2003 Ford Focus, Fuel Problem

by Chris Wall
(Sandton, South Africa)

I have the code PO190 for the fuel rail pressure sensor malfunction.

I can feel the car was dying, it needed fuel and was spluttering for a bit before it died completely, almost backfiring. I thought I had dirty fuel in from the week before which is why it spluttered a bit. It never git better with new fuel.

I finally got this fault code from my Bluefin unit.

Now, did I have bad fuel that caused the fuel filter to clog, not getting enough fuel to the motor, thus no enough fuel pressure and did that cause the fault? Or would the fuel pump be dying, thus the low pressure and the fault?

Or is it the sensor itself that's dead? How do I know? I don't have the spare cash to mess with, times are tough.

Oh, it's on an '03 Focus ST 170 (SVT).

Sweeeet!

Steve Says,

Thanks for asking me your question. The first thing you should do is buy a fuel pressure gauge and test the fuel pressure. If the pressure is good then the most likely cause of the problem is the sensor. If it is not good then it is probably a fuel filter or fuel pump problem. You can just replace the filter since they are cheap, then test the pressure again. See if it comes up after replacing it. If not then it is most likely a problem with the pump. It is also possible that the problem is with the fuel pump relay or in the wiring to the pump but that is not likely. If you want to test it just see if the pump is getting battery voltage with the key in the start position.

I hope this has helped.