Got myself a Focus 2.0 TDCI with lowish 30,000km here in Phuket, a manual.

Nice car, decent pull, but I wanted more power, so went to a shop to install a chip.

Now, the strange thing happens:

when floored the car looses all power at around 3,000rpm, like fuel delivery stopped and the engine light goes on.

Slowing down or shifting up solves the issue and the engine light goes out again...the rest of the time the car drives smooth.

The chip shop guy thought it could be a EGR issue, so he actually took it out and cleaned it (and yes, pretty nasty inside), also we put a plate to blank the EGR....however, nothing changed, problem remains.

He than went on to do a softer program tune, which reduced the issue, but he also cannot put the finger on, why this is happening. Any clues guys? I don't believe the manual TDCI has a torque limiter? But something must send a message to stop 'the power'....

As this was only supposed to be the first step on my journey to more 'power'....

after that:

- decat

- upgraded turbo and downpipe.

...i am rather pessimistic on what can be done.

Still looking for a great all day car which is reliable and fun to drive....unfortunately in my other topic the suggestions of second hand 'racer' cars not really suit me, would just be too worried that the cars were thrashed before, plus let's face it, most have pretty 'dreadful' stonge age interiors...(unfortunately even a STI).

Ummm well as a guess i would say its.............................the new chip

Sounds like it could be two things:

1. The chip is overfuelling the engine too much at 3000 RPM, causing the commonrail pressure to increase beyond spec, and the ECU is retarding commonrail pressure as a precaution.

2. The overfuelling at 3000 RPM is increasing combustion temps too much, and the ECU is retarding commonrail pressure as a precaution.

The three solutions that come to mind are:

1. A better chip that is either already properly mapped to the engine, or can be mapped to the engine.

2. A throttle controller that can be mapped to control actual throttle opening based on RPM and pedal travel, and setup so full pedal at 3000 RPM is not actually 100% (whatever setting is needed to solve the overfuelling issue).

3. Lighter settings on the chip. It sounds like it's simply delivering too much fuel at higher rev ranges.

Edited August 30, 201114 yr by MoonRiverOasis

I'd throw that chip away, put it back to original and hope there is no damage.

I would drain water separator and replace the fuel filter before doing anything else