2005 Ford Focus Estimated mileage all wrong

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)

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.

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

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?

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

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

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)