Suspect Electrical Module Issues - seeking repairer Gold Coast/Brisbane for 2009 TDCi Diesel

[lexst]

Car: 09/FORD/MB Mondeo Titanium 5DR Hatchback

Hi All,

I'm trying to find someone to properly diagnose issues I have been experiencing for over two years. Any referrals to repeatable repairers familiar with Mondeos Gold Coast or Brisbane (even Northern NSW) would be greatly appreciated. Routine servicing is done at the dealer, and I've already raised this issue several times with them; hence I'm not confident they are the best place.

In short, I suspect (with my limited knowledge) there may be some electronic control module (ECM) issues.

Over 60,000 km ago, in mid-2020, I started getting an "Engine Malfunction" light. Between then and now, the car has been to the dealer for routine service four times. The reason I get from them is some variant of it "needed an oil change" or "due for service". Everything is cleared and "ok" however, around 1500 km later the message just comes back.

May this year, the engine seemed to be rough and blowing smoke, so I took it to a DPF cleaning service, and it was determined DPF and turbo replacement were required (details attached). I hoped this might be the underlying issue; however, "Engine Malfunction" continues returning. The car has since been checked over three times by them and sensors replaced, and no one can tell me why this is happening.

Ford has since serviced the car after the above work. 1000km later the "Change Oil" is coming up along with "Engine Malfunction".

As a side note, my parking sensors stopped working probably around the time when all this started in 2020, and I have only just realised the timing now. A smash repairer recently checked the sensors and said they're good, but there's something wrong with my module. This leads me to suspect that all these issues might relate to a main module problem, rather than mechanical.

It would be greatly appreciated if anyone knows a suitable repairer to help diagnose this.

My odometer recently surpassed 290,000km (mostly highway driving). I'm hoping this is not an engine wear issue; however, in staying this "Engine Malfunction" first started appearing over 60,000 km ago.

[Mondaveo]

Hey lexst, welcome to the forums.

Well it certainly sounds like you're going through some tribulations over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, I can't offer any suggestions for repairers up in Queensland. I can only comment from afar on what I read. I'll offer my take (for what it's worth) and maybe it will help us all pick apart what's going on.

First up the "Change Oil" message is likely appearing because the service reminder wasn't reset at the last service. It's just a time-based reminder that starts showing after 12 months have elapsed from the last reset, sometimes the shop forgets to do it. You can easily reset it at home to test this (turn car on but don't start engine, press and hold accelerator and brake pedals together, OK at the prompt).

The report from the exhaust shop is certainly confronting reading. I would be wanting to know how things got into a state like that. Why was the engine oil degraded? How did the turbo and DPF get contaminated with oil? It seems like they threw new parts at the car but you still left without it 100% resolved?

I trust they checked the fifth injector (fuel injector at the DPF) when they did this work. We have seen that injector can get caked with carbon deposits over time and cause regenerations to fail, which you'd see as something like the intermittent 'Engine Malfunction' warning you've been seeing.

In the case where you're chasing an intermittent issue, I suggest you get an OBDII scan tool so you can probe for Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) and monitor for yourself. Our Mondies are actually pretty poor at communicating when there's an issue, because less severe DTCs (which you'd still like to know about) usually get erased when the engine is switched off. This means you might see a message or experience a breakdown, but by the time a technician looks at it there's often no record in the car's computer. The exhaust shop's report lists a few DTCs they found, but it's perhaps not enough to tell a full story.

I have an OBDLink MX Bluetooth dongle which I keep plugged into my car, paired with the FORScan mobile app on my smartphone. This setup can interrogate both standard HS-CAN and Ford proprietary MS-CAN interfaces. The nifty thing about the the OBDLink is it has a power saving feature, so I can leave it plugged in all the time (won't drain the battery), and it's available any time if I encounter a cryptic warning message or want to monitor parameters while driving around. I had an epic thread on here when I was chasing a transmission malfunction in 2016 and it was invaluable for actually seeing and getting to the bottom of what was happening.

It seems like you could have an issue with failing DPF regenerations based on some things in the exhaust shop report, but the work they did should have resolved things, and there's nothing that clearly points to what the ongoing problem is. So my suggestion, get yourself a scantool and see if you can discover any more details the next time one of these messages appears as it happens. It may also help you clue in on the parking sensor issue.

Keep us posted!