:::Jerry:::: wrote:

"Parish" wrote in message
...
snip

SWMBO has the same model and it developed _exactly_ the same

problem.

The cause was a blocked or contaminated MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor.
Total cost, at a Ford main dealer (including the initial diagnostic
check) £200.02 inc VAT.

A Ford dealer will hook the car up to the diagnostic kit and can

confirm

this from the error codes - although I'd be surprised if something

else

produced _exactly_ the same symptoms.


This is the problem, many faults can cause the same or very similar
faults, this is why the dealer checked the fault-code and didn't just
steam-roller into changing the said sensor / component - or are you
suggesting that this would have been the first time the dealer had
come across such a fault ?!
snip


In my experience - diagnosing problems with two fuel injected cars -
most dealres have not a clue.

I ended up having a discussion with someone I knew who ran the only
independent 3rd party info center on car electronics there is.

After spending a lot on garages, I diagnosed the faults myself with his
assistance and fixed em.

Even the fault codes don't tell the whole story - they need interpreting
- a 'sensor high' may be a bad sensor or a broken wire, for example, and
some faults show up not at all or as something else - a poor airflow
sensor for example may read perfect when closed, but the diagnostics
will show merely an over lean mixture at some point in the RPM curve.
That could be due to many things - insufficient fuel pressure being one.

Sadly they seem to have dissapeared - nmy chums firm - so I only have
the big book of fuel injection systems he gave me left..


HTH


Not a lot....