Focus 1.8 tdci smoke, power loss, then fine?

[completelocks]

Hi guys,

I am having a strange problem, 2004 1.8 TDCi, done 89k. After a certain amount of time, i get plumes of black smoke out the back, and a loss of power. If I put my foot down as this is happening, it makes a weird noise as if its firing on 3 or being starved of fuel.

I say 'a certain amount of time' as it doesn't matter how I drive it, from hot or cold, it's fine to begin with. I had a mechanic friend drive it till the problem started to happen, and he drove it from cold, red lined it, tried early gear changes to put it under load and nothing would make it happen. Then all of a sudden at 30 mph driving home, it started.

If I turn the engine off, wait a min or two and start it up again, it drives perfect and the problem has gone. Soon enough, it happens again. It's almost as if it's on a timer.

Plugged my keyscan in and no faults found.

Strangest thing ever.

Any knowledge of this problem or ideas would be great

[t400ble]

Sounds like a duff injector

[completelocks]

I dod think that, but I'm no expert.

Just driven it again into town. Did it again, then after being off for 60 seconds, it drove fine.

[Zad]

EGR valve sticking? I'm surprised nothing was in the engine management memory, because it sounds like a sensor giving a bad reading, and the management detecting it and going into limited operation mode.