Extended Cranking 2.0 Ecoblue (2020)

[knobby1]

Mines a 69 plate 2.0 eco blue.Cheers

Sorry to say this...but most people with a 2.0 panther engine have probably commited suicide by now...probably the worst engine ever made for a Transit....silly wet belt etc...

Lord Knobrot

[Dan transit man]

Just be another dead thread then.
I did the wet belt at 100k. Nothing wrong with it, no wear, no particles in oil. Vans been great up-to now and had many great holidays around the country.
I’ll just go through the fuel system replacing things where I see necessary, compression and leak off test and look for any water around BCM module and loom plugs.
I’ll come back at some point if I find anything worth mentioning.
Cheers

[knobby1]

Just be another dead thread then.
I did the wet belt at 100k. Nothing wrong with it, no wear, no particles in oil. Vans been great up-to now and had many great holidays around the country.
I’ll just go through the fuel system replacing things where I see necessary, compression and leak off test and look for any water around BCM module and loom plugs.
I’ll come back at some point if I find anything worth mentioning.
Cheers

So, you're the one with the only properly running 2.0 Eco-blue engine.??

Better put it in a museum.

Lord Knobrot

[Dan transit man]

So just to add another possible cause to this issue.
When cranking the voltage on the ecu drops to 10.25v.
Don’t know if this is normal but I’ll investigate after my holiday.
If anyone else has a 2.0 eco blue and can plug in to confirm what they are seeing, would be much appreciated so I can either rule it out or flag it.
Cheers

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[Mute]

Battery was a red herring for me. Bought a top quality yuasa 9000 agm to replace the ford agm but no difference. I leave it on trickle charge because I don’t use it for weeks sometimes, makes no difference. 12.8v fully charged, first start will take longer.

I’ve seen that ecu voltage as low as 9v with no issues starting, 8v won’t start my van but 9 or above will.

I stripped out a bunch of stuff around the cylinder head for a look - no obvious fuel leaks, tried tightening the fuel rail connections slightly anyway but all were already tight.

I’m thinking either injectors or high pressure fuel pump. Like yours, my lift pump is healthy and perfectly capable of reaching pressure. High pressure pump though, it’s readings sometimes lag commanded values which seems suspect.

I kinda lost interest for a bit, I went to a dealer and asked them to start a transit from cold. Exact same as mine, took a second to catch. Guy says “they all do that”.

My neighbour has the same engine albeit in 170 trim with autobox in a custom. Never hear his taking an extra few cranks when cold. Not sure what to believe .

[Dan transit man]

Thanks for the reply mute.
I wasn’t convinced with the battery but was worth a shot at 4 years old. I think I have a perfectly good genuine one in the garage now though gathering dust.i fitted a solar panel for the camper side of things the weekend that will also keep the starter battery topped up so know that side is ok.
Good to know that you don’t think that ecu voltage would be the problem.just needed confirmation and that you have given me.
I’m still leaning towards injectors also. I will get a leak off test done when back and if I find an iffy looking one, I might just get a second hand one to see if fixes it before jumping in with a new set.
Doesn’t fill you with confidence when the dealer says they are all like it. Mines just more of a problem as I don’t drive it all the time.
Thanks for taking time to reply.
Dan

[My van hates me]

Of the 3x euro 6 transits still running at work they all need some encouragement to start. A euro 6 at 100k is like a human turning 45. it’s harder to get started in the morning, works because it has no other choice and has major health issues just around the corner
That said, mine was running great at 115k when I sold it. The new cams, belts, vac pump, intercooler, induction hoses, turbo and feed/return pipework probably helped

[Mute]

Been playing about some more.

So with a fully charged new AGM battery, my battery tester says 100% charge and 95% health with 2.98mOhm internal resistance, the no load voltage is 12.8v.

I put it in the van, wait a few mins for things to settle down and the voltage across the terminals settles at 12.7v maybe it’d bounce back up to 12.8v if I waited a little longer, pretty sure some things on the van were still awake although i waited for the lift pump to go quiet before taking that measurement.

I key on the ignition and the voltage gets pulled under 12v for a second or two before climbing to 12.3 maybe 12.5 if I waited long enough. This is with fan blower off and everything I can turn off turned off, so just side light bulbs and whatever else the van chooses to energise at key on ignition off (lift pump etc)

The question I’m wrestling with is why are so many amps being pulled from the battery that it drops the voltage so much? Most other cars I can recall would pull the voltage by less than 0.5v

I have an amp clamp but it’s a bit of a squeeze to get it round the various cables coming off the distribution panel next to the battery under the seat. This weekend I’ll see if I can narrow down which circuits pull so much at key on.

This whole hypothesis is a bit suspect though, if it were excess load taking power away from the starter then why would later starts be good as gold? I do have a 2kw power inverter on the van and it has HUGE capacitors in it, if those were empty at startup only , that would be a heavy load until those caps charged. I’d expect they have a small series resistance to slowly drain them over time so that might fit the behaviour I see. The only gotcha with this idea for me is that inverter is connected to a different battery which only gets switched inline with the main battery after the alternator is producing and the split charge relay clicks into place. In theory that inverter should not be part of the problem.

[Dan transit man]

This is why I can’t see it been battery related or voltage drop. Mine starts no problem with the same voltage drop all day, just has a harder time when sat for a couple days or longer.
I’m currently away so have no diagnostic tools with me but I’ve driven 700 miles and starting van every morning without issue. Longest been sat I’d say is 12-14hrs up to now.
Currently on a site, on hook up with starter battery charging through split charge and haven’t started van for about 40hrs so we see what happens when come to leave this morning.
If it struggles with fully charged battery, I’m going for the leak back test and injectors next.

Currently resting at 12.9v and 3 months old.

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[Mute]

I disconnected that inverter, no difference.

Like you say, it’s time sat cold, not voltage that makes a difference. The starter is still enthusiastic enough at low volts.

[Dan transit man]

No different here either after what was 42hrs sitting with hook up cable connected and fully charged batteries. Starter turning at full pace and took a couple of seconds to fire.
I’m going to go for leak back test next and maybe compression test at some point.
Will keep you informed of any progress.

[nickhod]

Will keep you informed of any progress.

Did you ever get any further with this? I have pretty much the same problem with a 2019 Transit Custom I bought recently. It's under the dealers warranty so currently at a garage, but they seem to be struggling to diagnose it.
I replaced the battery just to eliminate that but it didn't make any difference.
Garage are currently looking at fuel pump and fuel filter on mine.
In this video someone replacing the fuel injectors cures it.
https://youtu.be/qNfPEckzk6Y?si=cim2pNSlhglmQIHA

[Mjfend26]

Also interested to see if anyone has cured this.

I don’t get ‘hill assist unavailable’ but do get everything else, along with it feeling slightly sluggish after it gets warm.