2009 Fiesta Zetec Electrical Problem?

[Samster12]

Hi

This is my first post on here. I've got a 2009 fiesta zetec 1.25 and for the past week, every time I turn off the engine, the radio continues to play, and I can't turn it off by pressing the off button. I have to turn the ignition back on and turn it off, and then turn the ignition off. When I then go to get in the car the following morning, the time on the screen still says 18:04 for example, when it is 8am the following day. As soon as i turn the ignition, it updates to the correct time. Also, the ambient red glow around the radio buttons and keypad (I have the bluetooth voice control if that makes a difference) stays on constantly, so I am worried it will drain the battery?

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated! I'm thinking about booking it in to my nearest ford dealer as I thought it may need to be checked out by a main ford dealer as its electrical rather than local garage?unfortunately it has just run out of warranty (by a month).

Thank you in advance,

Sam

[Stoney871]

Hi, first of all welcome to the Forum.

This sounds like a wiring fault with the radio loom, possibly the battery and ignition feeds are shorting over?

I'd get an auto electrician to take a look behind the radio and check for shorts or earth faults.

[Preee]

Does sound like a wiring problem , maybe damp weather is causing it.

[Samster12]

Thanks for your replies. Is it a big job to check the wiring behind the radio? I presume this involves taking out part of the dash? Would you be able to estimate roughly how much it would cost to be fixed?

Thanks

[Preee]

To take the radio out is not a big job , but if it's casued by the damp weather then the fault maybe else where , but they can test the wiring loom , you will be looking at least one hours labour charge , unless you have a good auto electric guy near to you.

[PollyP]

My Ford Fiesta 2009 Titanium Diesel has just developed exactly the same problem.

Samster have you managed to get this fixed yet?

Was it a general fault caused by damp weather and does anybody now if this is a common design fault likely to be subject to a Ford recall?

Thanks

Polly

[Samster12]

Hi Polly

A couple of days after I wrote this post, my car wouldn't start- the battery had been drained. So I had to call the AA and they guy jump started me, so I could drive to a local garage. The garage wouldn't touch the electrics and said it would need to go to a main ford dealer, so I booked an appointment for the weekend.

Ever since the AA man jump started the car, it has worked perfectly. All the problems have been sorted. I cancelled my appointment at the Ford Dealer as the problem was solved, and it has been fine ever since. I have no idea why this has resolved the problem at all! I can only assume the damp wiring has now dried out, or it was an electrical issue and jump starting it has reset the system??

Thanks

Sam

[PollyP]

Hi Sam

Thanks for getting back. Whilst researching the problem I came across a 2009 forum on this fault. They solved the problem by pulling and re-inserting a fuse from the passenger fuse box. 7.5 FUSE NUMBER 20 (FOR MULTI-FUNCTION DISPLAY ETC) see page 107 onwards in hand book.

I've taken that out and put it back in and problem solved (hopefully for good)

I can only assume your flat battery and jump start had the same effect, but if you need to do it again ,empty your glove box, squeeze the sides of the glovebox inwards to release and drop the glove box out of the way and then the fuses are clearly accessible..

Hopefully we won't need to do it again.

Regards

Polly

[Samster12]

Thanks for that Polly, will remember that for if it does it again!

Do you know what causes the problem? Is it just the weather we have been having- ie snow etc causing possible damp wires?

Thanks again

Sam

[PollyP]

Hi Sam

No haven't a clue what causes it, it appears very common and could just be cheap/bad components Possibly a 'dry solder joint' but so many people seem to have had the same problem, I'm surprised Ford hasn't had to do some recall.

Polly

[Guest]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem as Samster12 first posted. Every symptom described, right down to where the clock was freezing and then not updating to the correct time until I turned the ignition on again. I found the advice PollyP mentioned (which involved pulling out and then reinserting the 7.5 amp fuse (#20) for the multi-function display).

I followed the advice - the fuse was out of its holder for about 5-10 seconds. On pulling the fuse out, the screen and keypad finally went off and then when I inserted it again, it started working properly.

I can't say for how long this will fix the problem (I only did this about an hour ago!) but I will keep this forum in mind and feedback if it fails again.

[Guest]

As promised, I said I would come back if the problem returned. Yesterday (so about three weeks after my original post), the problem returned as described above.

When I spoke to the garage that sold me the car, they suggested the fuse trick in the mean time (unprompted, I hadn't mentioned at that point about the fuse, so they clearly do this fix a lot) and then said that "the on/off switch for the radio must be playing up" and that they would replace it for me. Will let you know later whether this fixes it permanently.

[JoNeil]

Hi, I'm so pleased I came across this thread - I've been having the exact same problem for about two months. When I turned off the ignition the radio was staying on occasionally, and I had to restart the engine to turn it off. Interestingly, I've also been having a problem with the in-car bluetooth - when I've been making calls the phone hasn't been disconnecting after the call has ended. Finally, when I've been locking the car, the display lights have been staying on and the time has been freezing until I unlock the car later/next day. I'd been worried because the illumination from the display and ambience lighting is really obvious and I was concerned people would think the car was unlocked.

Anyway, the battery drained so I called Green Flag who came out and jumped it. I mentioned the problem but they didn't seem too worried and said it might have been a one-off. Then the battery drained exactly a week later and they came out again.

As my car is still under warranty I booked it into Arnold Clark where I bought it last year (it's a 60 plate Fiesta). They were completely fine on the phone and said it sounded like an electrical fault and that they would sort it. However, two hours after I dropped it off I got a call from the garage saying that they would need to plug the car into a fault code reader which would be £60 for one hour, and if it showed nothing I would have to pay for at least another hour of this, and for the resulting work. They wouldn't even check the battery without payment - they said that the warranty doesn't cover any of that.

I couldn't really afford what sounded like it could be an endless pit of money, so I picked the car up and took it to Kwik Fit where they did a free battery check. They said the battery is completely fine and that it sounds like an electrical connection has gone wrong somewhere. They were surprised Arnold Clark wouldn't even look at it under the warranty.

Since I took it there, I haven't had any issues with the battery draining, but then yesterday the issue started happening again with the radio/lights staying on.

I've contacted Arnold Clark to see what they can do - I'm a complete novice with cars and a bit nervous about fiddling around with fuses! Should this work be covered under my warranty???

[Bob C]

Exactly the same fault has just occurred today on my 60 plate Titanium. I was going to disconnect the battery to 'reboot" so to speak (after ensuring I had the radio access code available of course) but removing the fuse is a much better idea. I will let you know what happens when Ive done it. Thanks for all the advise.

[Bob C]

Just like Victor Meldrew "I don't believe it!"

Just driven 80 odd miles and turned off the engine when I got home. The radio turned off, the clock updates. Everything back to normal! And I haven't done anything.

Just for info, one other characteristic of this fault is that the "info" button on the radio (which gives the records/programme details) didn't work. But now the faults fixed itself, it does.

Oh well, watch this space!

[Steve89]

On 25/01/2013 at 9:13 PM, Samster12 said:

Hi

This is my first post on here. I've got a 2009 fiesta zetec 1.25 and for the past week, every time I turn off the engine, the radio continues to play, and I can't turn it off by pressing the off button. I have to turn the ignition back on and turn it off, and then turn the ignition off. When I then go to get in the car the following morning, the time on the screen still says 18:04 for example, when it is 8am the following day. As soon as i turn the ignition, it updates to the correct time. Also, the ambient red glow around the radio buttons and keypad (I have the Bluetooth voice control if that makes a difference) stays on constantly, so I am worried it will drain the battery?

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated! I'm thinking about booking it in to my nearest ford dealer as I thought it may need to be checked out by a main ford dealer as its electrical rather than local garage?unfortunately it has just run out of warranty (by a month).

Thank you in advance,

Sam

I have this problem, plus cruise control plays up every now and then.

did anyone have any joy in resolving the problem. 

I haven't tried the fuse thing yet but surely there must be a wiring problem somewhere as other forums including this one has had the reoccurring problem a few weeks later. 

any advise or help is appreciated