Hi to anyone who is brave enough to read about the issue I'm having with my S Max. 

The high beam head lights (only the head lights, no other lights) switch themselves on, and off. Even with the ignition off, and when the car is locked. I removed the indicator switch module and it still does the same thing. 

As there is no fuses for the high beams, the only way to stop the car doing this is by disconnecting the battery. 

Can anyone suggest what the issue could possibly be? My model does not have adaptive headlights but does have electric, manual height adjustable head lights. 

I know that somewhere in the car there's a headlight ecu, but, up to now I haven't found the thing. 

Any suggestions would be massively appreciated, as I'm about to embark on a journey to a Greek Ford garage which is more frightening than the fault. 

 

Thanking you all kindly, George. 

 

1 hour ago, Geo mia said:

I know that somewhere in the car there's a headlight ecu, but, up to now I haven't found the thing. 

The headlights are controlled by the 'Body Contol Module' (BCM) which is part of the fuse panel, possibly mounted behind the glovebox on the passenger side.

In the UK (because we get a lot of rain) it is common to have water find it's way in to the connectors of the BCM and cause the pins to corrode.

As Unofix says, it looks as if your BCM is damaged, disconnect plugs to see if you have any green fur on the connector pins, if you do you will need to source a good second hand BCM and reprogram it to your vehicle with Forscan

Good morning from sunny Greece Dave.

 

Thanks for the reply, it's much appreciated.

I actually found the fault, and was not expecting to find what I did.

After inquiring at a few service points, I had the same result where everyone was telling me to change the BCM, as you suggest.

I couldn't get my head around the fact that when the ignition was off, and the car was locked the switching gear/relay had power.

looking at other models of Ford with lighting issues I discovered that some models of the Focus , with the same indicator switch block had an issue with the park lights switching off and on.

Another issue i found with the Focus was the park lights switching the high beams on with the ignition switch in the off position.

I read on and quickly found out that the switch for the indicators and High beams still held a low voltage current when the car was powered down.

I removed the switch, took the two screws off that holds a small circuit board with two sliding contact switches on it.

One was for the indicators and the other was for the high beams.

Well to my surprise, (not really) the lithium grease applied by the manufacturer, had amassed a large amount of dust, gunk and metal particles , giving it the appearance of a well used lump of axel grease, in turn shorting the connections.

I simply wiped it with a clean rag, applied some silicone grease, plugged it in, and Bobs your uncle, the 4 week nightmare and 450 euro quote for the parts and labor was over!!

It now works fine, though I still can't believe that the problem was a 10 min job that required a 7mm socket and a 3mm torque driver.

I will post a video of the repair later on for others to see.

 

Thanks again for your time, all the best for now, George.

That's brilliant, thanks for that.

I'm glad you've got it sorted

Hello, 

Just wondering if you ever posted the video of how you fixed this as a have the same issue with mine? 

All good, found a video that showed me what to do. All fixed in 10 minutes, thank you for pointing in the right direction! 

Thanks, Anthony 

Edited January 21, 20242 yr by Anthony Bartolo
Found further info to add to post.