Belle39 Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Hi, I have a 2007 Focus 1.8 and just had a service and MOT approx 50 miles ago. Boxing day I started the car and there was a slight whining noise when I revved the car. I drove off the drive and it felt as if the steering locked up and had a message "steering assist failure". I did manage to pull over and then I switched off the car, got it started again but it was a bit slow in starting back up, not the usual. Carried on driving for about half a mile and parked up, left the car for about half hour. Went back to the car to drive off and it was totally dead, not even turning over, just continuous clicking when I turned the key. Then had a new message "enging systems fault". Til today the car is parked in the same spot as I can't get it started. I had jump leads on it last night and did get it started so I thought I would try and get it home [only about half a mile]. Turned the lights on and went to drive off and had the original message "steering assist failure" and the headlights were flashing on and off and all the lights on the dashboard were flashing on and off with the same continuous clicking noise. The battery and alternator belt were checked in the service and MOT [or so the piece of paper I got says it was] so would it go that quickly or could this be something totally different. I paid £120 last week on top of the MOT as the suspension bushes needed replacing. Before this, there were no indiciations on the car that anything was wrong. Any advice please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Singh Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 im assuming you have a diesel. how many miles has it done? you can check if the belt is still there by opening the bonnet and having a look on the left side of the engine where all the pulleys are. the garage might have checked the belt and it was ok at that time. i know a mate who sold her 52 reg fiesta and there mechanic said everything was ok, soon after it was sold, the cam belt snapped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle39 Posted December 28, 2013 Author Share Posted December 28, 2013 Thanks for your reply Nanak. I have had the car from new and it has done just over 27400 miles. The MOT was done at 27422 and I probably might have done approx. 50 miles since then, it's a petrol car. I checked the MOT and it is ticked in the "green" column for the alternator belt and battery condition. So this would tell me that all is ok. Would they pick up any signs of wear on the belt at all? I would have thought so. It did make a whining noise just before it died on me which suggests the belt, but would appreciate ANY comments if it could be anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Singh Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 you dont get a check sheet for the MOT, all you get is an A4 size paper with the appropriate info of the car and weather it has passed with out advisory or a pass with advisory . if its been to a ford dealer then they would have done a free visual health check, there is only so much one can see if they are visually checking the car and in the eyes of the technician it may have been in good condition. the belt could have snapped due to wear and tear/age or a pulley could have seized resulting in the bely snapping, best get the car recovered to where it was MOT'd and let them have a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeebowhite Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Do you get any whining now when you run the car? and do you get a battery light? Nanak, some garages do give the report, I know mine do, with Green Amber and Red tick boxes for the various test systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan_M Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I'm sure the power steering on a mk2 + focus is electronic, so it would seem that either the alternator isn't charging at all, the belt is slipping or has jumped off the pulley have you checked the belt in anyway? Otherwise it could be that the battery its self has seen better days. Although for any charging or battery fault you shoukd get a battery warning light, I know alternators are prone to whine when failing but you should have a battery light with that, if the belt is slipping you should also expect a battery light. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Ford OC mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick85 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Electronic power steering does no run off aux belt if u remove ds headlight electric pump is part of reservoir 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathan_M Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I meant in terms of using power that may not be being supplied by the alternator in use rather than causing the problem, I presume the pump must require some sort of power from the alternator, or battery with engine off. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Ford OC mobile app Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick85 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Check battery an alternator first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigD Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I checked the MOT and it is ticked in the "green" column for the alternator belt and battery condition. So this would tell me that all is ok. Would they pick up any signs of wear on the belt at all? I would have thought so. Here's the thing - a lot of mechanics (not all, but a lot) cannot be bothered to do their job right. It's easier for them to just tick stuff off on a sheet, without actually taking the time to do what you're paying them to do. Checking the aux belt condition is fairly easy - I have no doubt that they looked at it. But they did they check the entire length of the belt, or just the part they could see without doing very much? That's where the doubt comes in.Your first port of call, is to look and see if the aux belt is still there. From what you've said, I'm guessing you'll find a bunch of pulleys with no belt on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Singh Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Do you get any whining now when you run the car? and do you get a battery light? Nanak, some garages do give the report, I know mine do, with Green Amber and Red tick boxes for the various test systems. i do know about the health check report, i get them when my forfour goes in to mercedes, but you dont get a check list of what was checked at MOT I'm sure the power steering on a mk2 + focus is electronic, so it would seem that either the alternator isn't charging at all, the belt is slipping or has jumped off the pulley have you checked the belt in anyway? Otherwise it could be that the battery its self has seen better days. Although for any charging or battery fault you shoukd get a battery warning light, I know alternators are prone to whine when failing but you should have a battery light with that, if the belt is slipping you should also expect a battery light. Sent from my GT-N5110 using Ford OC mobile app Electronic power steering does no run off aux belt if u remove ds headlight electric pump is part of reservoir the PAS on the petrol isnt electric... at least on the 1.6 petrol it isnt as my mums doesnt have the variable settings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle39 Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 ok, Ford picked my car up Thursday and I had it back yesterday. They said it was a dead battery???? I now stil have the whining noise when running the car, which I am not happy with as it wasn't like this before. I am contacting the Helpline again on Monday as I am not accepting this or the BS the garage fed me. Also, apparently you get breakdown cover with every Ford service?? Anyone know about this as I have gone to the same Ford garage for over 12 years with my 2 Focus cars and have never heard of this til now. As I had only travelled 38 miles since the service and MOT surely they would have picked up the dying battery or worn alternator / belt then?? The sage continues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle39 Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 i do know about the health check report, i get them when my forfour goes in to mercedes, but you dont get a check list of what was checked at MOT the PAS on the petrol isnt electric... at least on the 1.6 petrol it isnt as my mums doesnt have the variable settings i do know about the health check report, i get them when my forfour goes in to mercedes, but you dont get a check list of what was checked at MOT the PAS on the petrol isnt electric... at least on the 1.6 petrol it isnt as my mums doesnt have the variable settings Do you get any whining now when you run the car? and do you get a battery light? Nanak, some garages do give the report, I know mine do, with Green Amber and Red tick boxes for the various test systems. Sorry I meant the checklist with the service, not the MOT. Also mine is the 1.8 Focus 57 plate. I do get the whining noise, but no battery light. The whining noise started minutes before the "failure messages" and the car totally dying. And I still get the noise now, but never had the battery warning light appear, not even now when the whining is going on. Won't let this go though, so will pursue on Monday when they are next open. They obviously didn't pick up a dying battery and/or alternator when doing the service. As previously said they are both ticked green on the checklist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick85 Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 If car starts an drives in they will say battery ok did they replace ur battery now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preee Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 ok, Ford picked my car up Thursday and I had it back yesterday. They said it was a dead battery???? I now stil have the whining noise when running the car, which I am not happy with as it wasn't like this before. I am contacting the Helpline again on Monday as I am not accepting this or the BS the garage fed me. Also, apparently you get breakdown cover with every Ford Service?? Anyone know about this as I have gone to the same Ford garage for over 12 years with my 2 Focus cars and have never heard of this til now. As I had only travelled 38 miles since the service and MOT surely they would have picked up the dying battery or worn alternator / belt then?? The sage continues Yes i got a years breakdown cover with my service last January. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craiglr Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 i gather the garage checked the alternator is charging the battery after they fitted it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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