Ford Focus No Longer Shipshape! Clutch / Battery?

[spadez]

Hi,

My beloved Ford is having a hard time recently and I wondered if anyone could help me get a bit more of an understanding on what might be going wrong.

This is my model: Ford Focus Zetec (56 plate)

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Issue 1:

Currently the car turns on fine and runs first time. Last week the battery light came on when I was half way down the motorway. It would flash for 15-20 seconds then go out, then would come back on a few minutes later, again for 15-20 seconds. The light flashed about 3 times (each 15-20 seconds each time) during the journey. It tends to come on when I am accelerating (although this might be a co-incidence). The rest of the week, the light didn’t come on at all.

Yesterday it flashed continuously for the whole journey. Today it only flashed briefly and then stayed off for the rest of the journey.

Issue 2:

Sometimes, the car jerks (lurches) when accelerating up a hill. When idle at the roundabout, the car was shaking, even with
the clutch down fully. In a carpark I put the handbreak up and lifted up the clutch in third and it stalled but my foot was probably 75% of the way up before it stalled. I tried to take off slowly in third and again it stalled but again I was able to lift my foot up quite high.

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Not only is this car my baby, but it is also my only method to get into work so I'm a little concerned. I know I may have to take it into a garage but since I'm hard up I was thinking I could save some money if I could fix it myself, or at least give them some ideas on what might be wrong.

If you need any more information please let me know. Any help would be hugely appreciated!

[jeebowhite]

The symptoms you describe for issue one seem to be alternator related. Seems that the car is intermittently losing the ability to charge. The best option is to see if you can borrow a silver calcium battery and replace with yours for a few goes, see if the problem occurs. Make sure its silver calcium (make sure the one in your car is also silver calcium to be 100% sure your even running the correct battery). If the problem occurs, then its not battery related, but seemingly alternator.

Does the error occur if you leave the car stationary and idling? what if you then add a few electrics (or all electrics for that matter) to see if anything changes? I would also check the alternator belt is secure, and not slipping in any way shape or form, and that its tight and not damaged.

Issue 2, the jerking forwards seems to be a fuelling issue. Does the issue occur on plain or down hill terrain at all? or is it limited to up hill only? if so I would think that there is a bit of an overfuel going on for some reason.

When was the car last serviced, who by and what did they do?

Can you also confirm fuel type, transmission and engine size to clear up a few voids?

[artscot79]

75 percent up is about the right height for a fords bite in the clutch hydraulic ford clutches all seem high as above more info needed but the battery issue as said can be as simple as the wrong battery in the car and the battery light is telling you the battery is no longer being charged properly it has to have a silver calcium not lead acid assuming the battery is ok its a dealer visit to have the smart charge wiring checked as well as the alternator and charging system the jerking may be related to the low battery issue or something else if the battery is low the ecu wont be storing the settings and instead resetting itself or theres a loose wire on the battery or earth so when you go over a bump or uphill its causing issues

[johnH]

Your best bet would be to see a local diagnostics before throwing parts and labour into it. Get the car scanned for any code or even try the dash trick of holding the menu button and turning the ignition to see if there is any DTC's