New lambda sensor required for Ford fiesta

Bigwheels1111

cherry76 said:

Thank you for your good advice. Trying to tell the old man not to take it to Ford  and he is not listening. Got a quote from a garage for £167 seems reasonable enough. My intention if it fails the mot in June,  scrap it, such a shame it is a nice little car in very good condition. The AA patrol man reset it and strange enough the engine lights is now off. Thanks again, very much appreciated.

I would purchase and OBD2 reader.
To scan and clear codes like the AA.
My car kept popping up with a Nox fault.
Scan and cleared the code 3 or 4 times now.
Been a year since it last came on.
£9.59 delivered on eBay. 
266003910267 Item number.

baser999

Madness 😱 £168 for a main dealer to simply run a diagnostic test. Apprentice will plug in the machine, it’ll run through totally unaided and at the end a bloke will say this and that’s wrong. There’s no skill involved, just reading error codes.

Take it to a respected local garage. If you don’t know one, ask the neighbours. 

cherry76

I do not see why Ford would not accept the AA Patrol man report! They must be using the same diagnostic equipment. He told me to take the report to a garage and get it replaced. 

Goudy

A Ford dealer will spend/charge a minimum of an hour investigating the fault, even if they spot it in 3 minutes.
They might not find it and then pester you to pay for more diagnostics, but the minimum is £168.

They will then price up a repair which will usually include full hours, this obviously makes them very expensive.

You have a problem with a reading from a sensor, that does not necessarily mean the sensor is faulty.
It could well be but the diagnostic code isn't 100% clear as it's not a broken or open circuit code, just a low reading code. Something could be effecting what the sensor is reading, like an exhaust leak.

There are some free checks you can have done before you even consider replacing the sensor.

Take it to an exhaust specialist and have them check the exhaust for leaks.

If the low sensor reading it due to a exhaust leak, a new sensor isn't going to fix the problem and by fitting a new sensor you are just wasting money.

This is far cheaper than pay Ford £168, that then might tell you it needs a new exhaust.

The code/problem isn't critical to the engines operation.
This means these types of codes only flag up with a dashboard light when they are repeatedly reported in the same drive cycle. (it detects the problem three times in the same trip).
This is why the light hasn't yet returned.

If the issue continues the light will eventually come back on but there is no real rush to fix it.

cherry76

Thank you for your good advice. Will leave it till June for mot and take it from there as been reassured it will be ok to drive for the time being. He only drives short distances once  a week. I was thinking of getting a mobile mechanic, does it have to be an exhaust specialist to detect exhaust leak? Thanks

Mildly_Miffed

You keep saying "take it to Ford".

Your local dealer is NOT Ford.

It's just a garage that happens to pay Ford for the rights to sell their new cars, and to use their brand to do so.
In return for that, they can charge an absolute premium for parts and labour for any work they do. For a car that's in warranty, that makes sense because it makes any warranty claim easier.

For a car that's nearly twenty years out of warranty, it's utter madness to take it to a dealer. A normal garage will do at least as good a job, at a much lower price.

WellKnownSid

Mildly_Miffed said:

A normal garage will do at least as good a job, at a much lower price.

Wrong! The technicians at the Ford dealer won’t have seen anything older than a couple of years in the workshop and probably won’t have any experience of a 20 year old Fiesta.

There is every chance that a normal garage will do a far better job at a lower price!

baser999

And it’s easy for them to simply whip off a supposedly faulty part and stick on a new one, 10 minute job, one hours labour charge.
If you’re intent on leaving it until June 😱 and assuming the car lives that long, go to a reputable local garage, rather than the dealer you’ve been to already. 

Goudy

cherry76 said:

Thank you for your good advice. Will leave it till June for mot and take it from there as been reassured it will be ok to drive for the time being. He only drives short distances once  a week. I was thinking of getting a mobile mechanic, does it have to be an exhaust specialist to detect exhaust leak? Thanks

Anyone with a car ramp or lift should be able to get the car in the air and check the exhaust for leaks, but the national tyre and exhaust companies will usually check it for you for free if you wait a while.

You could possibly check if it's leaking yourself by covering up the tailpipe, but without getting under the car you wouldn't know from where.

The area where the catalytic convertor meets the rest of the exhaust needs a good check.

Quite often this part has a braided metal, flexible section that looks like this
17.108 IZAWIT Exhaust Pipe Centre, for vehicles with catalytic converter ▷ AUTODOC price and review

A leak around here could certainly cause the post cat O2 sensor to read low.

These are prone to splitting and leaking, either through rust or excess movement between the engine and exhaust can weaken them at this point.

Obviously exhausts rust due to where they are on the car, but they are attacked from both outside and inside.
Short tripping cars can cause condensation to build up in the pipes and silencers which causes them to rot from within just as quickly as they are attacked from outside.

If all is good with the exhaust then it's now time to consider the sensor is at fault, but if you have had the exhaust checked for free, you've saved a possible £168 a Ford dealer would charge you for doing the same thing.

If you think you are going to give up driving soon and are considering scrapping it or selling it as a project, just keep using it until then as it is.

Barkin

baser999 said:

Madness 😱 £168 for a main dealer to simply run a diagnostic test. Apprentice will plug in the machine, it’ll run through totally unaided and at the end a bloke will say this and that’s wrong. There’s no skill involved, just reading error codes.

Take it to a respected local garage. If you don’t know one, ask the neighbours. 

My father in law rolled up today in his car with the EML light on, and panicking.

I ran it up the road to the local father and son garage that we use. He read the fault code, cleared it, and advised it's fine to drive.

The cost? Zero. Zilch. Nada.