Hey for those that read this,

I currently have a 2019 Ford Focus Estate 2.0 diesel, which I'm absolutely loving. Although I've experienced something quite alerting for such a new car, just wondered if anyone has any idea/suggestions as I'm a bit stumped at the moment.

This morning, went to the car and unlocked it (hand sensor on the handles - didn't use key) and got in, I went into auto-pilot mode (foot down on clutch, press start engine button). Dashboard and other stuff turns on, but no engine start. I just assumed, maybe I was too eager on the start and just pressed start again. Electrics turn off, makes sense.. So press again.. Nothing.

The car is in a current state on zero responsiveness, yet I currently do not know why? I can't even lock it - failed even with the key but, never used it before so I assume I just did it wrong Used it 2 days ago, and had no reason to believe it had issues. Maybe my reliance on this Ford app telling me everything about my car is bad? Like in the past, when my dashcam was wired in correctly, it'll always tell me my battery is losing power and will go into low energy mode (this was fixed ages ago) but I would have expected at least that if my battery has truly died?

The last thing my car did before I turned it off 2 days ago, was it had an error message on the infotainment system - I presume a download/install error. But thought nothing of it - Am I being naive thinking this was nothing serious?

Any thoughts? Appreciate any and all input - hopefully I've just not missed anything.

Normally when the battery is flat you have to use the keyblade to unlock it.

Do you have any of the screens or dash lit up?

Do you have a multi-meter you can check the battery voltage with?

Hello Matthew @MattVon, first thing before it's too late open the passenger door and then pull the bonnet release (pull handel twice). You may not need to be under the bonnet but one thing for sure with the Focus Mk4 its a major pain in a5se to have to open it when the battery fails and the passenger door can't be opened.

The very sudden loss of all battery power just after you unlocked the car would make me think you have a loose battery terminal. Check that both battery leads are tight. Be careful checking the positive not to cause a short across to the bodywork.

Do you have any lights on the instrument cluster ?

25 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Normally when the battery is flat you have to use the keyblade to unlock it.

Do you have any of the screens or dash lit up?

Do you have a multi-meter you can check the battery voltage with?

Thankfully and more confusingly, I was able to unlock my car normally - so I can get in. No lights on the dash, literally not electrics working anywhere in my car. I have a volt meter, so I can check the battery voltage, I have a neighbour coming around shortly so I can jump start it. So I can also check it's voltage once I get it running.

 

14 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hello Matthew @MattVon, first thing before it's too late open the passenger door and then pull the bonnet release (pull handel twice). You may not need to be under the bonnet but one thing for sure with the Focus Mk4 its a major pain in a5se to have to open it when the battery fails and the passenger door can't be opened.

The very sudden loss of all battery power just after you unlocked the car would make me think you have a loose battery terminal. Check that both battery leads are tight. Be careful checking the positive not to cause a short across to the bodywork.

Do you have any lights on the instrument cluster ?

I haven't tried the passenger door yet, but both driver side doors are unlocked (can't lock my car right now). So I'll hopefully be able to check under the bonnet shortly. I'll check the terminals, any reason why they may come loose? And as mentioned above, no lights or electrical output that I can see anywhere. 

 

I'll update here once my neighbour has been round - I need to nip into the office so hopefully giving it a good run will charge it if it has died.

Hi Matthew, I had the negative lead come loose on my Mk4, don't know why, but I just found it by chance while fitting a reverse camera and decided for safety reasons to disconnect the battery.

I would advise against trying to jump start the Mk4 Focus as it can potentially cause a lot of damage to the electronic modules.

If the battery terminals are tight then I would check the main "Crash" fuses since they can totally isolate the battery supply.

It's safe to jump start the Focus, just make sure the donor car is off, so you are only using the battery from it.

Neighbour of mine was a master tech, the danger comes from the two cars running and trying to charge each other. If you just use the donor car as a portable booster battery, that isn't running while they are connected it's fine.

This is the same principle as how a jump start battery pack works. You just have a car wrapped around it lol.

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hi Matthew, I had the negative lead come loose on my Mk4, don't know why, but I just found it by chance while fitting a reverse camera and decided for safety reasons to disconnect the battery.

I would advise against trying to jump start the Mk4 Focus as it can potentially cause a lot of damage to the electronic modules.

If the battery terminals are tight then I would check the main "Crash" fuses since they can totally isolate the battery supply.

 

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

It's perfectly safe to jump start the Focus, just make sure the donor car is off, so you are only using the battery from it.

Neighbour of mine was a master tech, the danger comes from the two cars running and trying to charge each other. If you just use the donor car as a portable booster battery, that isn't running while they are connected it's fine.

 

Sorry guys, mixed messages here. Safe but unsafe to jump start? @alexp999can you clarify what you mean by using the donor car?

My plans were just to connect the two cars, turn on the donor car then turn on mine. Is this something I should not do?

Don't turn on the donor car while it is connected to yours.

The donor car shouldn't be running until the cars have been disconnected.

Hi Matthew,

Yes you can use another car to jump start your car, but do NOT have the engine of the other car running

@alexp999@unofix

Thanks for saying this, glad I came to this forum now. I genuinely would have jump started my car the way I normally did on my old Civic. 

On a plus note, I quickly checked the battery terminals before my neighbour was coming round. I kid you not, I poked the negative terminal and it's ***** loose. Engine turned on after that, so going to tighten that a little. Thanks again for the support.