I talked with Ford service about the Engine Malfunction message. They said that it does not leave any log entry. So the error must be debugged while the message is on. This is quite hard, since it shows up randomly and not very often.
The mechanic said that he had worked on a couple of similar cases before without any results. The Transits have been perfectly fine despite of the error message. He gave me an advice that if Carado sounds like normal, drives like normal, and no traditional warning lights are on then there is nothing wrong.
My own thoughts
The Engine Malfunction is probably triggered by one of the several sensors in the engine. Some sensor can give wrong readings right after it is powered up and the central processing unit is not always able to filter the readings properly.
I haven’t seen the message for a month now. It will be interesting to see if it appears during summer time. If not then it has something to do with the cold weather.
In series
Carado shows Engine Malfunction - part 1
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Our reader on the Finnish side has debugged this “Engine Malfunction” on 2.4-litre 140hp TDCI engine with 2007 Transit. The error message does not show any kind of error code when checked with OBD tester. Not even when the message is visible on the dashboard.
He has been able to repeat the error message everytime using the following procedure:
1. Turn the key to “ON” position and a bit more
2. Keep the key on the same position until the engine is ready to be started
3. Do NOT start yet, but wait 2 - 5 seconds
4. The “Engine Malfunction” shows up on the screen
5. Start the engine
6. Engine runs normally and the message disappears
So the message can be caused by a user error if the key is turned a bit over the “ON” position. I have not yet tried the procedure with my 2008 Transit and 2.2-litre 110hp engine if it behaves the same.
To Tommi:
are you referring to OBDTester at http://www.obdtester.com or some generic OBD2 scantool? I also had similar problem with OBDTester (that from http://www.obdtester.com/obdtester ) and have been told by it’s manufacturer that some ECUs do not report all troublecodes via OBD2 diagnostics and you have to buy specialised scantool for your brand (such as FoCOM for Fords).
Jan
Hi JanK,
I’m not sure about the scan tool, but I think it was some generic model. Thanks for the valuable information. It’s good to know that the generic tools cannot read all the codes.
The specialized tools probably cost much more making the situation hard to debug. Although the repeatable procedure could be used when taking motorhome to Ford service.
Hi All,
I have a Autosleeper 08 duetto using the rwd drive 2.4 140 tdci bhp engine with 4000 miles on the clock in the uk.I have had this engine malfunction message with red I and the orange I appear in the last few weeks in the very cold weather in the mornings around about 3 degress or lower. Again mine does not work on a generic scan tool used by the garage even when the fault was up on the dash. Spoke to two ford dealers one siad could be mechanical or electrical but are not transit agents.Went to main dealer who said it is to do with ambiant temprature not happy with this.Ther is a note on the ford transit foram about this and some thing about an update any of you herd of this am going back to dealer to try another ford garge.