Mondeo MK4 Battery Drain and Electrical issues

[spook202]

Hoping someone can help here.

I have a 2009 (59) Titanium X 2L Diesel.

 

Car has been fine for 2 years. On tuesday night i noticed when driving home that the wipers would "stick". as if they simply turned off mid operation (on a completely random part of the window). if you moved the stalk they started again. Went out to car on Wednesday morning, totally dead. barely had enough power to fold the wing mirrors out.

Starting the car was not an option. not even a click. Aircon units, radio and converse all dead - no signs of life at all. Dome lights barely worked.

 

I took the battery in and charged it, seemed to work perfectly. Next morning, same again, no power at all. battery registered at 4.2V.

battery replaced today. as i was fitting the battery, i noticed that the second i connected the terminal, the fans started up full blast for 2-3 seconds then went off even thought the car was off and locked. I had a multimeter on the battery for 5 minutes and this happened every 57 seconds exactly. each time draining the battery more.

 

I sat in the car (engine off, doors closed & locked and alarm on as if you were parking it up for the night) and recorded a video of the thing that was draining my battery.

Every 57 seconds the fan would start up full blast for 2-3 seconds then shut off. nothing else came on. You can view it here:

https://www.youtube....h?v=rW5eOoUglf4

 

After about 4 minutes of this the car almost didn't start (with the brand new battery). i decided to drive the car to the petrol station to get diesel and give the battery a bit of a charge. shortly after leaving home, my wipers started acting up again, randomly stopping in the middle of the screen (not at the service position) and then eventually became unresponsive, regardless of how much you moved the stalk.

I Pulled over, started the engine and the wipers started working again. 

 

About a minute more of driving and the horn started sounding and wouldnt stop. 

i pulled into a side street and turned the engine off, horn went off as well.

This is where all the magic happened. 

• opened my door - horn sounded again.
• put hazards on as people were starting to stare and the horn started every time the indicators went off.
• stopped hazards, horn sounded solid again.
• opened door (unlocking the central locking) horn stopped.
• closed door, sat idle for 30 seconds wondering what the hell just happened. 
• Horn started again after touching NOTHING.
• unplugged battery. thought about trading car in for about 5-10 min.
• reattached battery - no horn. 
• put in gear - horn again.
• took the horn fuse out from under the bonnet and drove home. all the time the wipers were stopping and starting randomly.

Car is now sitting in the drive way, Battery disconnected.The car has been perfect and a great runner up until now.

 

The fact its effecting so many systems suggests electrical issue (water) or some weird computer has suddenly burst or become corrupt.

because the Central Locking shouldn't effect the Horn at all according to the wiring diagrams I have.

 

has anyone had issues similar to this or can suggest something likely to cause these issues?

 

Thanks.

[spook202]

After reading the wiring diagram for the horn from the Haynes Manual, it looks like it can only be the R9 Relay in the engine fuse box or the control unit in the Passenger Fuse Box.

I'll be checking later to see if there is any water ingress or blown fuses / relays.

Any suggestions welcome.

[iantt]

sounds like theres an issue with the linbus. 

known issue that does come to mind is alarm sounder which can get water ingress causing alsorts of issues including random operation of wipers. its behind n/s/front wheel arch liner, if you have the inclination to have a look, arch liner and wheel off, then high up is an alarm sounder, disconnect the sounder , and recheck vehicle for correct operation.

also worth checking is the body control module connections( passenger fuse box under glovebox area.)

[iantt]

just watched your vid, thats definatly a strange one, not seen that before.

[spook202]

Yeah, i came across a post on the talk ford forum about battery drains but no one ever seemed to narrow it down.
Lot of people disconnected their bluetooth module, some people turn off their radio and heaters (as i did in the video) and claims it makes a difference but no one has actually seen what drains their battery.
One guy even went as far to fit an isolator switch and disconnected his battery every time he parked up.

I thought a few people would have seen the issue or even had similar 'gremlins' with water ingress but it seems i'm the unlucky one.

I've seen a few posts on this forum about water ingress causing the issues you mentioned with the alarm and other nasties. Just hoping there is something glaringly obvious.

My alarm has been mostly fine, its only sounded once unexpectedly but I'll take a look at anything that could cause it.

It's the 57 seconds that confuses me. almost like clock work. I started the engine after that and tried to repeat, nothing. all worked fine until i drove out.

Thanks for the reply.

http://www.talkford.com/community/topic/196899-ford-mondeo-flat-battery-syndrome/

[iantt]

Normally battery drain on mondeo mk4 is caused by instrument cluster or radio issues, basically they dont go to sleep properly after 20 mins, causing extra current draw

[spook202]

Never really had that issue with my car.

I sat in 5min agoe and the fans started up again. even if the car is off, locked and alarmed, once a minute the interior fans will come on full blast then go off. The battery takes a hit each time.

I tested everything else there too - wipers working fine, Horn working fine, indicators working fine. The fact that the fans are still coming on when the car is powered off though suggests something is still up. Nothing else comes on in the car when the fans activate. the climate controls remain blank as does the convers display and radio.

I checked the every fuse and relay in the engine fusebox, all are spotless and fuses intact. Same with the passenger fuse box. nothing suspect.
Unfortunately i was unable to get to the alarm module as you suggested.
Strange i haven't had a single message on the Convers to say something is up.

Looks like I'll need to go to my local garage to check it out.
just hope i don't get the glazed eyed "no idea" look.

[iantt]

So the only thing now playing up is climate control fan? , I will have a look at wiring diagrams later and any other info ,

[spook202]

44 minutes ago, iantt said:

So the only thing now playing up is climate control fan? , I will have a look at wiring diagrams later and any other info ,

At the moment,  yes,  just the fans causing the battery to drain.  Seems to be when it's wet that the other magic happens.  

[pragmatix]

I had a multitude of electrical malfunctions, wipers doing there own thing fans coming on, all traced to corrosion in the fuse box in the engine bay not the contacts but at the underside of the box

[spook202]

You're not the first person I've heard talking about the bottom of the engine fuse box Pragmatix.
The top is of seems very clean (almost new) but obviously the bottom could be a completely different story. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get to the bottom of the fusebox today.

I'll take another look tomorrow.

How did you end up resolving it? new fusebox or some work around? (any idea of price as well?)

 

Thanks.

[pragmatix]

Just cleaned it up time, not money.

[BOF]

 

It's the 57 seconds that confuses me. almost like clock work. I started the engine after that and tried to repeat, nothing. all worked fine until i drove out.

 

Don't get obsessed about the '57 seconds'; on a normally working car, there is a relay that clicks regularly - not sure it is is exactly 57 seconds, but regularly - and that doesn't do any harm.

 

Quote

I sat in 5min agoe and the fans started up again. even if the car is off, locked and alarmed, once a minute the interior fans will come on full blast then go off. The Battery takes a hit each time.

It sounds as if the module that controls the fans is waking up every so often, putting the fans on full (even though the fans are set to some more sensible lower value???) and then getting to grips with the situation and settling down.

If unduly low temperature are being sensed (eg, -40 when it is really +5) then that might be part of the explanation, because at worryingly low temps the car automatically assumes you'll need some help to see out of the windows. The heated screens usually come on with that though.

Unplugging the modules behind the dash, applying a little contact cleaner and plugging them in and out a few times can help. Also look particularly at grounds in that area to see if any show signs of corrosion/disintegrating.

I'm still not sure what was happening, and, more to the point, what cured it, when you had the 'whole loads of weird !Removed!' going on; was water getting in the car somewhere, and do you expect the weird stuff back next time it rains??? Maybe there was a pool of water somewhere (does the car mist up when it is wet?)? Or, has some other explanation turned up?
 

[spook202]

1 hour ago, BOF said:

Don't get obsessed about the '57 seconds'; on a normally working car, there is a relay that clicks regularly - not sure it is is exactly 57 seconds, but regularly - and that doesn't do any harm.

 

It sounds as if the module that controls the fans is waking up every so often, putting the fans on full (even though the fans are set to some more sensible lower value???) and then getting to grips with the situation and settling down.

If unduly low temperature are being sensed (eg, -40 when it is really +5) then that might be part of the explanation, because at worryingly low temps the car automatically assumes you'll need some help to see out of the windows. The heated screens usually come on with that though.

Unplugging the modules behind the dash, applying a little contact cleaner and plugging them in and out a few times can help. Also look particularly at grounds in that area to see if any show signs of corrosion/disintegrating.

I'm still not sure what was happening, and, more to the point, what cured it, when you had the 'whole loads of weird !Removed!' going on; was water getting in the car somewhere, and do you expect the weird stuff back next time it rains??? Maybe there was a pool of water somewhere (does the car mist up when it is wet?)? Or, has some other explanation turned up?
 

Thanks for the reply's guys.

Also look particularly at grounds in that area to see if any show signs of corrosion/disintegrating.
I'll be taking a look for corrosion under the engine fuse box next as Prag suggested as I've seen a few posts on this forum and others suggesting it can cause weird faults; Some of which match what I'm getting (Wipers randomly coming on but I seem to be the first with the horn issue). Some people have mentioned their alarms sounding for no reason even when the car is open and engine started but this has never been an issue for me. The alarm is one of the few things that's behaved itself.

was water getting in the car somewhere
Not that I'm aware of but I've always suspected this to be the case - I just don't think its somewhere I can see / easily access.

do you expect the weird stuff back next time it rains?
Since I've done nothing, I do expect it to be back when it rains next. It wasn't particularly heavy rain; Just standard scottish weather. 

Maybe there was a pool of water somewhere (does the car mist up when it is wet?)
The car never steams up. I never use the air con, just the standard blowers. I've checked for leaks / water ingress in the engine fusebox (clean and dry) and also the passenger fusebox (also clean and dry). If there is water (or corrosion) is must be somewhere well hidden.
I've not been able to find any wet areas on the car that you wouldn't expect. I've been fairly limited (time wise) as to what I can check.

Unfortunately the blowers are the only thing I can troubleshoot properly as its the only problem I can replicate (most of the time). Sometimes I lock the car up and sit waiting for it to happen and nothing happens; Waited 15 minutes last time and it never came on. Restarted the car and waited again - happened within a minute. Intermittent but happens frequently.

Unfortunately the car is useless to me in its current state (even if everything miraculously starts working again). As I do a lot of long motorway driving, I can't put it down to a ghost or gremlin to rear its head when I don't expect it.

Thanks again for the replies.

Pragmatix: Do you know how you removed your fuse box? It seems locked down tight but I can't see any bolts holding it in place. no doubt there will be a difficult to move clip next to a razor sharp piece of plastic holding it in place.

 

[BOF]

Given that when cars accumulate water, they tend to mist up inside at the slightest provocation, I am tending to think that yours is not a a case of water getting in the car (it could still be getting at the engine fuse box, for example).
 

[spook202]

Do you know how to remove the engine fusebox to check this and clean it up if it is the culprit?
I'm trying to peice the clips / bolts together from images on eBay like this where they have obviously just cut these things out.:

I have taken a look and cant seem to remove mine (either the whole black box unit or just the grey fuse panel inside. They are stuck solid.
i undone all of the clips on the grey fuse panel but the thing won't budge at all

Does anyone know if there is a bolt or something holding these units in place?

Thanks

 

 

[pragmatix]

It's just on rubber grommets and spikes and should just lift of takes a bit of effort 

[spook202]

On 3/13/2016 at 0:56 PM, BOF said:

Given that when cars accumulate water, they tend to mist up inside at the slightest provocation, I am tending to think that yours is not a a case of water getting in the car (it could still be getting at the engine fuse box, for example).
 

So i had an Auto Spark look at it - It's been dry the past 2 days and the car has behaved itself. no issues with the Horn, Wipers, Alarm, blowers - all working as they should and battery has stayed >12v

The spark said he couldn't find anything wrong neither could his diagnostics (connected laptop to car) but said it sounds like water ingress but cant tell as everywhere is dry.
He said he checked under the fuse box which was dry with very little corrosion. I've to see if the issue comes back in wet weather and give him a call.

took it for a good test drive for 30 minutes and everything worked as it should. Was still just waiting for the horn to sound though 

I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days and see if it happens again in the wet weather.

Cheers.

[pragmatix]

Hope he cleaned off the corrosion that was there it doesn't take much.

[Hairy batty]

Did you ever find a resolution to this problem? I am having the same problem where my mondo titanium x keeps going flat. 

I do have a problem where the boot gets wet when it rains heavy. Could this cause a draw on the battery? 

[Chan]

Just lately I’ve been getting low battery sign read up a forum could be linked to leaving usb plugged in draining battery so I’ve been unplugging it when I get out of car no more warning signs worked for me.

[mondeo2k20]

I am having similar problem with my mondeo titanium battery does be drained. when i lock the car the dash lights up for a second and goes off and keeps doing this like its trying to reset itself.

While I am driving rev needle moves to 0 and diesel needle goes up and down.

 

[VinniB23]

Looked at a mondeo 2010 yesterday, with severe battery drain, drain fully after 2 days. Slight whirling noise from time to time in cabin. After jump starting and getting battery going. Ran live diagnostics and full non-running diagnostics. Cleared all faults. But the ecu was reading the air intake sensor at -40, causing a safety feature to interfere and activate the blowers from time to time. Ordered a new sensor and left disconnected to see if stops drain.

[nicam49]

That's interesting! Let us know how you get on👍

[Ivecojay]

This might help I own a 14 plate kuga and for 8 months if I left the car standing for more then 8 hours my battery would be dead after many jump starts and complaints my Ford main dealer took the car to find out the problem ( it had been in the local dealers 7 times) after 1 hr they discover that the system hadn’t been updated and after installing the updated system software the problem was sorted has been 3 years with no issue