Car:
2003 Mondeo 2.0 TDCI
Fuel tank 3/4 full
80K miles on the clock
Normally runs like a sweetie, and has done for the last 4 years

Situation:
Driving to work this morning (was cold, but it’s been like that for a while) 55mins into a 60 min journey, on the motorway doing 50mph, and the car starts to loose power for half a second. Just imagine what it would be like if you were running out of petrol, but a half second later the engine goes back to normal. The engine doesn’t turn off, just looses drive and the revs dip momentarily.

This happens 3 or 4 times for a min or two and then the engine just turns itself completely off. Lights still on, radio still on, but it’s like one min you are driving along and the next you turn of the engine (except you haven’t).

Coast to the hard shoulder. Wait a couple of mins. Turn the engine back on and everything seems fine.

Take it straight to my local garage (small, cheap, friendly, independent – you know the type) and after a couple of hours, they can’t find anything wrong.

On the way back home this evening, again after about 50 mins it starts all over again.

WTF is wrong?!!!

Please help, I can’t afford a new car!

Sounds like the ECU switch to limp home mode a couple of times and then decided to switch the engine off.

Why it would do that though I don’t know. Could be several things I guess.

(Crankshaft/camshaft) sensor dying?

Limp home definitely would turn the car off- thats positively terminal if it happens to a driver in the fast lane of the motorway. FACK.

Cant help really- you havent misfuelled? no smoke (excessive) from exhaust?

Lambard sensor? (oxgen)

fuel pump going,fuel filter blocking ?

Had exactly the same problem with the same type of mondeo and we found out that it was generic problem with the fuel pumps on the which start to break up and bugger up the injectors, we got shut cos it was very expensive to fix, now in fairness I wouldn’t say that thats for definite but you’d be best off taking it to ford as I think they may be aware of this problem. sorry to be of no more help

Guys, thanks for your help, really. Appreciate it!

Not that car-minded, so some of the suggestions are a wee bit over my head, but I can say (HORA) that I haven’t misfueled, and no excessive smoke from exhaust.

Didn’t even know my car would have a limp home mode.

Worth taking to a main ford dealer for a full diagnostic check? Also wary that these things don’t really show much up.

Hopefully some others might read this and offer some more pointers…

Try fordmondeo.org, they’re pretty helpful 🙂

Marcus, just saw your post. Anything else you can offer so that I’m able to communicate better with the garage.

In the meantime I wouldnt take it on the motorway etc- not a chance. Thats my worse nightmare- car dies and I cant get across 3 lanes to safety or at a speed of my chosing. All the best 🙂

As i said, i was told by my garage that this is one of those “known issues” but i never persued it, I doubt that a diagnostic would help but they may admit that there is an issue (unlikeley), your other option would be to find a ford owners forum and they will definely be able to help you.

When did you last drain the fuel filter or have it serviced ?

Could be water freezing in the fuel filter causing starvation.

My sisters mondeo had the same problem. It was something to do with the fuel injection and a sensor. Will be talking to her later so will find out later.

Taff, would really appreciate that! I’ll be checking here throughout!

Thanks to the rest of you!!

AB, this happend a while ago so i dont remember all the detail but what they said was that the pumps start to break up and metal gets into the fuel system and basically screws it up by damaging the injection system. thats about as much as I remember, the lads at the garage are generally pretty good and so I had no reason to not trust them (hey said flog it!). cheers

i had exactly the same in a fiesta it was down to one of the fuel pipes being a bit knackered it has some holes in it and drew air into it by all accounts and once swapped it didnt do it again ?? confused me but worked

One of the guys on the Mondeo forum said:

“The ecu has picked up a fault on a sensor and will limit power if its going to cause harm to engine, so if ran in limp mode for to long it will shut car down.

As its diesel wont have lambda sensor.

If misfueled the car would be hardly drivable for couple of minutes let alone hour, same if it was a blocked filter.

Worth getting put on machine to check for fault codes”

a mate who runs a garage told me that a common fault with newer mondeos is fuel injectors failing. They are about £200 each and there are four of them ! not counting labour costs.

so it would be worth having it checked out before driving it too much incase you do damage the injectors.

have you considered keeping the car & moving closer to where you work ? somewhere about 45mins away should do the trick 😉

hora – limp home WOULDN’T turn the car off, clue’s kinda in the name…

I’d put my money on either the camshaft or crankshaft sensor. If the computer doesn’t know what the engine’s doing, it’ll cut off fuel. Worth posting on Honest John’s website (sound advice) but you need to get any error codes read which might give an instant diagnosis.

Did it per chance happen on the M25? There’s a point near a junction on the western side of the loop that causes older Range Rovers to just cut out and stop, radio transmission messes with the immobiliser or something. Happened to my dad both ways.

Get the faults read at your local ford dealer , shouldnt cost more that half an hour labour rate wise. poss water in fuel / fuel pump sensor fault / fuel rail sensor fault, land rover 90 / 110 2.4 engines ( from transits ) are displaying similer simptoms to yours , really get it to your ford dealer m8ty, you dont have to have the work done by them.

My dads focus died around 100k. Turned out it burnt out most of the engine management wiring and circuitry over its years. Known for failing around 100k on that particular engine.

Id imagine ECU problem/dirty sensor. Checked HT leads for dirty connections?

I had this happen. ECU cuts in to protect turbo when ECG valve is damaged, get to ford dealer quick, my new turbo was 2k!!

Hey Dooge – not many HT leads on a diesel – hee hee

Might just be a problem with one or more of the glow-plugs – worth getting these checked too…cheaper than fuel injectors, new ECU etc.

wont be the glow plugs – this is happening after nearly an hour of driving… likewise, I doubt it’s anything to do with freezing of the fuel in the injectors or pump – for the same reason, it’s going to be rather warm under there!

crankshaft position sensors are reasonably common fault on many cars, and it sounds like it could be likely. I could imagine it being a disintegrating fuel pump, or some other fault with the fuel pump – I think the TDCi is a high pressure system and therefore the pump is very critical to the engine operation.

However, it’s a Ford, it could be anything!

chrispuppet 2k? I remember when a garage gave me a quote over the phone a couple of weeks ago for 1k my blood ran cold. In my situation I did some thorough searching and thankfully brought the bill down to £165.

AB take a couple of days off work- take your car to a few Ford garages and a couple of Indies. Get them to compete on quotes and cross-reference a few Forums. At the very least you’ll know alot more about cars/symptoms etc. At the end of my two-day debacle I can now identify most engine parts with the car on a ramp etc.

I’ve had two Mondeo TDCIs and both had similar problems. Both were fixed under warranty – it was a fuel injector fault – electronic.

Im no expert..but defo sounds as if it went into limp mode. As its a ford its probably a sensor…

SCRAP IT !!! FLOG IT

Guys, quick general question – Are these faults you’re talking about all on diesel engines?

Stupid question just edited out…

I had something like this on my 02 Honda Civic CDTI. Went to overtake a grey hair and the engine died, it did it several time since but only when going for full power, a turn off at the key and a minute or two cured it.
After a bit of Investigation it turned out to be a block fuel filter. The call for extra boost when the car hit the turbo’s set pressure meant that the fuel pump decided there was not enough fuel to provide the required mixture and shut the engine down. Since the new Filter she’s been perfect again, and I’ve not managed to get the engine to shut itself down since.
Try it, it was not that expensive.

Thanks for the advice folks. Have it booked into a Ford garage tomorrow morning.

Frightening how many Ford Diesels have this problem, there were literally hundreds of posts online about it.

So far the most likely suggestions from various forums seems to be:

Crankshaft/Camshaft sensor problem:
Failed injector or loosing it’s calibration and needs re-coded
Pressure sensor on fuel pump
Fuel filter and fuel gauge sender unit
EGR valve needs replacing
Fuel pump disintegrating or being blocked which in turn could be affecting the injectors
Fuel pipes being a bit knackered having holes in it and drew air into it

Other points raised in some posts were:

In 2003 Ford issued a service bulletin about TDCI mondeos cutting out due to failure of the block connector for the fuel pressure sensor. A kit containing the connector was made available. This seems more likely to me to be the cause so Im going to check that out when I get a chance.

The injector pump, injectors and all the pipe work etc might have to be replaced as it is a well known problem with the ford/jaguar pumps that due to the new non sulpher diesel not lubricating the pump as well as it should, the pump starts to break up and contaminate the hole system.

So the garage needs to do a pressure check, followed by an individual injector leak-off rate test. If the injectors are OK; they’ll need to think about air getting into the fuel line or a failing pump.

We have now had a turbo seal leak repaired and a new cam sensor fitted, will wait and see if it is fixed.

The ECU has picked up a fault on a sensor and will limit power if its going to cause harm to engine, so if ran in limp mode for to long it will shut car down.

I’m having the same problem and again I have spent over £300 on a fault that is still there. I have had the EGR valve changed, the fuel sender changed, the injectors re-coded twice and the problem is still there

So it’s mainly diesels than?

We’re picking up a 55-reg Focus on Satuday. It’s a petrol.
Phew!

From checking HonestJohn, they both seem to have their problems, but this issue is particular to Diesels.

Plug it into a computer and read the fault codes. Step one, in any modern car problem.

Yep. TAke it to a small independant garage .Ask them for EOBD european on board diagnostics. This will give the error codes, however these are stored indefinatly till reset, so they will also record a non relevant problem from amybe a year ago. Then try interweb and Ford forums with the error codes , if you are lucky there will be only 1 error , and it will say exactly the cause.
In reality there will be 3 or more faults any of which could casue a full cut-out. My 2p’s worth is fuel pump / filter related. Due to time of cut – out it would suggest to me something is getting hot and failing. If it was a blocked injector, its still going to be blocked after a re-start. if the fuel pump is eating itslf then the fuel filter will be full of swarf, might be worth emptying it out into a tupperware container. Cam angle / postion is right up there ,again getting warm and misreading.
Does it cut out at a particular place, ie top of long hill / incline? then maybe FP sensor. EGR would normally fail sooner of its not working, and wouldn’t magically fix itself, as soon as you went onto light throttle cruise it would probably cut out.

HTH good luck with it.,

please report back as there are owners of the same on here who will be interested.

i had the same thing happen on a mondeo many years ago – it was just a loose multiplug on the fuel injection. i was convinced the ECU or something expensive had expired, but whilst doing the “clueless faith-healing car maintenance” (open the bonnet and touch stuff) i found the loose connection. quick squirt of WD40 and all was well.

only thing i’ve ever successfully fixed on a car i might add!

A mate of mine had focus 1.8 TDCI and had similar issues. Turned out to be cam position sensor, 20 ish for the bit and 5 min to change.

Conks