Focus Test Drive - Engine Warning Light

[woodycuk]

Hi!

Have test driven a focus 1.8 ghia saloon 2002 today. Car in itself is really quiet nice and at a price you'd expect for the mileage (61k).

Only problem though is on test drive the battery light flickered on a number of times with the car actally conking out twice with battery light & engine warning light coming on! On both occasions I was slowing/braking into junctions & therefore no revs, car re-started instantly and otherwise drove fine. Car has clearly been on the garage forecourt for sometime as viewed it last week but couldn't test drive at the time as they needed notice to give the battery a bit of charge. Once i got back to the garage I kept it running for over 10mins and it didn't miss a beat with the battery light/engine warning light not re-appearing.

Could the conking out be purely down to the battery having very little charge and that its been sat on a forecourt for a month or two?

[taffg]

Hi!

Have test driven a focus 1.8 ghia saloon 2002 today. Car in itself is really quiet nice and at a price you'd expect for the mileage (61k).

Only problem though is on test drive the battery light flickered on a number of times with the car actally conking out twice with battery light & engine warning light coming on! On both occasions I was slowing/braking into junctions & therefore no revs, car re-started instantly and otherwise drove fine. Car has clearly been on the garage forecourt for sometime as viewed it last week but couldn't test drive at the time as they needed notice to give the battery a bit of charge. Once i got back to the garage I kept it running for over 10mins and it didn't miss a beat with the battery light/engine warning light not re-appearing.

Could the conking out be purely down to the battery having very little charge and that its been sat on a forecourt for a month or two?

i take it you test drove the car from a garage, if so i would tell them that you will be back to test drive the car in a couple of days, when you expect the car to drive faultlessly, with no reocurrence of the previous faults. if they want to sell the vehicle then tell them its got to be right! theyre just being lazy as you gave them plenty of time to prep the vehicle. the faults you describe could be any number of things, get them to read the fault codes on the vehicle, give you a copy of them and ask that they cure any that are there. beware disconnecting the battery will clear fault codes. at the end of the day its your hard earned cash that you are parting with, make them earn it as you did, if they dont want to earn it and satisfy you then walk away and spend your money with someone who does! good luck.

by the way i drive a 2000 focus with no faults and many more miles on the clock!

[vinnyvangough]

To be honest i'd walk away.

The battery could be duff, alternator could be faulty.

There are plenty of cars out there, make them make you want the car.