Engine Management Light

[EllieJP]

My partner was driving home this morning when suddenly the eml turned on and the car lost engine power after about 20 seconds of the light coming on. It restarted absolutely fine, ticking over no problem. No longer a light on the dash.. then about 5 minutes later it happened again with no eml on the dash! The power steering went also.. again restarted and this time got home. It’s a 1.6l diesel but it feels incredibly sluggish. Spoken to the mechanic and he says bring it in there should be a code to download when they plug it into the system but we can’t get there today as we decided it’s best to get a transport. Any ideas what it could be before we find out for sure? Just trying to weigh our options up and not sure if it’s time to upgrade. (The irony that that last payment for the car is the end of this month!) it’s an 11 plate Ford Focus. Thanks guys.

[1ozzy]

Random guess with the information offered, clogged DPF.
Take it to a mechanic that can read fault codes.

[EllieJP]

Not really sure on other info! Haha.. He says it feels like the turbo is just not there?

[bhg481]

I had exactly this about a year ago and it turned out to be a corroded connection on one of the diesel injectors. The fault code pointed to a faulty injector but when they came to replace it they noticed the corroded connection, cleaned it up, including replacing some parts and the problem cleared.
I would add that my car was about 12 years old at the time and had covered around 200,000 miles. I see your car is around the same age so injector problems are a possibility/probability.
1ozzie's diagnostic is also very likely, particularly if you do lots of short trips so don't give the car chance to go through its filter-cleaning cycle. You can buy this
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/fuel-and-oil-additives/wynns-diesel-particulate-filter-cleaner-325ml-325222.html
which claims to clean the particle filter. It might be worth £10 for the gamble.

[Ryzen]

Suction control valve...EGR valve...water in the diesel..MAP sensor..MAF sensor..turbo actuator..blocked fuel filter...induction/charge cooler leak??

[chrishopkin]

Try it.
MILLERS DIESEL POWER ECOMAX 500ML GMO-6204KB
https://getoffroad.com/collections/wiper-washer-systems/products//gmo-6204kb