Hi guys
I have a Fiesta MK4 1.3 which has developed an intermittant fault.
Occasionally when I am driving the cars right indicator light comes on solid .
When it does this it will stall when I slow down and when it restarts it cuts out as soon as I try to set off.
It seems to like doing this at roundabouts.
I took it to a garage but as the fault wasnt happening at the time they couldnt do much other than hook it up to the computer which came up with no faults. Another garage I took it to said it seems to be something to do with the hazard light switch.
Does anybody have any idea what it could be? I have cleaned the Idle valve and fitted a new gasket. I'm getting close to just scrapping it as its dangerous and seems like it could be a money pit.
Any help is appreciated

If the light comes on solid the fault should be after the switch(s).
For it to stall it sounds like you have a major intermittent short on a wire that has burnt through the insulation to the right indicator.

Has the car been fitted with additional wiring, trailer socket, alarm, spot lights etc ? If so that would be a good place to start.

[quote name='Dan62' timestamp='1346156140' post='203751']
If the light comes on solid the fault should be after the switch(s).
For it to stall it sounds like you have a major intermittent short on a wire that has burnt through the insulation to the right indicator.

Has the car been fitted with additional wiring, trailer socket, alarm, spot lights etc ? If so that would be a good place to start.
[/quote]
Hi Dan, thank you for your reply. It is completely standard as far as I can tell.
i have it in the garage for them to hook it up to the computer. He seems to think it is the actual assembly for the hazard multi function switch assembly. I hope it is.
Any idea how I would go about fixing it if it isn't just the relay for the indicator and hazards??

Lets hope the garage fix it.

I have seen so many 'home installations' cause problems I would always head for them first.

Next step might be to look along the loom and see if its been rubbing anywhere, start at the front right indicator and work back to the steering column and then to the rear light.

I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for your model, I think that era is conventional ie simple flasher unit and no fancy electronics.

You mentioned it does it at roundabouts, can you remember at what point ?

Lets hope the garage sort it eh.

Good luck

D

[quote name='Dan62' timestamp='1346225382' post='203902']
Lets hope the garage fix it.

I have seen so many 'home installations' cause problems I would always head for them first.

Next step might be to look along the loom and see if its been rubbing anywhere, start at the front right indicator and work back to the steering column and then to the rear light.

I'll see if I can find a wiring diagram for your model, I think that era is conventional ie simple flasher unit and no fancy electronics.

You mentioned it does it at roundabouts, can you remember at what point ?

Lets hope the garage sort it eh.

Good luck

D
[/quote]
Hi Dan
Got it back from the garage yesterday and its running find and they can find no fault with it.
Ive managed to get an ecu fault reader so I'm hoping I can catch it next time it does it.
It seems to happen if I do a long stop start journey. The first warning is when the right indicator comes on solid.
It cuts out as I'm slowing down to get to a roundabout or traffic lights or just etc. Then getting it to move is a nightmare as it backfires and seems to have no power. Then if its left for a few hours the problem seems to go away for a while. That's why when he came to put it on his computer the problem had gone and it couldn't be replicated.
The garage seem to think the light coming on is a symptom rather than the actual problem.
But they seem as confused as me and I'm very confused.

Just an update. I had a look at the rear indicator cluster and it was slightly wet and the earth connection bolt was half undone. Im going to seal the rear clusters and have tightend up the earth. Hoping this was all it was but I'm going to check out the front as well. Cheers for your help so far Dan

An earthing fault would cause nasty problems.

Well done on finding that, as stoney said, a bad earth can cause very odd symptoms.

It would be a good idea to carry on looking, its certainly a very strange fault you have and being intermittent doesn't help.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I haven't tracked down a wiring diagram for your model yet, don't suppose you have a haynes manual for it ?

D.

[quote name='Dan62' timestamp='1346401032' post='204228']
Well done on finding that, as stoney said, a bad earth can cause very odd symptoms.

It would be a good idea to carry on looking, its certainly a very strange fault you have and being intermittent doesn't help.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I haven't tracked down a wiring diagram for your model yet, don't suppose you have a haynes manual for it ?

D.
[/quote]
Yeah I found a wiring diagram and I have the haynes manual.
I'm going to have a look at the weekend see if I can see anything else that may cause an issue and reseal all the lights with sealant. Hopefully it wont happen again and I can relax.
Thanks for your help I wouldn't have checked if it wasn't for your post.
I agree Stoney I hope it was.