# help! flashing coil light  Mark 6 Transit



## whitevanwoman

Was happily trundling along M6 at about 55-60 mph on the way down to crufts when after about 50 miles the coil light started flashing. I pulled over, stopped engine whilst having a little mental panic, waited 10 mins, started engine and all seemed ok for a couple of miles but then it did it again. There's no other obvious problems,  not losing power, engine temp gauge is normal.

I've now pulled off motorway at Preston and am wondering what to do. 

Anyone got any idea what the problem might be? I had new glow plugs about a month ago.  Had a 250 mile  trip last week including a 2 hour motorway drive with no problems.


----------



## rrs2010

If your Glow Plug light (which looks like a coil of wire and is on the lower left side of the clocks) starts to flash then this means that the engine management system has logged a fault.


----------



## outtolunch

from an internet search it seems its a warning from the engine management system and if its a serious fault the power drops so if its still driving OK its minor fault could be one of many sensors and it needs to be plugged in to an analyser to read the codes.


----------



## landydriver

.


----------



## whitevanwoman

Thanks for the replies,  no obvious loss of power. 

Am wondering whether to carry on to Birmingham, about 120 miles, or whether to go back home 60 miles or whether to ring breakdown ~ I got full recovery breakdown cover. 

What do you suggest? Will be gutted not to go to crufts as meeting up with loads of others including Oldish Hippy for the first time.


----------



## Gordy

*Fault logged Up.*

Hello Whitevanwoman. 
Well there's not much you can do on this occassion as your Fault needs read on a scan tool. 
But saying that at least your engine is not shutting down when fault arises, as in a crank or camshaft sensor.
Your likely to have a sensor on the way out, heat causes this most times. 
This a diesel I take it..
Call for assistance. Or return by A class roads if you've none
Gordy.


----------



## whitevanwoman

landydriver said:


> Engine size? and year? or power.
> 
> First thing to do is change the fuel filter.


2002, 2402CC.

Can the fuel filter be changed easily in the car park at the NEC?


----------



## Deleted member 27096

take it easy going there and when your ready to come home drive about a mile then call for recovery..........


----------



## bru

pull heater plug fuse out and carry on ,


----------



## rrs2010

Personally I would carry on, it's only a minor fault or your would of gone into 'limp mode' and felt a loss in power, Don't let it spoil your trip... If you do however lose power later on route you can always ring for recovery then.


----------



## outtolunch

fuel filters are easy to change its getting the air out after you have changed it on my fiat engine its a mechanical pump and has a lever on the side to pump the fuel into the system again but with the more modern electronic systems I don't know what you have to do if anything but on a connect I had after it ran out once just cranking it on the starter mother got it going again.

if you are with the AA or RAC I would call them out they carry a lot of gear and may have the gear to get a read out for the fault.


----------



## flyby

*hi*

you can call them they will code read it there for you , and then you can make you mind up wot to do next


----------



## Apache208D

Hi ya,
        AA and RAC Patrols, not sure about other recovery services, carry an engine management fault reader which plugs in and tells them what the fault is. They can then advise you if the van can be driven or advise on most appropriate action you can take. 

When similar happened to me the AA Patrol told me what the fault was, advised me I could continue my journey home (290 miles) without damage to the engine and get the fault sorted when back home. He gave me a note/receipt for the call out and wrote this advice on the note detailing date/time and mileage of my van.

Hope this helps.


----------



## landydriver

.


----------



## whitevanwoman

Thanks everyone for all the advice, I'm going to carry on through Preston on main road to see how it goes before joining motorway again. 

Will keep you posted.


----------



## Deleted member 13859

hi wvw
try to get the fault codes read, these will tell you what is wrong depending on the code number it could be something simple like the fuel filter needs changing, they collect water in the top, or it could be fuel seloniod , if its still running as normal its not to serious or it would go into limp mode to save doing any damage to the engine.

just take it easy till you can get it sorted, dont over rev the engine or let it labour ,keep it in the mid range of revs.

good luck

tranivanman


----------



## Deleted member 27096

im just out side Preston and can meet up with a code reader if you want then be able to tell you whats wrong.


----------



## whitevanwoman

Blackwatch said:


> im just out side Preston and can meet up with a code reader if you want then be able to tell you whats wrong.



Thanks for the offer,  much appreciated. 

Got as far as Warrington sticking to 55mph then same happened. Going to get a couple of hours kip and let engine cool then carry on.  

Will be passing Preston on way home next Wed, can I take you up on your offer then? It would put my mind at rest to know what the problem is.  

I'm thinking that something is overheating as it only happens on motorway after cruising about 50 miles.


----------



## Deleted member 27096

yea no problem.


----------



## Neckender

I had similar problem a few years ago with VWT4 it was a rear bulb that had blown, the diesel engineers that I went to told me that the warning light came on for any amount of things.

John.


----------



## screevin

Just take sensible precautions this weekend if your coils a bit dodgy.. (did I really print that out loud? S#IT)


----------



## Nezza36

Frujhjjjkkkklmnmkkmmkmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmkmmmmmmkmk


----------



## Neckender

Nezza36 said:


> Frujhjjjkkkklmnmkkmmkmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmkmmmmmmkmk



??????????????????????????????

John.


----------



## Deleted member 13859

*glow plug light flashing*

lifted from another site.

On ford diesels, the "glowplug light" is an enginge management warning light which flashes to warn of a "developing" fault, the "ecu" then cuts the power to prevent engine damage.

You can read the codes off the milage display but then you need to find out what the code number means!!!

To read the code, hold down the trip reset button and start the engine. after about 5secs you should see the gauges flick over to full deflection, once in this mode, release your finger off the trip reset button and then scroll through the data readings by pressing the trip reset button. Your looking for a screen that says "DTC" on it. if there are no fault codes, then this will flash "none".  if it has a fault code then it will flash up a number, something like po 149 or something, This is the number that you then have to find out what it refers to.
Try a seach on the website of "fordtransit.org" someone on there may offer the information.

When you switch off the ignition it will exit the "diagnostic" mode and return to normal.

I hope this may help, good luck.

tranivanman


----------



## outtolunch

*fault codes*

http://www.dieseltalk.com/support/DTC.pdf


----------



## johnmac185

whitevanwoman said:


> Was happily trundling along M6 at about 55-60 mph on the way down to crufts when after about 50 miles the coil light started flashing. I pulled over, stopped engine whilst having a little mental panic, waited 10 mins, started engine and all seemed ok for a couple of miles but then it did it again. There's no other obvious problems,  not losing power, engine temp gauge is normal.
> 
> I've now pulled off motorway at Preston and am wondering what to do.
> 
> Anyone got any idea what the problem might be? I had new glow plugs about a month ago.  Had a 250 mile  trip last week including a 2 hour motorway drive with no problems.




Anyone heard from Jess,,sorry WVW, has she had her problem fixd ,if so 
what was it,,,J


----------



## whitevanwoman

Hi all, sorry not posted sooner, it's been a non stop 24 hours. 

Thanks for all the replies and information ~ very useful. 

After stopping at Warrington when light came on again and making the most of MacD's Wi-Fi and loo, I got a couple of hours kip and then set off again expecting the light to flash again after about 50 miles  but it didn't and I got to the NEC without any more problems apart from the M6 being closed between J 6 +7 which meant a detour into Birmingham and back out again, arriving about 6am. 

Another hour's kip and then met up with Winddancer who was competing and quite a few others from the forum, staying in west car park, and we've all had a great day, clapped lots, walked miles, spent lots and although some of us had never met before, we've all laughed and joked like old friends. 

Tonight there's 7 vans staying at a nearby reservoir  which is just a couple of mins walk from pub ~ perfect! 

I won't spoil winddancer's glory but she's had a very good day 

And I have a rear light bulb out so maybe that was the problem although strange it didn't come on until driving about 50 miles on both occasions. 

I'll try the diagnostic test tomorrow both before and after changing the bulb.


----------



## Tony Lee

Apparently common for second-hand transits to have had the fuse removed so the new owner doesn't ever have the same problem

Another thing that can cause it - and reported on the Ford transit forum - is the fly-by-wire throttle getting some slop in it, or wear on the position transducer. Moving the mechanism sideways by hand is said to show up that particular fault.

If it is any consolation, I had it happen three or four times in one day - about 2000km ago.


----------



## landydriver

.


----------



## landydriver

.


----------



## flyby

*hi*



landydriver said:


> There are dozens of potential faults that will cause the light to come on....the are ALL engine related - nothing to do with lights/bulbs/anything else.
> 
> You need to get the codes read when the light is on as the fault will definatly be stored then.  Sometimes the code will clear when the engine restarts as everything looks ok, you drive, the fault happens and turns the light on, you stop, turn ingition off, start engine, no codes - light is off.
> 
> You get the idea, get it read with the light on.



brake lights swichts can and do put some fault lights on to


----------



## landydriver

.


----------



## bigmillie

flyby said:


> brake lights swichts can and do put some fault lights on to



Had a Nissan car  that went intermittently into limp home mode and displayed fault light

turned out to be both brake lights blown 

the line from the brake light circuit to the ECU was floating between 12v and 0v and every now and again managed to send to the ECU that the Driver was applying brakes with the accelerator depressed thus engine was shut down


----------



## outtolunch

and I thought it was bad when the wipers stopped working on the works caddy because the bonnet was not shut.

apart from the fuel consumption improvements I hate modern vehicles the more I hear about them.


----------



## ricc

are we to assume that the empty edited posts on this tread have been deleted cos they were a tad innaccurate?

what chance have us normal mortals with modern vehicles when the "expert full time  trained mechanics" obviously have little clue of whats going on with all the electrickery.

is it just a major cockup by all the manufacturers or deliberate built i obsolescence designed to increase scrapping rates and hence sell more new vehicles.

i can see a time coming where you either have to keep an old pre electrickery dinosaur on the road or buy into the new vehicle every couple of years culture.

i chose a late  mk 5 transit instead of a early mark 6 in the hopes that the older engine design  will bring less head scratching.


----------



## whitevanwoman

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I drove up from Birmingham to wigan last night without any problems so I'm not too worried  any more and I can't do much about it unless the light starts flashing again.  Strange though. 

I loved my 2CVs because they were so simple ~even if I couldn't fix them myself, I could usually figure out what the problem was. And with a Haynes manual I could often fix it myself.


----------



## Deleted member 4850

whitevanwoman said:


> Thanks for all the replies and advice. I drove up from Birmingham to wigan last night without any problems so I'm not too worried  any more and I can't do much about it unless the light starts flashing again.  Strange though.
> 
> I loved my 2CVs because they were so simple ~even if I couldn't fix them myself, I could usually figure out what the problem was. And with a Haynes manual I could often fix it myself.



Very glad to hear you made it back OK - and hope you had an excellent time at Crufts?

I used to run an ancient petrol Land Rover for the same reason, everything was basically fixable by me or if not, by a local garage...and being a poor, helpless female, having swotted up on the manual I'd drop a few 'knowledgeable' comments into the conversation so that they didn't try to rip me off.

These days the first response you get when you take a vehicle in is, "We'll need to get it onto the computer." Aaaargh...£££££££££!!


----------



## ricc

having had an engine management problem on the wifes picasso ive got the impression that the compuer programs have all been written by computer geeks who have little experience of actual hands on mechanics... weve ended up with a system that says theres a fault but theres no information  available on the range of faults than can cause the computer programme to reach that conclusion.


----------



## ricc

More forums are defunct because their members hardly post at all. Hmmmmmm[/QUOTE]



ive just aquired a vw sharan....asked on a vw forum whether the digital clock was supposed to be visible in the dark..... in a week it had 30 odd views but nobody could be arsed to reply... then i posted a polite follow up,,, and got told to be patient cos not all all members could answere technical questions.


----------



## Tony Lee

Seems that one member has his sign-on name describing part of his anatomy.


----------



## ricc

Tony Lee said:


> Seems that one member has his sign-on name describing part of his anatomy.




do we assume the "grey nomad".... still has some hair ...but on the way to becoming snowy nomad?


----------



## Andrew Lewist

*solved: replaced ford transit  crank sensor cost 9 pounds*

solved: replaced ford transit  crank sensor cost 9 pounds


----------

