking in the last chance saloon here.

Really thinking of selling the Ford SMax 1.8 diesel because it's becoming a pain.

Bear with my story. It runs for a while, like an essay.

Last month, the TCS light began to come on (yellow car icon with swerve lines).

It was able to drive for a little while. Then it began to stall at traffic lights and stall while driving.

I took it to the Official Ford garage and they hooked it up to the diagnostic. They started replacing cam sensors and crankshaft sensors and passed it as 'working fine now'.

I was only 2 miles away from the garage and it started again. Frustrated. Drove back to the garage and asked them to look at the electrics. They rooted around and found some loose connections. The car drove fine. Happy Days. The TCS icon no longer appeared.

Roll forward to last week.... My wife started complaining that it wouldn't start first time in the morning and straight after work.

When the car was 'warm' and recently driven, there was no issue. No sign of a TCS icon. When it was overnight, it was dodgy. Sure enough, it refused to start completely last Monday. You could hear it trying, but it simply wouldn't kick in. And jump cables did nothing.

The tow truck lifted it to a local mechanic. Yesterday, he phoned back to say he had fixed it. Attributed to corroded wiring in Body Control Module. He's a good mechanic and knows his stuff.

Roll forward to this afternoon. The car was sitting idle for two hours. It struggled to start. I know with almost 100% certainty that it won't start tomorrow morning.

Additional information: battery and alternator replaced in last two months. All the lights, heating and radio still run, no matter what.

Can anyone suggest what we've missed? Is it electrical in the onboard computer ? Could the replacement battery be too weak, even though it ran grand for months?

Seems strange that it starts when warm, but refuses when cold.

JJJJNR

Glow plugs or starter motor

Bigus

Quite possible current problem has nothing to do with previous issues and Fuel filter housing is notorious on galaxy's for drawing air and giving problems on these , so much so , that MCS Ford parts suppliers have new housings in stock with filters installed so that they can be fitted without causing trouble by not having to open the housing up to fit fuel filter.
Probably worth the 80 euro to chance it.

martyc5674

Try starting it with your foot on the clutch.

Jimbob1977

martyc5674 wrote: »

Try starting it with your foot on the clutch.

Hi. I tried that, with no luck.

Car is going off to the garage again today.

Tigerandahalf

Sounds like glow plugs.
In diesel cars when you turn the ignition the glow plugs heat up so the diesel then ignites and starts the car on the next turn of the key.

The glow plugs burn themselves out after time and need to be replaced.

The car will sometimes start without the initial key turn but in cold weather it won't start.

mullingar

Get your glow plugs tested, should be around 1ohm in resistance

zilog_jones

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Sounds like glow plugs.
In diesel cars when you turn the ignition the glow plugs heat up so the diesel then ignites and starts the car on the next turn of the key.

The glow plugs burn themselves out after time and need to be replaced.

The car will sometimes start without the initial key turn but in cold weather it won't start.

I wouldn't be so sure without knowing the specific pre-heating behaviour with this engine. Some modern diesels (and by modern I mean the past 20 years) don't do any pre-heating unless it's below zero.

scannerd

Given it struggles to start even after just sitting a few hours, glow plugs would not be number one on my list, they aren't really needed until temps much lower than we have had, as posted above.

- fuel when was filter charged - cheap to rule out
- compression test

Jimbob1977

The SMax car is running again. I hope it lasts. Fingers crossed.

The garage replaced the fuel filter.

My wife reckons the issues began when she hit a speed ramp really fast. She almost took off in 'Dukes of Hazzard' style.

Is it possible for diesel to overwhelm a fuel filter after smashing into a speed ramp?

Bigus

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

The SMax car is running again. I hope it lasts. Fingers crossed.

The garage replaced the fuel filter.

My wife reckons the issues began when she hit a speed ramp really fast. She almost took off in 'Dukes of Hazzard' style.

Is it possible for diesel to overwhelm a fuel filter after smashing into a speed ramp?

I hope you got a new housing as well ?

katiek102010

It’s the glow plugs , I had the exact same issue with a focus.

They had just serviced it and thought they had damaged some wiring. It would cut out while driving. They replaced that free of charge but still didn’t fix it.

Then it wouldn’t start in the morning. It was an AA guy that suggested it was Glow Plugs. Replaced those and drove the car for 10 years until engine blew

Jimbob1977

I'll wait and see how this plays out. So far, so good.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone.

If it recurs, I'll bring up glow plugs and/or electrical.

ohnonotgmail

Why would faulty glow plugs cause a car that was driving to cut out?

Jimbob1977

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

Why would faulty glow plugs cause a car that was driving to cut out?

There were actually two different issues in a short period of time. Possibly a coincidence.

The previous issue, where the moving car was cutting out, was probably electrical and unconnected.

Then the car simply wasn't starting in the driveway. It was trying to start, but couldn't. So people suggested glow plugs or fuel filter. Mechanic replaced the fuel filter and it's running OK so far.

Fingers crossed.