2 Years And 30k+ Miles Without A Problem Until Now

[Guest mr sensible]

Hello all

 

After 2 years of excellent driving in my 01 (x) 110 bhp 1.9tdi Gal, I've been hit with a problem which is listed only once on this site, but appears to have no solution. Ford diagnostics say every things OK , and their technical gurus say "never heard of that"

 

Instead of spending the next 15mins typing the fault out I've copied the previous persons posting as it is exactly the same error but mines only a Zetec

 

 

I have a 99 TDi ghia which I am very pleased with but over the past week I have had problems starting, she cranks over well enough but can take up to 30 seconds to fire. It is an intermittant problem which can occur when the engine is warm or cold then sometimes it will struggle to start the very next time or it will not reoccur for five or six starts. I thought it was because of the short runs I was doing lately so had a long run at the weekend to clear her out and charge the battery up but with no success. I've also read through all the posts and while some seem similar no one is exactly the same. Something else which has been happening at the same time and may or may not be connected (it would be an unusual coincidence if not related) is that when first turning the ignition on a morning I get five electronic bleeps from in the dash behind the clocks this appears to occur at random and the fact that it has beeped does not mean it won't fire straight away. I am thinking along the lines of Relay 30 from reading the other posts but having seen nothing about the beeps I'm not sure of my first step yet.

 

My ford dealer says there's no relay 30 on diesels!!!!

 

Any help would be much appreciated as the problem would also appear to be getting worse.

 

thanks

 

Mr Sensible

[seatkid]

Am I right in thinking Crankshaft position sensor (CKP) is likely culprit.

 

Camshaft position sensor (CMP) is another possibilty

 

Others?

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Yes, you are right in thinking that :lol:

[Guest mr sensible]

Guys

 

Thanks for this. I'm have no mechanical knowledge at all, so, would you have an idea of what is involved to verify the fault, how the fix is done and what cost I'm looking at.

 

thanks

 

:lol:

[seatkid]

According to a SEARCH (hint hint) item I just read - 5 beeps denotes an open circuit CKS.

 

So it may just be (fingers crossed) a bad connection as you dont always get the 5 beeps.

 

You gotto find the CKS (Gbx end of engine, at front low down) and follw the wire back to the connector. pull connector apart, inspect, clean and reinsert. If that doesnt work then its a new CKS.

 

If I could post pictures....

[paulmpaciorek]

SeatKid

 

You can post pics via this site mate .

 

http://www.imageshack.us/index.php

[seatkid]

Thanks, I'll bear that in mind, would be better if it was direct....

 

Further to location of this CKS connector...(on mk1 at least) if you look under the rhs (gbx end) of the engine cover there are a bunch of connectors, it one of the square ones above and to the front of the large circular one with lots of wires. Could be this area is full of muck. There is also possibly a connector at the sensor itself which from what I can see is at the front of the engine just below and to the right of the oil filter (Mk1)... Candidate for muck....

 

Remember...These are pics for a MK1 TDi

 

I think its the black connector below....

http://img204.exs.cx/img204/908/cksconnector1rh.jpg

 

 

I think this is the CKS wire going to the sensor.....

http://img226.exs.cx/img226/2623/ckswire3gj.jpg

 

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

[seatkid]

BTW it is known as a Crankshaft Position Sensor on MkII and an Engine Speed Sensor on the Mk 1

[Guest mr sensible]

Thanks seatkid.

 

Spoke to Ford and they'll look at it tomorrow. Seems very promising as the fault happen after the 50k service, so probably induced by Ford.

 

I've been searching the net for 5 beeps/bleeps for weeks but no finds, so where and what did you search for?

 

Cheers

 

Mr Sensible :lol:

[seatkid]

A search of this forum for Crankshaft Position sensor!!

 

Make sure you set all the options correctly when you search....

[Guest mr sensible]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

Ford checked out the sensors and report no failing. Still getting mainly 5 bleeps prior to the engine starting. I say mainly 5 bleeps as on occassions have had 3 , 4 and 4.5 bleeps. Interestingly, when I have 3 bleeps the first of the 3 bleeps starts when the 3rd of the 5 bleeps whould have been, and 4 bleeps start when the second on the 5 bleeps would have started - hope this makes sense!!!!!!!!!!!!. Though starting after bleeps is perfect. Once car is started, no bleeps occur unless left for 7 hours plus in cold conditions

 

Have noticed that do not get any bleeps when overnight weather has been mild, again starting is perfect.

 

Though get very poor starts when cars run, especially fast A roads or Motorways, even after 15 mins use. Again as car has already been started, no subsequent bleeps prior the poor start. Poor start = 3 tries of 7 - 10 seconds each turn before start.

Last weekend though this manifested itself again - got the usual poor start but when engine started had one bleep. This now seems to be consistant with starts after fast A road & motorway use.

 

Dropped Gal back at fords yesterday so they could diagnose a cold bleeping start this morning, though weather extremely mild so odds of bleeps low.

 

Any more possible causes would be welcome.

 

I note, another posting of what would appear to be the same fault placed today, again its a tdi.

 

Of interest ford told me that the later old shaped Gals have the upgraded Mgmt systems, so it's a bit a hybrid, and perhaps failures are now starting to appear.

[Masked Marauder]

I got five bleeps when my timing belt snapped and the engine was being cranked.

 

So nothing wrong with my crank sensor, so it must have been something else.

 

On the TDi injector No3 there is a needle lift sensor. When the injector operates (by fuel pressure) the sensor knows the injector has worked and passes this to the ECU.

 

Now on my other car (a TUD5 diesel engined Rover) I had a hole in the fuel pipe, tiny tiny thing. But sometimes the air drawn in through the hole was enough to cause the car starting problems as the air is more compressible than fuel it takes time to get through the injectors. If this was happening the injector sensor would be showing a fault. (It is the brown plug in the photo above btw)

 

So it is a long shot, perhaps you are getting air drawn into the fuel line. Open the bonnet, remove the beautification cover, start your engine and look at the clear plastic pipe going into the fuel pump, there should be no air bubbles flowing through the pipe.

 

Easy to check, probably not the problem, but you never know.

[Guest mr sensible]

Ford say the battery is below charge. Put a booster on and no bleeps.

 

Hope this is the fix, but why good start after upto 2 days parked up and poor start after 150 motorway miles.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

...because modern batteries give up in the most strange ways.

[Guest mr sensible]

Battery changed and no beeps. Also starts well after whatever length of mileage.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions :D

[Guest greenfly]

Great you got an easy fix. Same as my experience - and a good basic tip from this forum pointed me at the battery. All well (for now).