2012 focus battery warning light

[Rich Stacey]

Hi I have a 2012 ford Ford Focus titanium 1.6, I’m having problems with the battery warning light coming on. It seems to be an intermittent fault as it doesn’t do it all the time. The first time it done it I lost all steering, windows, all the gauges went crazy,I got it to a garage & they said it was the alternator so they replaced the alternator with a new Lucas one & it was fine after that for a few months. Then it came on & went off again a few times but didn’t drain the battery like before. Then a couple of months ago it came on whilst on a motorway I kept driving & eventually the same thing happened I lost all power& the car died. Got AA to recover it to the garage again they got it running & checked all the charging system & everything was fine no faults on their machine. Replaced the battery anyway to rule that out & was ok again for a few weeks. Then it came on again so I done some research online & found others had the same problem & they found that there is some small flaps at the bottom front of the radiator that open & close when driving & that the motor that runs it runs of the alternator. They can become faulty & in turn stop the alternator working. It was suggested to unplug the grills & leave them open. So did that & it was fine for about 8 weeks no battery light so I thought I’d solved it. However it’s stared to come on again, so I booked it into Ford & they couldn’t find any fault with it. They said everything is charging as it should. If the light come on & I pull over & switch the engine off & then lock the car, unlock it & start it up again & it’s gone. I’m at a total loss with it. Has anyone else experienced the same? If so any advice would be welcome. Many thanks. 

[Ned_Mk2_1.8tdci]

I would start with basics:

- battery terminals; if these are clean, tight, have no signs of corrosion (ugly green stuff).

- trace the main cables from the battery to the end points (usually starter, alternator for + and chasis/gearbox connection for - pole). Same as above, clean, tight, no signs of corrosion)

Than you can go ahead with more complicated issues. Just make sure that battery is disconnected when you do anything on main cables.