Almo

Thanks for your reply and sorry bout slow response. I'm understanding what your saying and I'll ask my friend if can access that info. I'll have a closer look at the wiring too. The previous owner wont communicate with me any longer, I asked him too many questions when I bought the van initially lol! I'm going to pull the blanking plate out and see if it has a hole in it as a matter of interest and whether its blocked over partially or fully with soot.

Back again guys.... So I ended up replacing the stepper motor then got my friend to clear the historical error code. The light stayed off for about the first 3 trips around town then came back on again. It's been back on pretty much all the time since apart from one morning I started it up and it was off but came on within the first 10 miles. Today I got my friend to scan it again and its the same code as before - P0490 EXHAUST GAS RETICULATION 'A' CONTROL CIRCUIT HIGH. Does anyone know what this code actually means? What's the 'A' control circuit? TIA.

Gratefully received! Thank you.

Hi guys, I've just received some new rear bearing assemblies from the UK (the freight and taxes was more than the bearings!) and was wondering what the tightening spec on the main nut was as I dont have a workshop manual. Cheers.

Hey great, thanks very much for this info. My auto electrician friend will be able to decipher all of what you said about the six terminals and which does what. Yes I was thinking same about just purchasing a new stepper motor (I know the correct name now!) but I hadn't looked into yet. I'll have a look on UK e-bay as that's where I get most of my bits from. Luckily it will be a small package as freight has gone nuts since covid. Thanks again for your help, I'll update this thread as I progress.

Yes I did get my auto electrician friend to scan it. It came up: P0490 EXHAUST GAS RETICULATION 'A' CONTROL CIRCUIT HIGH. I must ask him if it is possible for him to remove/clear the alert using the machine he has. I'm guessing though that until I sort the electrical issue it wont be able to be removed.

Back again... So today I pulled the EGR assembly apart and all is well and clean inside as you would expect due to being blanked off. The electric motor spindle and toothed gear turn freely and smoothly and so does the valve actuator (correct name?)that the motor spindle slips over. So mechanically all seems well so now I'm suspecting its electrical. I started the engine when i had it apart (its been blanked off remember) and got my buddy to watch the EGR motor spindle and it didnt move once, same when I gave it some revs. So is that a fair test to prove that its not working? I have a multi meter but I'm not sure how to test the connector lead that goes to the motor for power? Or is there a resistance value I should look for across the terminals of the motors plug? There's nothing in my Haynes manual on how to test the EGR. All I'm trying to achieve here is to get the Check Engine Light off. Thanks for any advice offered.

Very nice! What year is that?

Hi Guys, I haven't been on here for some time as the vans been going good until recently when the check engine light came on. I got my mate who's an auto electrician to scan it and on the screen it said EXHAUST GAS RETICULATION 'A' CONTROL CIRCUIT HIGH. Anyone got any ideas what this means? Looking at the EGR valve it looks like a previous owner has put a blanking plate in where the exhaust gases enter the valve. Which leads me to think they must have done something else as well to fool the ECM to think that the EGR valve was operating as per normal to prevent the CEL from coming on? This is not my area of expertise so any help really appreciated. BTW the van is running as per normal. Cheers.

I'm replying to my own thread nearly 3 years on incase anyone has a similar issue and wondered what the final outcome was. So the whole problem started when I replaced the fuel filter. With most issues it generally your own intervention that has created it lol. When I got the new fuel filter the threaded hole on the bottom of it for the water trap was not the same thread size as the old filter so the moisture trap would not screw on. So I just got a regular hex head engineers bolt and screwed it in there with a washer and some sealant on the bottom of the filter. This seal was not 100% air tight and that was where the air was getting in. So after all the shenanigans listed in the above posts (which resulted in me prematurely wearing out the brushes in my starter motor!) I re-installed the original fuel filter and drove round for about half a year before I was brave enough to swap it out for another new filter, but this time I had the correct thread on the bottom and was able to fit the water trap. I haven't had any bother since. Amen.

Passed the 48hr test tonite... ?

It passed the 24hr test... but I'm not counting my chickens yet, done that before When I replaced the last plastic connector pipe with rubber I also put the original fuel filter back on. Luckily i dont throw things away. Can be replaced in a couple of months time once I'm happy I've cracked it.

The three connections on the top of the filter are: Line in from tank/line out to injector pump and a third line that tees off the return line to the tank. Regarding the lift pump business I did find this response in another forum after i did some googling. It suggests there is no lift pump: I had starting problems with my Mk 3 Galaxy and just found a fix. The Mk 3 and a few other fords have no lift pump. Fuel is drawn in using the high pressure pump beside the engine. My galaxy turned over fine and started for a few seconds and then stopped. I found that the fuel line was empty. When I primed the line there were bubbles visible in the line. The problem was that there was a pin hole in the flexible line connecting the fuel filter to the rigid line running back to the tank. The hole had been caused by wear from the flexible line rubbing against a loom of wires (i.e. bad design:mad: ). If there had been a lift pump it would have been evident because there would have been a diesel leak but because there is no lift pump air was being drawn in causing the line to empty back to the tank when stopped and bubbles in the line when running. It was a tough one to diagnose and the normal 'fix' of installing a check (a.k.a. non-return) valve near the high pressure pump did not work. I discovered the hole when I heard a quiet hiss when priming the line using a hand diesel primer pump. Find a quiet spot to do this. The fix in my case was simply to install a fresh piece of tubing between the filter and the hard line but make sure you find the leak first. The same issue could be caused by a leaking filter housing or a bad o-ring seal in one of the filter connectors. I know of at least one case where a guy sold his S-Max because of a similar problem that could not be fixed. Hopefully this will be of help to someone. Ive replaced the third and last plastic line/connection (the one from the end of the steel fuel line coming from tank to the filter) so will leave it 24 hrs and see how it goes....

Well would you believe this issue has raised it's head again and it's got me scratching mine! I dont have many regrets in life but one is replacing that fuel filter! I'd like to go with a more simple after market fuel filter set up with one line in and one out. Does anyone know why the OEM filter has the third connection for the tee in off the return line? I'm guessing it is to balance out the fuel pressure or circulate fuel in the system? I've replace two of the three plastic connectors with rubber fuel line and hose clamps now. The last one to do is the line in to fuel filter from the tank. I hope that is the one that is letting air in or I really will be stumped. If anyone else has had this starting then dying issue I would love to hear from you!

Unfortunately GBL I was premature with that comment. A week or two later the issue was back but worse than before. But... there is a happy ending to this story. Last weekend I did some investigating and noticed the plastic outlet pipe connection coming off the top of the fuel filter was on the loose side. Kinda ironic considering it was a bitch to get off when I changed the filter recently. My hunch was the two O rings inside the connector were now damaged/worn from the removal process. So I cut the plastic fuel line with a craft knife removing about six inches of line and the offending connector. Then I cut a piece of 10mm I.D. rubber fuel line the same length and fitted it in place using hose clamps. This gave me a good seal around the filter outlet pipe and the cut end of the plastic fuel line. I also used Heldite on the fuel line end. I picked the O rings out of the connector and the lower one appeared to be damaged slightly. Not badly but probably enough for air to sneak past. So far after a week and about 5 cold starts I haven't had a hint of bother. So hopefully that's the end of the saga.

Thanks for your reply GBL, I can confirm that there was nothing wrong with that replacement bearing i put in as I got to eye ball it today when i pulled the hub carrier out... again! So, the whole guts of the problem was that worn drive flange due to one half of the original worn out bearing spinning on it and chewing away the metal. For those that dont know, these bearings are a double row bearing and the inner race is split in two for some reason with and outter half and an inner. So when I went to replace that original worn out bearing a couple of months ago I discovered the inner half of the bearing surface of the drive flange was worn and under size. Obviously the correct thing to do then would have been to replace the bearing AND the drive flange. But I cant get parts for this van here off the shelf, they have to come from the UK which takes a week and I was under the pump to get the van on the road to go racing in the North island. So I did a bodgy job and applied bearing retainer to one half of the new bearing inner race that was going to locate on the worn part of the drive flange. Wrong! It may have got me on the road but it was the source of the ABS light coming on. The ABS reluctor ring is attached to the inner race of the bearing so that it turns the with drive flange and creates the signal. But half of my inner race was not turning fully because the bearing retainer fix did not work and was just catching enough to spin the reluctor ring erratically creating a dud signal. So after 5 hrs at the workshop today re-doing the whole job and fitting a new drive flange I got to take it for a test drive and the light is off - Yahoo! Result. So pleased, it had been driving me nuts. As soon as I got the hub carrier off the van today and spun the drive flange I could see exactly what had gone wrong. You never stop learning eh. Thanks for listening to my saga those that did.

I finally got back to this issue last wkd as I'm due for a Warrant of fitness (MOT/Road Worthy/woteva your country calls it) next month and I wont get it with an ABS light showing. So I replaced the LH front ABS sensor which I've had laying around for a while now, then went for a drive but alas no change. Light goes off once your moving but comes on again once you hit about 15mph. Bugger, no easy fix. Luckily I'm friends with an Auto electrician and although his scan tool wouldnt talk to the ABS system of my Van (motor yes) he was able to borrow one that would. So we went for drive once hooked up and the graph showed a signal coming from the LH front wheel sensor but it was erratic and spiked, unlike the other three smoother graphs. So it has to be something to do with the reluctor ring on the aftermarket bearing I put in not being 100% compatible or faulty or the gap between the sensor and the reluctor ring is incorrect. I cant do much about that gap though as the sensor goes in a fixed hole and the bearing gets pressed all the way into the drive flange and then the circlip locates behind it. The new bearing I have is another aftermarket one, not a Ford original so I will bang it in this wkd and see how I go. Does that reluctor ring work on a hall effect principle or something as there's no raised lines or indentations on it? I ripped my original old bearing apart tonite to have a look on the back of that black plasticy ring to see if it was just a cover for something more ABS looking but no that's it. all that's behind it is the seal for the roller bearings... Has any one else had or heard of problems with ABS signal after fitting aftermarket bearings?

An update on this: The air must have worked it's way out of the system as I can now start it with no throttle and it keeps going. Glad I didnt start replacing fuel lines and such like. The air must have got in there when I replaced the fuel filter. Never stop learning eh.

My 2007 TDCi with the 1753cc engine has proved to be more economical than I expected. Back in March I had a 1800km drive home after some motorcycle racing. Over that distance with the bike in the back and all the riding gear etc I averaged 6 liters/100km which converts to 39 mpg (US). I was taking it easy at 55-60mph as there was no rush and we dont have motorways/interstates here. So very pleased with that figure indeed. I've just put a bottle of fuel system cleaner in the tank in it encase it needs it, hard to know.

It appears air is leaking into the system when the engine is at rest. It goes fine around town starting and stopping but after 3 or 4 hrs sitting it does same thing, cuts out after idling for about 5 seconds. I've worked out that if I give it some fuel when cranking and rev it straight away from a cold start it will keep going once fuel pressure is up. Anyone got any ideas on how to ascertain where the air will be getting in? I dont want to go replacing fuel lines unnecessarily etc. Everything looks OK on a visual inspection. When I changed the fuel filter the plastic connectors on the ends of the three lines were really hard to get off and took some force so wondering about them too. That was a while ago though.

Hi Guys, wondering if any one has had this issue that started today. I start the engine as per normal (it's a good starter), it runs for about 5 - 10 seconds then just stops dead. No spluttering or anything, like some one turned the key off. Then it will turn over but refuses to go. Not even a cough. After trying for about 5 - 10 minutes (luckily my battery is good) it will suddenly go but can be a bit hesitant to rev out for a start. It happened twice today from a cold start. Once going it's fine. You can stop and start it again no problem. So I'm wondering if it's a fuel pump issue? or if an air bubble is developing in the system somewhere when it sits maybe? Electrical/sensor issue? Any ideas much appreciated on where to start looking. Ps. I did a service on it about 700km ago and replaced the fuel filter. At the time I just filled the filter with diesel before I fitted the hoses, no bleeding was done. Not even sure how to bleed this system?

Hi, I did this job about 3 months ago. The reason the joint does not come apart easily is because its a tapered fit. The two parts lock on to each other. Have a look at this excellent Youtube clip from 8.45min mark onwards to see the pry tool that the tech uses. I'm guessing that you wont have this tool (as I didnt) so I used a long pry/crow bar to put pressure on the joint whilst my work colleague bashed the end of the bolt (with the nut on to protect thread) to pop the joint. Maybe we got lucky but it worked. Just be careful not to damage the rubber boot. Good luck!

Does anyone know how you test the tensioner for effectiveness or wear? I think mine might need replacing but not 100% and don't want to waste money. Is this a common wear item on the connects? Difficult job to replace or no? Any help from someone who has experience with this part appreciated. cheers, Al.

The answer is 1460mm. I had to replace it today. The belt grip spray only worked for so long. Luckily I new a guy on route and was able to use his facilities (and 15mm spanner!) to remove the worn belt so we could take it down the parts shop and size up a slightly shorter new one. Was pleased how easy it was to remove and fit the belt. Im over half way to my destination now, hopefully no more issues.

Hiya, does anyone know the length of the drive belt for a 2007 1.8 TDCi with out aircon? I think it's 20mm wide? I want to get a back up spare as mines started squealing today. Not a great start to my trip but hey at least the wheel bearing is quiet now. :) Thanks in advance for any help offered.