8 replies to this topic

[Peejay1977]

Hey all,

Haven't posted in a while so apologies. Got a really weird fault thats been ongoing for months and Ford are now just as stumped as I am.

Car is a 2010 Focus Zetec S 1.6TDCi fitted with a towbar (if that makes any difference).

I noticed on the day I picked up the car that whenever I unlock the car or start the ignition the CD player mechanism whirs for a good 5 seconds, like it's trying to eject a CD. If I put a CD in and leave it, the noise doesn't happen, nor does it eject the CD. The eject mechanism works just fine though. Every CD player I've ever fitted has done this when the power has first been connected but usually not all the time.

Also, whenever I hit a bad bump, or corner sharply, the screen on the head unit flashed off for a split second, this cuts the music as well for that split second.To compound this on a particularly cold day I used the heated windscreen and after a period of time I turned it off, as I did, the head unit screen flashed off and back on. It did this a number of times and I video'd it in case the garage disbelieved me.

So in it went, they checked for bad earths, continuity etc and eventually decided to swap the unit under warranty. Long story short, this made no difference to any of the faults at all, in fact on the way home from the garage I pressed the little flap/cubbie hole in front of the gear stick and as it soft opened the head unit flashed off and back on.

By this point I was very observant of anything out of the ordinary and since then I have noticed that when the headlights are on, and I turn the heated screen on, as well as the revs lowering a little, which I would expect, the lights dim slightly. I'd expect this on a very old car but not something this new.

What I noticed on top of that is that the lights also dim if I turn the heater on anything above number 1. I then noticed that if I turn the little interior light on and turn either the heated screen on or the heater blower, the light "pulses" or flickers slightly, which gets faster the higher number the blower is on.

To cap it off if I plug my 1A cigarette lighter USB charger in to charge my iPhone, it puts about 1% of charge into it every 25minutes or so, and if I plug in my other halves Blackberry it refuses to charge and states that the charging source isn't capable. My old Focus was fine and I have tested the charger on other Fords and it works fine.

Evans Halshaw have had the car for a weej and are totally stumped, to the extent that a full on Ford Technician is going to have to be sent out to the car at some point soon as they have no idea what it is.

To me it sounds like a power drain, bad earth, or interference issue but they say it's nothing obvious. What I also noticed is that when i turn the indicator on, I can hear the indicator "ticking" as normal from the dashboard, but I can hear it from the rear of the car as well. I told them they may want to look at how the towbar has been wired in but they dismissed this as being the cause.

Anyone got any ideas? Sorry for the long waffle!

Thanks


Paul.

[Andy H Dibley]

Have you put a multimeter across the cigarette lighter to see what voltage you have? I reckon you could find either you're suffering from a very bad voltage drop in the system or something is draining it pretty comprehensively.

The heated screens do use up a lot of current, but all the same, a perfect system with a fully functioning alternator should be able to supply the current to recharge the battery.

Do a little test, when this flickering happen, pop off the battery cover and check the voltage there, and then the voltage at the cigarette lighter. Pulsing almost sounds like you're getting a little ripple in the DC and may suggest the diode pack in the alternator is failing or on its way out.

How many miles has the car covered just out of interest?

[Andy H Dibley]

Should also add the other thing to back up a low voltage would be the unit turning on and off again, although why it happens going round a corner or when the soft touch panel opens, I don't know. But units like a radio will work down to a certain voltage before completely shutting down.

I should also add when I owned a V6 Cougar, flickering lights were also common due to a high resistance cable suppling the alternator with a sense voltage. This was rectified by effectively feeding into the alternator the output.

[artscot79]

Evans halshaw that says it all trust me dont even listen to them ill bet they havent even looked at it whilst its under warranty give it a goid check over the towbar sounds the likely cause

[Peejay1977]

Thanks all, I'll have to borrow my neighbours meter as mine's bust but I'll see what I can do. To be fair I probably would rather the Ford Tech look at it. I trust they are doing everything they can, the guy thats been looking at it is about 60 and looks like his car knowledge peaked with the Sierra lol

Its got just over 25,000miles on the clock.

[artscot79]

if it was purchased at evans halshaw they will dismiss anything you suggest they are attempting to stall till the warranty runs out trust me on this one ive had many dealings with evans halshaw like my aircon that they said was fine even though it needed refilled every 3 months it was always the same story till the warranty ran out then they suddenly find faults

[Peejay1977]

To be fair theres nearly a years warranty left on it and the faults been there since the day I bought it so trust me when I say they won't be fobbing me off.

They aren't saying there isn't anything wrong, simply that they cannot find it. I'll see what the man from Ford says then take it from there.

[artscot79]

I still reckon either thetes an earth fault or the towbars to blame or both the ford techs are quite good

[Preee]

To be fair theres nearly a years warranty left on it and the faults been there since the day I bought it so trust me when I say they won't be fobbing me off.

They aren't saying there isn't anything wrong, simply that they cannot find it. I'll see what the man from Ford says then take it from there.

have you checked all the connectors in the fuse box are snuggly plugged in , or pull them and re-seat them all.