Ford Focus problems

adriandilly

Hi all, my Focus 2002 2.0 litre is playing up.
The engine light has come on on the dashboard. I have tried the dashboard trick, and it shows a DTC of 9318, which I've found is 'battery voltage low'. I've checked the battery and it's fine, I've even had a battery health check at the garage just to be sure.
I've plugged a cheapish code reader in and that shows a code of p0420 which apparently means 'Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1). I can turn off the engine light by erasing the p0420 code with the reader, (The DTC 9318 on the odometer menu stays there), but the light returns after approx one week (to start with it came on at 2-3 week intervals around 3 months ago).

I've had a few ideas
- The earthing points could be cleaned up. The problem is that the bolt heads are very tight and are likely to shear off (happened to me before on another Focus). Is this really gonna help?
- I've done a general wiring check, but checking every single wire is not possible. I also checked the connectors I could see in the engine bay and the ones to the module in the driver's footwell and they seem to be fine.
- Could the cat actually be the problem, possibly a sensor reading, and could this cause the 9318 as well? How would I go about checking this?
- I was thinking of removing and checking the back of the instrument cluster. Is this worth it? And am I likely to be able to repair it?

On probably unrelated notes, I have an oil leak from *somewhere* which has existed before AND after changing sump pan and the rocker cover gasket. Oil has gone down very slowly (max mark to 1/4 full) since I got the car in July. I am also getting near the minimum mark for coolant.. how can I tell the difference between oil and coolant on the driveway after it's been running over an oily engine though? I have cleaned up as much of the underside as I can with a rag but there are places I can't reach. Even though it's frustrating, I would have thought the oil and coolant levels would be dry by now and they are not.

My cooling system/fan(?) comes on a bit sooner than I would expect in stationary traffic, should I check my thermostat and how?

Could the leak, the codes or the cooling be related in any way?

Sorry to go on and on, but any help would be much appreciated, and I hope I've raised some talking points
TIA
Adrian

marksandsparx

I just had a focus with this code on it, its the cat, fairly cheap to replace. basicly the second sensor is reading more than expected, but within acceptable range. Replace the cat and it'll be fine.

adriandilly

marksandsparx wrote: »

I just had a focus with this code on it, its the cat, fairly cheap to replace. basicly the second sensor is reading more than expected, but within acceptable range. Replace the cat and it'll be fine.

I've just checked last year's MOT advisory note online.. (The seller didn't give me it!!) It says the

Front flex Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2a)

Front flex Exhaust has part of the system slightly deteriorated (7.1.1a)

could these possibly be part of the problem?

thanks

atrixblue.-MFR-.

adriandilly wrote: »

I've just checked last year's MOT advisory note online.. (The seller didn't give me it!!) It says the

Front flex Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2a)

Front flex Exhaust has part of the system slightly deteriorated (7.1.1a)

could these possibly be part of the problem?

thanks

cant see a minor leak having a problem with emissions on your focus. and who's to say that those issues werent sorted? front flexi is after the cat IRC cat botled to mainfold then front flexi and silencer, middle interim section, rear box silencer.

cats are cheap for this car, its what brand you buy you have a choice so when asking about them ask for prices accross the brand neame like fuel part (who can be the dearest) walker, bosal and so on.

forgotmyname

The dash codes dont report the engine fault codes properly. You need a proper code reader.

vax2002

You need the Ford ovbd reader vs5 onwards
0420 is a generic obdii code, however it converts in the VBD to upv 1420/ P1420 Catalyst Temperature Sensor Failure
So the car needs an emission test to see if the cat is goosed and if that checks out a bipass on the cat sensor and replacement.
As said, the Cat looks like its given up, perhaps someone has been using a too high octane fuel or adding those snake oil injector treatments .

adriandilly

vax2002 wrote: »

As said, the Cat looks like its given up, perhaps someone has been using a too high octane fuel or adding those snake oil injector treatments .

Damn, i'm guilty of both, why didn't i think of that looks like i need a new cat then, and hopefully there's no other lasting damage
Thanks Vax

atrixblue.-MFR-.

adriandilly wrote: »

Damn, i'm guilty of both, why didn't i think of that looks like i need a new cat then, and hopefully there's no other lasting damage
Thanks Vax

quickest way to kill a OE and OE spec aftermarket cat on a 2.0l and focus rs mk1 is to use 97-98 RON fuel bump in some adatives like redX octain boost treatments aswell and sure enough youll have killed it.

the fuel is a heavy mixture if you used both at the same time, it get unspent in the cylinders thrown through the exhaust valve outlets and into the cat, cat does a burn and you get detonation on the unspent fuel damaging the cat as it burns way past its allowed thresh hold, you can damage the lambda sensor too by caking up the sensor in carbon soots and high temps. the other thing to look out for is if you had unspent fuel sat in the bores of the cylinders is BORE WASH the the cylinder bores has a layer of oil protecting the cylinder linings unspent fuel can cause BORE WASHING taking that layer of oil away, damaging the piston ring and in some cases the crank big end bearings too along with scraping the cylinder bores and resulting in a fubared bottom end, not to mention the fuel mixing with oil. more likley if you have excess fuel going into the bores due to failed plug lamda sensor over fueing due to fubared sensor, coild pack down or polug lead faulty, and using the vehicle for a long period before you had it sorted.

just a worse case scenario to bare in mind if you continue to use 98 97 ron fuel and octain and injector treatments over a long period.

adriandilly

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

just a worse case scenario to bare in mind if you continue to use 98 97 ron fuel and octain and injector treatments over a long period.

I've filled up on 98 once, and used one bottle (250ml??) of redex over two other fill ups

atrixblue.-MFR-.

adriandilly wrote: »

I've filled up on 98 once, and used one bottle (250ml??) of redex over two other fill ups

so that one fill of 98 ron and three top ups of redX over all, from first use to last use cant see that having any impact other than the first use with 98 and injector cleaner, (98 ron has cleaning properties in it already if texaco) question i have is why did you need to use the injector cleaner in the first place have you had some issue with fuel or rough lumpy idle?

MadMalx

2002/2003 model Focuses had a fault with the dashboard, so DTC 9318 might be something to do with that?

Regarding P0420, my 1.6 Focus had the same fault and I kept just clearing the code, for it to return a week or so later. When the manifold parted company with the flexi section, I decided it was time to renew the original cat which has cured the problem and helped the fuel economy return to where it should be(34-40mpg).