[SRK72]

I have a peculiar problem in my petrol Fiesta 1.6S

When the car had completed about 3000 kms i was driving down a highway and for the first time i touched 140km/hour. After i slowed down i felt that the acceleration of the car was sluggish. There was a definite difference in the performance of the car before and after this incident. I did not feel the same kind of acceleration and power at 2000rpm as it used to be earlier. Secondly very often there was a loud humming sound coming from the front part of the car whenever it was taken out in the hot sun; and / or when it was occupied by 4-5 people.

I took the car to Ford authorised service station where the car was driven by a service engg who declared the vehicle was 'Normal'. After this i reported the same problem when i left the car for 1st service. The service engg told me that his software showed an error when his laptop was connected to the car to identify the problem. They changed the Engine Coolant free of cost under warranty. But I was not told what exactly the problem was. After this the car behaved normal and I was happy that my car attained its original pickup and performance.

But after running another 1000 kms i started having the same problem again. Since i had planned a long trip i wanted to ensure that the car was in perfect shape. This time i went to another workshop of the same service centre, where a service engg drove the car and said everything was normal and nothing to worry about. He said the noise from the front part was from the Radiator Fan and confirmed that it was normal.

Now the car had completed 7000kms and i still face the same problem. The acceleration is sluggish and the noise from the Radiator Fan (? not sure if this is the source of noise) is very annoying. During hot weather this noise keeps coming every 5-10 minutes.The temperature guage shows normal reading. When i switch off the engine this noise stops.

Can someone let me know what may be the possible issue and how to solve it.

[sukrit7]

did ford clean your throttle body recently?
my swift too was behaving sluggishly,got the throttle body cleaned and it's behaving normally.

[yajaman99]

@SRK - what it sounds like is the Radiator Fan. Not sure if you can check under the hood when you hear the next time to feel if it is the radiator fan or not.

[frankmehta]

You need not worry at all about the loud hum. Radiator fan. Scared me too, but it stays on in extreme heat. Even after the car is parked and engine is switched off sometimes. Chill ;-)
About sluggishness:
1. Change petrol pump
2. Use System G with the next tankful, and carry for the trip
3. Worry not, the car is READY for a long trip. Just fuel up at good places, ok?

[SRK72]

sukrit7, Not aware if service centre cleaned the throttle body. They just mentioned changing the Coolant.

yajaman99, I tried checking. But couldnt find out if the sound was from the radiator fan.

frankmehta, Im filling petrol only from COCO outlets, Im using IFTEX System G, but still there is no difference.

abhaybhakshi, I rev the engine upto 3000rpm on a daily basis while driving (Fiesta manual recommends revving upto 3000rpm atleast once a week)

One more observation : Earlier the engine used to produce a very pleasing note once it crosses 2000rpm. The sound used to be addictive. But now that note seem to set in only around 3000rpm.

[SRK72]

Gilead, the car was earlier serviced at Chennai Fords Ambattur workshop. Next time shall try Poonamallee centre.

[SRK72]

An update. After a number of visits and checkups which did not yield any result, Chennai Ford finally identified the problem as O2 sensor failure. They said it would be replaced under warranty. Currently waiting for the part to come from Ford, and in the meanwhile i had asked them to check all systems related to the O2 sensor. However they say further evaluation can be done (using diagnostic software) only after this sensor is replaced.

Pls suggest if anything else need to be checked.

[amit_mechengg]

in the first place when you said that they hooked up a laptop and cleared the error code you should have asked them the error code.

when again after 1000 kms your car became sluggish why did you ask them to test drive to say its normal. you could have asked them immediately to hook the laptop again.

now its good that the O2 sensor failure has been detected. once that is in place a ECU reset should be done, run for few kms say 10 odd and again ask them to hook the laptop and verify everything is normal.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by SRK72

Chennai Ford finally identified the problem as O2 sensor failure.

Did it take 8 months for Chennai Ford to detect a faulty O2 sensor??.. . I believe a faulty O2 sensor is one of the easiest to detect, if they properly decipher the error codes.

You may consider changing your A.S.S if you have other options.

[sandeepmohan]

A colleague faced the exact same problem on his S. Took about a week for Metro Ford, Bangalore to sort it out. He was casually driving and a warning light came up on his console & loss in power. No part failure. As usual Metro Ford said the problem was sorted though the pick up never really got back to how it originally was. On insiting that the problem was still there, they kept the car for a few more days and rectified the problem. No idea what went wrong though. The car was returned with everything back to normal.

[abhipuru16]

I just started my Fiesta's engine for the first time. Theoretically, it was a cold start, something stranger happened. I am serially listing my concerns.
1. The second I started the engine, it jerked for exactly three times during which the rpms dropped to around 850 and then they increased like they should while warming up.

2. If I hold the revs at exactly 2500 rpm , I hear a continuous whistling sound which stops only if the revs are not at 2500. On googling I found something related to idle air bypass that I could not understand.

3. When I am driving, as soon as I reach 2200 rpm, there is a sudden surge in power.

4. Since three weeks, my car would make a krrrrrrrr sound from near the serpentine belt which would disappear on revving but would always be audible at idle. The volume would decrease after the engine reached its optimum temperature.
Surprisingly, I did not hear any such noise this time only. Otherwise, I would hear it everyday.

I am yet to get it serviced this week but I still want some comments on what to expect.
The car is 18000 km old and I put in a new air filter around 1000km back.

[govigov]

@abhipuru, is the air reverberator/breather box clamped securely? This car has an auto tensioner belt, i usually dont mind that and as a work around, put a cap of water on the belt while it is running. I would suggest you can also check the ignition coil and the cables.

[E = mc²]

A friend of mine had recently acquired an impeccable Fiesta 1.6s, on which he started facing some issues a fortnight later. So, decided to bring up the rant among the intrepid BHP'ians here. Posting this on behalf of him.


"I recently bought a 2010 Morello Fiesta 1.6s from Kolkata after searching for around 6 months. Its a jem of a car and a jewel of an engine. I bought it for the handling, i have a thing for driver's cars. But the engine was a surprise for me, the low end torque, the rev free nature, the Duratec snarl and everything. It was actually a dream come true when i got my 1.6s.

But now i am facing a problem. After some days of driving the car, it seems to have lost its charm. The Duratec is not revv happy as before and the snarl is missing , the torque between 2k-3k rpm is missing. It seems to have lost its rev free nature also.

Took it ford A.S.S, and they have got no idea of the problem. Full car checkup was done including ids scan,changed the spark plugs, cleaned the throttle body, and still no good .

The car has run only 30k kms . The water pump bearing is making sounds and is due for replacement. The car was driven down from Kolkata to my hometown in Kerala (2500 kms ) and that explains the water pump issue. Also the RPM needle fluctuates a little, its a minor fluctuation and when reported to ford A.S.S, they said its normal for ford 1.6 and 1.4 to have minor fluctuation.

Please help me out with the Duratec issue. I request all 1.6 and 1.6s owners to help me as i am really missing the Duratec..!!"

[Ashok Naik]

Originally Posted by E = mc²

A friend of mine had recently acquired an impeccable Fiesta 1.6s, on which he started facing some issues a fortnight later. So, decided to bring up the rant among the intrepid BHP'ians here. Posting this on behalf of him.


"I recently bought a 2010 Morello Fiesta 1.6s from Kolkata after searching for around 6 months. Its a jem of a car and a jewel of an engine. I bought it for the handling, i have a thing for driver's cars. But the engine was a surprise for me, the low end torque, the rev free nature, the Duratec snarl and everything. It was actually a dream come true when i got my 1.6s.

But now i am facing a problem. After some days of driving the car, it seems to have lost its charm. The Duratec is not revv happy as before and the snarl is missing , the torque between 2k-3k rpm is missing. It seems to have lost its rev free nature also.

Took it ford A.S.S, and they have got no idea of the problem. Full car checkup was done including ids scan,changed the spark plugs, cleaned the throttle body, and still no good .

The car has run only 30k kms . The water pump bearing is making sounds and is due for replacement. The car was driven down from Kolkata to my hometown in Kerala (2500 kms ) and that explains the water pump issue. Also the RPM needle fluctuates a little, its a minor fluctuation and when reported to ford A.S.S, they said its normal for ford 1.6 and 1.4 to have minor fluctuation.

Please help me out with the Duratec issue. I request all 1.6 and 1.6s owners to help me as i am really missing the Duratec..!!"

Hello,
The Duratec 1.6 is a dream machine. It has ample low end torque.

Have you performed these jobs-
1. The car has not run much. So loss of compression is not possible. Still perform a compression test on all the cylinders and see if you find anything wrong.

2.You ought to go for injector cleaning too. Mostly you would have filled adulterated fuel along your journey over 2500 kms-a big from me. You need guts to travel such long distances. The fuel lines might be clogged due to bad fuel. Go for an engine flush too if it does not cost much.

3. Change the engine oil ASAP. You do not know how long the previous owner drove on the same engine oil.

4. Had the previous owner remapped the ECU for better fuel efficiency? If this is the case, FASS will sort it out easily.

5. Are you absolutely sure that the previous owner had done only 30k? Some days back I visited a small garage and I was shocked to find a figo that had 80k on the odo which was changed to only 20k by a man. I thought electronic odometers were tamper-proof!

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Ashok.

[E = mc²]

Originally Posted by Ashok Naik

Hello,
The Duratec 1.6 is a dream machine. It has ample low end torque.

Have you performed these jobs-
1. The car has not run much. So loss of compression is not possible. Still perform a compression test on all the cylinders and see if you find anything wrong.

2.You ought to go for injector cleaning too. Mostly you would have filled adulterated fuel along your journey over 2500 kms-a big from me. You need guts to travel such long distances. The fuel lines might be clogged due to bad fuel. Go for an engine flush too if it does not cost much.

3. Change the engine oil ASAP. You do not know how long the previous owner drove on the same engine oil.

4. Had the previous owner remapped the ECU for better fuel efficiency? If this is the case, FASS will sort it out easily.

5. Are you absolutely sure that the previous owner had done only 30k? Some days back I visited a small garage and I was shocked to find a figo that had 80k on the odo which was changed to only 20k by a man. I thought electronic odometers were tamper-proof!

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Ashok.

Thanks for the reply, Ashok. Regarding the odometer reading, the 30k kms, it's genuine, as he has already checked with Ford A.S.S. on the vehicle history. Also, the oil is changed into fully synthetic Castrol from the service center. No remaps have been done so far. The car is fully stock. It even revs all the way to the redline, but all that's missing is that low end torque/surge.

The pulling issue surfaced some days after bringing her down. To be precise, exactly the day on which he changed the oil and removed the battery for servicing.