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55 Reg Fiesta 1.25 ABS warning light intermittent


ANDYTOWNY
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Hi all

I have browsed the forum but cannot find anything which sort of fits my issue with my wifes Fiesta.

The problem is as follows:

The ABS light comes on intermittently, can be on from the start of driving or can come on after 30 mins or so. It may go off during the journey or it may not. It may happen daily or may stay off for days. (very intermittent)

Sometimes the Engine management light may accompany the ABS light, other times not.

Occasionally the Speedo will not work.

I have done the dashboard diagnostic test but this throws up the following

Speedo does not sweep to conpletely - just jumps a little then rests back

all appears ok with everything else except I get DTC codes E200 E197 and D262

RPM appears to be about right even with warning lights on

other than that everything else seems OK

I had a Diagnostic done by a garage. They got an ABS communication error but said this could mean a few things and not necessarily a faulty module, i.e. bad earth, damaged wiring.

I have spoken to many garages and there are lots of ideas obviously which does not help. I have narrowed it down to a few things I think are likely based on my own knowledge and what people have suggested.

1 Ford just want to replace the Instrument cluster. Nice one Ford. £200+ for the cluster then a couple of hours fitting. (I can remove the instrument cluster in less than a minute - therefore I do not trust them) Focus had an issue where moisture would get in the cluster, i have checked this scenario. The PCB's are clean and moisture free, no evident damage, loose components etc.

2 Vehicle speed sensor fault which may give ABS warning and speedo issues.

3 Faulty ABS module - but where does this fit in with the speedo issue and engine management light coming on? Ford also wanted to replace this!!!!

4 ABS sensor at the wheels.

5 Bad earth or faulty/damaged wiring.

The only other thing which may have been a contributing factor was the problems arose since a recent service. ordinarily I would not expect a garage to service brakes on a normal service. This garage does, and from experience they always do a good complete job. Better than a dealer service from experience. Would this fit in with any scenario I have given above?

Once when I was driving the car to get the problem to occur there was a strange noise from the Drivers front brake as if the ABS had actuated. The ABS light then came on.

I am in a quandry, I have not got thousands of pounds to throw at it to just replace ABS systems and clusters. I do not trust dealers, they just want to grab your money and performthe biggest jobs they can fool you into. I am not as green as I am cabbage looking and I have had a number of experiences where dealers have tried to stiff me. i.e. Your catalytic converter has gone sir - Errm i dont think so, the noise is there, the cat is there I just dont have the tools to repair the problem. Thanks but no thanks.

I would be able to complete a good range of work myself along with my fitter friend, but I don't have the Fords diagnostic computer. They want £80 which I find astonishing. The only problem is unless the car is showing errors it may not even indicate any errors during the diagnostics. The car has driven for two days now with no problem.

Could it be to do with the weather and moisture.

I may need to keep it in my garage for now which means parking my scooby outside!!!!!!!!!not sure about that one LOL!

Hopefully someone may be able to say Yeah check this or check that. If I dont ask I will never know.

Kind Regards

ANDY TOWNY

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start with the basics first m8 check the brake pads and the wires one of them could be damaged i had a similar problem on my escort gti and it turned out to be the pads i could be wrong but its easier to start with the easy stuff also when the light is on slam the brakes on to see if the abs kicks in then u may find it could be the clock panel im no pro mechanic but i do know a thing or three

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it looks like you have covered all posibilitys, it could also be a damaged abs hub ring

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Thanks for the replies guys, your input is appreciated. I will start with the basics as you suggest starting with the wheels and brakes. I think I will also get a Haynes manual so I can locate the ABS components and inspect them and trace the wiring where possible.

It is annoying where symptoms are not necessarily caused by the system throwing up the problem.

Thx again for your replies, I will start this project tomorrow and keep you up to date should I come across anything.

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I drove the car around on occasion to try and replicate the problems, typically all was fine.

My wife got in the car today and almost instantaneously the problems started.

Speedometer does not work.

Mileometer does not work ------- Displayed

ABS light on and ABS does not work.

Handbrake light on ??????

Engine management light on but was not straight away.

The car drives perfectly normal

Nothing adds up.....where has the handbrake light come from and the engine management? If it was the ABS system, would these come on?

Are ABS and Engine management on separate systems or could one trigger another.

If it was the cluster, why would the ABS not work?

Can anyone shed some light and help ascertain where I should look next.

Cannot find any evidence of anything broken corroded without stripping stuff out now.

Vehicle Speed Sensor or Wheel Sensor???????(Hand Brake light I think might be the key here)

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  • 1 month later...

Interested to see AndyTownys message .........

My wife suffered EXACTLY the same symptoms on her 1.4 today. No previous problems, started up this afternoon and found ABS & handbrake lights on, no odometer '------' and a speedo that bounced across to 8000rpm before settling back almost immediately to zero. Then 10 seconds later the engine management light came on too.

The car seems to run fine, with no obvious brake issues (although haven't road tested ABS!!).

Did you ever get your problem resolved as I'm not looking forward to a long drawn out saga of repairs/investigations by Ford.

PS - Interesting that you are in Lincs - our car was sourced new from Evans Halshaw in Lincs in July 06 (is this a batch problem??).

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  • 2 months later...

Hi - It would be good to know what fault caused the problem - similar to my mothers Fiesta 1.6 auto 55 reg. Started with ABS indication then brake warning and No speedo - all intermittent.

Any diagnosis appreciated.

Thanks

Phil

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  • 10 months later...

Hi Mate,

A about your problem below, i have EXACTLY the same problem with my '05 Fiesta zetec. It has been goin on for a while now, the only time it was ok for weeks was during the recent very cold spell we had which makes me think it could be moisture somewhere.....just wondering if u ever got the problem sorted?? Cheers...

Hi all

I have browsed the forum but cannot find anything which sort of fits my issue with my wifes Fiesta.

The problem is as follows:

The ABS light comes on intermittently, can be on from the start of driving or can come on after 30 mins or so. It may go off during the journey or it may not. It may happen daily or may stay off for days. (very intermittent)

Sometimes the Engine management light may accompany the ABS light, other times not.

Occasionally the Speedo will not work.

I have done the dashboard diagnostic test but this throws up the following

Speedo does not sweep to conpletely - just jumps a little then rests back

all appears ok with everything else except I get DTC codes E200 E197 and D262

RPM appears to be about right even with warning lights on

other than that everything else seems OK

I had a Diagnostic done by a garage. They got an ABS communication error but said this could mean a few things and not necessarily a faulty module, i.e. bad earth, damaged wiring.

I have spoken to many garages and there are lots of ideas obviously which does not help. I have narrowed it down to a few things I think are likely based on my own knowledge and what people have suggested.

1 Ford just want to replace the Instrument cluster. Nice one Ford. £200+ for the cluster then a couple of hours fitting. (I can remove the instrument cluster in less than a minute - therefore I do not trust them) Focus had an issue where moisture would get in the cluster, i have checked this scenario. The PCB's are clean and moisture free, no evident damage, loose components etc.

2 Vehicle speed sensor fault which may give ABS warning and speedo issues.

3 Faulty ABS module - but where does this fit in with the speedo issue and engine management light coming on? Ford also wanted to replace this!!!!

4 ABS sensor at the wheels.

5 Bad earth or faulty/damaged wiring.

The only other thing which may have been a contributing factor was the problems arose since a recent service. ordinarily I would not expect a garage to service brakes on a normal service. This garage does, and from experience they always do a good complete job. Better than a dealer service from experience. Would this fit in with any scenario I have given above?

Once when I was driving the car to get the problem to occur there was a strange noise from the Drivers front brake as if the ABS had actuated. The ABS light then came on.

I am in a quandry, I have not got thousands of pounds to throw at it to just replace ABS systems and clusters. I do not trust dealers, they just want to grab your money and performthe biggest jobs they can fool you into. I am not as green as I am cabbage looking and I have had a number of experiences where dealers have tried to stiff me. i.e. Your catalytic converter has gone sir - Errm i dont think so, the noise is there, the cat is there I just dont have the tools to repair the problem. Thanks but no thanks.

I would be able to complete a good range of work myself along with my fitter friend, but I don't have the Fords diagnostic computer. They want £80 which I find astonishing. The only problem is unless the car is showing errors it may not even indicate any errors during the diagnostics. The car has driven for two days now with no problem.

Could it be to do with the weather and moisture.

I may need to keep it in my garage for now which means parking my scooby outside!!!!!!!!!not sure about that one LOL!

Hopefully someone may be able to say Yeah check this or check that. If I dont ask I will never know.

Kind Regards

ANDY TOWNY

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Hi,

Having looked at a number of forums this looks to be a regular problem as I'm also finding out. My car is an 06 Fiesta Studio an as per previous posts the speedo has stopped working, the ABS, Engine Management and Handbrake lights stay on all the time and the central digitals display (Trip meter etc.) just displays -----.

Looks to be an underlying design problem but Ford won't accept it!!

Analaysis by the Ford dealer (cost £99) is that it is the ABS sensor and will cost £500 to replace - Gulp!!

Had faith in Ford but losing it rapidly now - may just replace car but with what make?

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi all , i have had exactly the same problems, if you are experiencing handbrake light, abs and warning lights and no speedo working its an abs module failure, mine stopped working 3 months ago took to ford which cost 70 pound and they said i had an abs module failure said it would cost me 700 pound to fix. i dont have that sort of money lying around and am in dispute with ford at present as i lease the car from them also. they will not accept that it is an underlying problem and said i am liable for all costs and repair. am going to be obtaining legal advice as this seems to be a common problem with fiestas which ford will not accept.

would love to hear from other people experiencing same problems!

Emily x

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Right folks ive been reading through your posts and its nothing to do with moisture in the cluster and the year of fiesta your all descripting they dont have vehicle speed sensors its all done through the abs module.

Fords not just on the fiesta but the new mondeo also have major faults with water ingress in the electronic abs module which you can replace seprately to the HCU (Hydraulic control unit) which is the mechanical part of the abs module.

The abs module will cause communcation problems between the PCM (Powertrain control module) which puts the engine management light on.

Causes the speedo not to work as it cant register the signals from the wheel speed sensors.

Handbrake light, abs and traction control lights on as the electric module has or is storing a fault code in the memory.

the led display will not work as there no signal from the abs module so cant register mileage and has communcation problems.

dont drive the vehicles and slam your foot on the brake as the abs WILL NOT work and could be dangerous.

I have had many of these and that is differently the faults you all are describing.

Fords will be very un helpful, your only chance is asking for goodwill which means fords will pay a certain percentage of the overall cost of the repair and is based on a sliding scale. the more miles and older the car the less fords will be willing to pay.

I hope this helps and please contact me if i can be of further help

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Thankyou LS Auto Repair that has helped as you have said you have dealt with many. ford will not accept its a problem so i am gathering proof. yes have been to fords very unhelpful and have only offered 10 percent! 70 pound in vouchers which does not solve the problem.. will probably be taking legal action as in my rights under sales good act i believe i am not liable for the repair. thankyou for your help x

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Thankyou LS Auto Repair that has helped as you have said you have dealt with many. ford will not accept its a problem so i am gathering proof. yes have been to fords very unhelpful and have only offered 10 percent! 70 pound in vouchers which does not solve the problem.. will probably be taking legal action as in my rights under sales good act i believe i am not liable for the repair. thankyou for your help x

Well i hope you get it all sorted.

Fords know about it but they dont consider it a big problem as they dont have thousands come in with that fault but unless they want a thing like toyota i feel car dealers should take charge of faults like these

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Hi LS auto,

Thanks for the great post. U seem to know exactly what the problem is.

I noticed my faults when we had very heavy rain, and the car was fine for a

few weeks during the really cold spell last year. I'm convinced water was the

cause but has probably done permanent damage. So can I just ask do u think

I should first replace the hydrolic control module or just the whole ABS module?

Someone also advised me to clean the ABS sensors as this could cause the same symptoms?

Ford need to accept this as a design or manufacturing fault.

Thnks again...

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Yes thanks again LS, i was hoping that they may eventually have thousands so i can get my problem sorted! i hope i have a case with ford.. or eventually it does become major like toyota! so i can finally drive my car again!

if u have any more news at any point please post thanks

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Well i hope you get it all sorted.

Fords know about it but they dont consider it a big problem as they dont have thousands come in with that fault but unless they want a thing like toyota i feel car dealers should take charge of faults like these

Thanks again LS, i was hoping they would having thousands coming in then they may consider to sort out my car for me! hopefully it will be big like toyota! then maybe i will be listened to.

if you hear any more news at any point please post thanks

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  • 1 month later...

I'm also having the same problem with my 56 Fiesta Zetec, only six months out of warranty! ABS light on, speedo not working and handbrake light on.

I took it to my local Ford dealer and at first they said it was the near side front abs sensor and the speedo wiring loom which would cost £269.

I then got a call from them saying that it was a different problem! The abs/ecu module needs replacing and it would cost £850.

I immediately asked them for the car back after getting no joy with Ford paying for the repair. The mechanic from the dealer even said that it was common and a part like this should last the lifetime of the vehicle, it isn't a wear and tear item and should not need replacing.

I'm currently in the process of sending the module to www.ecutesting.com. Will let you know how I get on.

Regards John.

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I'm also having the same problem with my 56 Fiesta Zetec, only six months out of warranty! ABS light on, speedo not working and handbrake light on.

I took it to my local Ford dealer and at first they said it was the near side front abs sensor and the speedo wiring loom which would cost £269.

I then got a call from them saying that it was a different problem! The abs/ecu module needs replacing and it would cost £850.

I immediately asked them for the car back after getting no joy with Ford paying for the repair. The mechanic from the dealer even said that it was common and a part like this should last the lifetime of the vehicle, it isn't a wear and tear item and should not need replacing.

I'm currently in the process of sending the module to www.ecutesting.com. Will let you know how I get on.

Regards John.

Hey john i have had exactly the same problem with my car since january ford have refused to pay for it and as i lease my car from them they are liable for the repair we are currently going through a complaint with ford which may lead to court. my car is currently off the road as failed mot because of this problem and i cannot tax it either it is very inconvient. i have just taken my car to ecutesting and they have proved that it is an inherient fault. so i do recommend that you take you car there

let me know how u get on

emily x

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Hey john i have had exactly the same problem with my car since january ford have refused to pay for it and as i lease my car from them they are liable for the repair we are currently going through a complaint with ford which may lead to court. my car is currently off the road as failed mot because of this problem and i cannot tax it either it is very inconvient. i have just taken my car to ecutesting and they have proved that it is an inherient fault. so i do recommend that you take you car there

let me know how u get on

emily x

Hi Emily. Did ecutesting say that the module was repairable at all?

John x

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Hi Emily. Did ecutesting say that the module was repairable at all?

John x

hey no i'm afraid they told me mine was far from repairable and that i would definatly need a new unit replacing x

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  • 4 months later...

Right folks ive been reading through your posts and its nothing to do with moisture in the cluster and the year of fiesta your all descripting they dont have vehicle speed sensors its all done through the abs module.

Fords not just on the fiesta but the new mondeo also have major faults with water ingress in the electronic abs module which you can replace seprately to the HCU (Hydraulic control unit) which is the mechanical part of the abs module.

The abs module will cause communcation problems between the PCM (Powertrain control module) which puts the engine management light on.

Causes the speedo not to work as it cant register the signals from the wheel speed sensors.

Handbrake light, abs and traction control lights on as the electric module has or is storing a fault code in the memory.

the led display will not work as there no signal from the abs module so cant register mileage and has communcation problems.

dont drive the vehicles and slam your foot on the brake as the abs WILL NOT work and could be dangerous.

I have had many of these and that is differently the faults you all are describing.

Fords will be very un helpful, your only chance is asking for goodwill which means fords will pay a certain percentage of the overall cost of the repair and is based on a sliding scale. the more miles and older the car the less fords will be willing to pay.

I hope this helps and please contact me if i can be of further help

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I have exactly the same fault on my daughters Fiesta 2005 1250cc petrol. Speedo don't work, enigine malfunction light on, ABS light on, handbreak light on. Fault code U0121 ABS comms failure. I purchased a new ECU from Ford for my local mechanic to fit.

However, the instructions in the new ECU box said you need to read the coding from the faulty unit and then afterwards program it into the ECU.

My mechanic has now refused to do this job as he said he does not have the tool to read and write the coding to the new ECU.

My understanding is that the Ford Fiesta does not need to have the coding entered in the ABS ECU when it is changed for a new unit. Please can you confirm that this is the case?

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  • 3 months later...

I also suffered same fault on Fiesta Style 1.25l 2006, 25040 miles - ABS module failure. I have had to fork out £760 for Ford garage to fix. No good will from Ford as car is just a few months outside of warranty. This is a known problem to Ford. If you are reading this and have experienced the same problem please post and we can continue to mount a complaint to Ford.

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  • 3 months later...

Hi

I own a 2006 Fiesta Zetec S (Mk6), which i took it for its M.O.T. and 3rd service today (to the local dealership). I knew there was a problem with the car as the ABS Warning light was on.

However i was shocked at being told i would have to pay £88.80 to get the problem diagosed. This was nothing compared to being told i needed to pay £925.07 to have the ABS module replaced in order to pass the M.O.T.

Unfortunately i am unable to afford this amount, and can no longer use my car.

I cant believe that such a major part has already failed, especially as the car is only 4 and a half years old and only done 30000 miles.

Please help!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi, just a quick to note to you guys have you had your faults fixed yet?

if not this might be an idea for you to try, i recently got this fault appear on my car unfortunately its just out of warranty, but have been reading through a lot of forums about this problem.

it can be a matter of anything throwing these faults up, but today i have put a voltmeter across each of my sensors, all apart from the nearside front sensor have exactly the same reading of 11.2V, the nearside front has a reading of 0V.

now i have narrowed it down to this sensor not receiving any voltage i shall trace the cables back and try and find out the reason why i.e damage wire etc, if i cant find anything i shall take it to my local garage and explain this to them and they will be able o have a more detailed look at the wiring loom for me!

just an idea guys hope you get it sorted and will keep you updated

Marc

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