Intermittent beeping noise and hazards flashing

[Justin Smith]

This is a problem I had once before but it seemed to have cured itself. However, last night it occurred 3 or 4 times, which ruined my sleep and possibly that of my close neighbours !

The hazards were flashing and there was a beeping noise coming from the car, but it didn`t seem as loud as the alarm. I thought sod it, I`m not going out there (it was also raining.....), I`ll just unlock the car with the remote pointed through the window, after all there`s nothing in it worth pinching and we live on a quiet cul-de-sac. I did so and the noise and flashers went off straight away. However, some time later, they whole process restarted, and this happened a few times. I thought the car was automatically relocking itself (My wife`s Yaris does that, I just assumed the Ford Focus does too, though it`s a stupid idea), but when I went out to it in the morning it wasn`t locked. I should add here that at that time the fault hadn`t showed itself for quite a while (two hours ?).

Just in case it was anything to do with the internal sensors (an insect maybe ? but it`s quite cold at the moment ! ) I`ve put some tape over them, is that a worthwhile diagnostic step ? One last thing, which probably isn`t relevant, my car suffers from a water leak along the top of the windscreen* and the headlining was damp the following morning, I wondered whether damp was getting on the sensors or their connectors.

* I`ve been umming and ahhing about whether I should get a new windscreen fitted, but it`s

 

 

 

[GMX]

40 minutes ago, Justin Smith said:

 

The hazards were flashing and there was a beeping noise coming from the car, but it didn`t seem as loud as the alarm

That sounds like, the back up battery within the alarm system powersounder needs replacing.  They generally fail around 10-11 years old.  It depends how handy you are with a soldering iron, as to whether you want to attempt replacement yourself.  The back-up battery is soldered to the powersounder PCB.  They can be obtained from Maplins or any industrial battery supplier

Most people who are not adept with a soldering iron, just replace the powersounder as a whole, or get someone else to.

1 hour ago, Justin Smith said:

One last thing, which probably isn`t relevant, my car suffers from a water leak along the top of the windscreen* and the headlining was damp the following morning, I wondered whether damp was getting on the sensors or their connectors.

That is likely to be the seal (or lack of it) between your roof aerial base and the body; and nothing to do with the windscreen, as such.  It's a relatively well known problem on the Focus. Other manufacturers have a rubber gasket here: Ford chose not to put one there.  Or should I say it is more likely to be this, windscreens can leak but the aerial leak is more common.

If you remove your aerial base from the roof and put some silicone around the threaded rod and base, applying it quite liberally to whole underside: and refit it, this should solve your leak. My neighbour had exactly this probelm with her 2006 Focus. Which I solved for her, only a couple of weeks ago, as she wasn't to keen to do it herself.

[simcor]

Your car should auto lock itself if the fob is used and no doors are opened, it should re lock itself after around 30 secs of no doors being opened.

[dezwez]

6 hours ago, GMX said:

That sounds like, the back up battery within the alarm system powersounder needs replacing.  They generally fail around 10-11 years old.  It depends how handy you are with a soldering iron, as to whether you want to attempt replacement yourself.  The back-up battery is soldered to the powersounder PCB.  They can be obtained from Maplins or any industrial battery supplier

Most people who are not adept with a soldering iron, just replace the powersounder as a whole, or get someone else to.

That is likely to be the seal (or lack of it) between your roof aerial base and the body; and nothing to do with the windscreen, as such.  It's a relatively well known problem on the Focus. Other manufacturers have a rubber gasket here: Ford chose not to put one there.  Or should I say it is more likely to be this, windscreens can leak but the aerial leak is more common.

If you remove your aerial base from the roof and put some silicone around the threaded rod and base, applying it quite liberally to whole underside: and refit it, this should solve your leak. My neighbour had exactly this probelm with her 2006 Focus. Which I solved for her, only a couple of weeks ago, as she wasn't to keen to do it herself.

sorry to hijack this thread but were would i find this power sounder PCB board in the car as i think mine maybe the same

[Justin Smith]

7 hours ago, simcor said:

Your car should auto lock itself if the fob is used and no doors are opened, it should re lock itself after around 30 secs of no doors being opened.

So if I unlocked it (using the remote) in the early hours of the morning, and it didn`t relock by the time I went to work, what does that indicate as regards the fault ? Would that also indicate a faulty alarm back up battery ?

[Justin Smith]

11 hours ago, GMX said:

That sounds like, the back up battery within the alarm system powersounder needs replacing.  They generally fail around 10-11 years old.  It depends how handy you are with a soldering iron, as to whether you want to attempt replacement yourself.  The back-up battery is soldered to the powersounder PCB.  They can be obtained from Maplins or any industrial battery supplier

Most people who are not adept with a soldering iron, just replace the powersounder as a whole, or get someone else to.

That is likely to be the seal (or lack of it) between your roof aerial base and the body; and nothing to do with the windscreen, as such.  It's a relatively well known problem on the Focus. Other manufacturers have a rubber gasket here: Ford chose not to put one there.  Or should I say it is more likely to be this, windscreens can leak but the aerial leak is more common.

If you remove your aerial base from the roof and put some silicone around the threaded rod and base, applying it quite liberally to whole underside: and refit it, this should solve your leak. My neighbour had exactly this probelm with her 2006 Focus. Which I solved for her, only a couple of weeks ago, as she wasn't to keen to do it herself.

Thanks for that. If the back up battery was faulty, would that also be the cause of teh alarm going off, or just the cause of the low volume level on the alarm ? The reason I`m asking is I`m not actually that bothered about having a loud alarm (I find they`re more trouble than they`re worth.....), but I`m very much bothered about my car beeping and flashing in the middle of the night !

Arrggg ! Ford Focus leaking roofs / wet roof linings, I`ve had this problem for nearly a year, I sealed the aerial mounting but unfortunately it didn`t cure it. I`ve finally decided to bite the bullet and have a new windscreen fitted, here`s the thread I started and found very useful.