2005 Ford Focus Estimated mileage all wrong

JEEBOWHITE

MEMBER
2005 FORD FOCUS
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
48,000 MILES

Hi guys, I hope you can help with this, I recently avoided a major accident on a motorway, I think I caught a piece of debris which knocked into the underside of the car. Before this point, I could top up a tank of diesel and the engine would always estimate a total fuel range of 500 miles, and I tended to get about 490 / 500. Since that day, my mileage has been terrible, a full tank of fuel estimates 460 miles, and the car is lucky if it gets to 400. I have taken the car to ford, who jacked it up and said there was no problem, however I know there is a problem, can anyone offer advice, and/or repair estimation for this sort of problem?

thanks

7 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

have they checked that the fuel tank has not been hit and it have a dint in it, this will reduce the capacity of fuel, and give you a false impression of economy, just a thought.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Monday, February 1st, 2010 AT 3:42 PM

JEEBOWHITE

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6 POSTS

Annoyingly I took it to ford, they jacked it up and they told me there was no physical damage to the tank at all, no evidence such an accident happened. The AA man thought the tank was ruptured, as on the day, I travelled 15 miles down a motorway, and the range dropped from 50 to 20 miles, down the road, I travelled in stop start traffic, I must have travelled just short of 1 mile, and the range dropped from 10 to 3 miles, I have never seen it drop that quickly. I then topped up the tank with � 5 worth of fuel, which usually indicates an increase in range to 63 miles, and as I left the forecourt, the mileage range after top up remained at 1 mile to go.

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Monday, February 1st, 2010 AT 3:54 PM

MHPAUTOS

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Hi there,

I am wondering if the sender unit in the tank has been damaged, as all these calculations done for economy relate back to what the sender unit is telling the ECU about fuel quantity, I do feel that it is tank or sender unit related.

Mark

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Monday, February 1st, 2010 AT 6:23 PM

JEEBOWHITE

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6 POSTS

Fantastic, I am guessing thats going to be at least three figures long for repair then.

Actually If I access the self diagnostics mode, is there a particular error code that might indicate this fault?

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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 AT 12:30 PM

MHPAUTOS

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Hi there,

there well may be, I can't say for sure if Ford support that level of diagnostic support but it is certainly a good place to start, let me know what you find out.

Mark

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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 AT 3:30 PM

JEEBOWHITE

MEMBER
6 POSTS

After taking the car to Ford a weeg gone monday, they returned it to me 36 hours ago. The Alternator had failed and they said that they had the vehicle hooked up to the diagnostics machine. Apparently the only error codes they could find where to do with the alternator failing.

Annoyingly I had put yet another full tank of fuel in and the range is estimated as 400 miles, still 120 - 140 miles short of what it was allowing me before. This is beginning to drive me mad, and I really am wondering if I am alone out there and I am just hoping that my car is not a lemon.

If I access the diagnostics menu myself through the trip computer, would that help at all? If I could record all the data it shows in the order shown?

Thanks

James

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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 AT 7:36 AM

MHPAUTOS

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Hi there,

I think that the best thing to do now is by pass the dealer and go straight to Ford customer support at there head office, voice you concerns there, often this can kick start some action down the chain, dealers hate getting bad mail for up on high.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 AT 4:12 PM