Electrical issue?

[kiwirawr]

Let me start off by saying, I know less than nothing about cars despite having a mechanic dad, so, be gentle... 😅

 

I have a 2013 Ford Kuga (awd, auto, 5 speed, 1.6L). Owned 5 years, 1 lady owner before me.

Its got 2 issues I'd like some advice or thoughts about. I will take it to a mechanic, but right now its being passed from mechanic to mechanic and no one wants to deal with it. Or knows what the problem is. No local mechanics have the proper diagnostic tools. 

Issue 1

The ***** steering sticks when the motor is cold. It doesnt pull left, but it sticks to the right. Once warm, it doesnt do it. It doesnt do it 100% of the time, maybe 70%. 

Its not enough to make it a safety issue, just enough to be annoying. It has done this since I got it. 

 

Issue 2 (biggest issue)

This is a new issue only beginning maybe 5 months ago.

When i put my foot on the brake and press the start button, all power to everything shuts down. 

This happens maybe 50% of the time I attempt to start the car. It doesnt always happen when the motor is cold. I can drive it without this happenjng for days, then it happens again. I can drive an hour, stop at gas station then it wont start, etc... it seems random. 

It can sometimes take 1 try, sometimes 30 minutes of tries to get it to start. 

Sometimes it makes ticking noises (starter motor?) Once electricity comes back, sometimes it clicks at a small pump right infront of the battery for a couple of seconds. 

At the last warrant of fitness (NZ) it went fine for 7 days before doing it again...

My partner felt the earth wire wasnt connecting properly (it was overheating) so he fixed that and the car ran better than ever for 7 days... 

Then it went back to it. 

 

Halp!

(A useless car driving kiwi 😅)

 

[unofix]

Sounds very much to me like you have a battery with a dead cell, or at least a battery with an internal fault. When did the car last have a new battery ?

You say you know nothing about cars, well now's a good time to learn 👍

12 hours ago, kiwirawr said:

No local mechanics have the proper diagnostic tools. 

For around £34 you can have yourself a diagnostic system which is almost as good as a Ford main dealer. All you need is a laptop running windows, the software 'FORScan' which is free, or £12 if you want the licensed version and lastly you need a connecting dongle to be able to connect the cars OBDII port to the laptop.

Once you're set up with the above you will be able to carry out full diagnostics, see what DTC's there are and clear any old codes.

FORScan: https://forscan.org/download.html

vLinker FS cable: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-vLinker-Adapter-FORScan-MS-CAN/dp/B0952P4MLP

[kiwirawr]

Thank you!

The battery was last replaced in April 2020. The problem started in approx June or July 2023. 

I'll look into whether I can run that program 🙂

 

[unofix]

9 hours ago, kiwirawr said:

The battery was last replaced in April 2020. The problem started in approx June or July 2023. 

Very sadly the expected life of a modern car battery is only between 3 and 4 years. It might just be time to get yet another new battery 🙁