Hi there.
I’m having the weekend from hell.

Sorry for the long post, but it’s the only way to convey my frustrations. 

I removed both my front seats so that I could installed heated seat pads.

Before removing the seats I disconnected the battery and removed it from the car. From there, I undid the 2 bolts securing the wiring under the seat and removed them both. 
I installed the pads and reinstalled the seats, securing the wiring to both the seat. But without wiring the actual heated pads up. 

I then reinstalled the battery, exactly as was done before, turned the car on, and I was greeted with an airbag light. I assumed this was just a perk of disconnecting the battery so I ignored it and carried on. 
 

To begin wiring the seats, I used a preinstalled fuse tap which I had previously used for my dash cam which is now not in the car. This fuse tap is in place of air conditioning fuse, and has never caused issues before.

 

At some point, I turned the car back on and noticed the air condition wasn’t working, which I figured was the fuse so I replaced the original fuse, removing the fuse tap and still nothing. 
I then noticed that when turning the car over, the air conditioning came on, but when I released the key and let it spring back, it turned off. 
This is true with the electric windows as well.

After a few cycles of the ignition, the battery died, so I jumped it and left the car to idle, and once again, it died. 
I jumped it a couple more times, idling at 4,000 revs to charge the battery and still, it died.

I thought I’d take it for a drive, and after driving in a low gear at 60mph, at around 5-6000revs, the battery died mid drive, in the middle of nowhere.

I called a friend who bought a spare battery, which installed and it was enough to get me home. Where an engine light lit up. 
 

but I’m stumped, All of these issues started once the battery was removed, and I just can’t think of anything that I haven’t done, or forgot to do which would cause them.

I’ve done no tests on the new battery, but want to measure its voltage with the engine off, on, idling, and then after 20mins of idling to see if it’s an alternator problem.

 

I’m just confused, if anyone has any insight or ideas for tests I can do, please let me know!

So to recap the problems I had with it.

My air con and windows wouldn’t work unless I was actively holding the key on startup and not letting it spring back. 

Then I had an airbag light come up 

Then the battery died 

Then I jumped it

Then it died again

So I swapped out the battery

And now I have an engine light

 

Car:

2014 fiesta eco boost 125

mf64ffv

 

thank you in advance!  

If the engine is dying with the engine running it sounds like an alternator problem. The car doesn’t run on the battery once the engine is running. It’s only there as a buffer/filter as is mainly just recharged. Usually a dying battery presents itself as not starting the car in the first place. Was your battery light on while driving?

Good morning Jacob, I suspect you have a few different problems all going on at the same time. Some might be related and others not.

53 minutes ago, Jacob Booker said:

turned the car on, and I was greeted with an airbag light.

There are a couple of possible reasons for this. Firstly you have installed heated pads in the seats. The passenger seat has an 'occupant present' pad to determine if anyone is sitting in the seat. This is part of the Supplementary Restraint System. You may have disturbed or broken the connections to it. Second possibility is that one or both of the front seat connector wiring is not fully connected. The connectors sometimes are difficult to get fully engaged and latched back together. You need to use FORScan to determine what it is that is causing the airbag light to be illuminated.

53 minutes ago, Jacob Booker said:

I then reinstalled the battery, exactly as was done before,

Have you checked that the battery terminal connections are fully down on the battery post and the connections are tight, and the cables can't be moved? Check that the cable going to the chassis earth point is not loose or that the point at which is bolted to the body is not rusty or corroded.

Below in my signature line is a list of battery voltages, you need to check yours with a digital multimeter.

53 minutes ago, Jacob Booker said:

I’ve done no tests on the new battery, but want to measure its voltage with the engine off, on, idling, and then after 20mins of idling to see if it’s an alternator problem.

Test the battery voltage with the engine off, about one hour after parking. It needs to be at least 70%, Then start the engine and at about 1200RPM check the battery voltage, it should be at least 13.6V but more likely over 14.0V

1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

If the engine is dying with the engine running it sounds like an alternator problem. The car doesn’t run on the battery once the engine is running. It’s only there as a buffer/filter as is mainly just recharged. Usually a dying battery presents itself as not starting the car in the first place. Was your battery light on while driving?

Thank you for your respince

my battery light was not on, no. 
im skeptical about it being an alternator issue as I’ve never had an issue before this. 
I’m more confident that it’s some sort of earthing issue which might stop the altimeter actually charging and keeping the car running. 
I have no clue how to test this.

32 minutes ago, unofix said:

Good morning Jacob, I suspect you have a few different problems all going on at the same time. Some might be related and others not.

There are a couple of possible reasons for this. Firstly you have installed heated pads in the seats. The passenger seat has an 'occupant present' pad to determine if anyone is sitting in the seat. This is part of the Supplementary Restraint System. You may have disturbed or broken the connections to it. Second possibility is that one or both of the front seat connector wiring is not fully connected. The connectors sometimes are difficult to get fully engaged and latched back together. You need to use FORScan to determine what it is that is causing the airbag light to be illuminated.

Have you checked that the battery terminal connections are fully down on the battery post and the connections are tight, and the cables can't be moved? Check that the cable going to the chassis earth point is not loose or that the point at which is bolted to the body is not rusty or corroded.

Below in my signature line is a list of battery voltages, you need to check yours with a digital multimeter.

Test the battery voltage with the engine off, about one hour after parking. It needs to be at least 70%, Then start the engine and at about 1200RPM check the battery voltage, it should be at least 13.6V but more likely over 14.0V

I have forscan and a capable OBD reader. Would it be helpful to post any fault codes I collect? 

thank you for your information, I will test the battery and try and take some photos of the connection. 
Is it possible that even though the battery is engaged, and powering the car, that a spot of corrosion could prevent the alternator charging the battery, or powering the internals? 
I have a pretty basic understanding of electrics and I assumed that because obviously it was clearly powered, the connections must be ok. 
thank you again

I have gone outside and taken some reading from the battery 

engine off : 12.02v

engine idling : 11.52v and dropping 

 

I have attached some photos of the battery as well as a link to a video of my alternator.
 

I don’t know much about cars but it looks like the alternator isn’t spinning.

11.5V engine running means the alternator is not providing power for one reason or another. It should be 13.5-15v engine running. 

 

I can’t see much in the video. Is the belt moving? I wonder if ac not working is because the aux belt isn’t moving or just because the voltage is just too low. 

15 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

11.5V engine running means the alternator is not providing power for one reason or another. It should be 13.5-15v engine running. 

 

I can’t see much in the video. Is the belt moving? I wonder if ac not working is because the aux belt isn’t moving or just because the voltage is just too low. 

That’s the thing, I can’t tell if the belt is spinning, and currently can’t turn the car on as that test I did drained the battery.

I just tried and couldn’t spin the alternator by hand, but it is obviously still connected to the belt so not sure I would be able to.

How can I test the belt if I can’t get the car up and running without a jump?

It's very hard to tell from the video, but as @alexp999 has already said are all the pulleys rotating or is the belt just slipping ? 🤔

With the engine OFF use some white chalk or some tippex correction fluid and mark some white lines on the pulleys. Put a line on the back of the belt so it's easy to see it moving. The alternator pulley might be difficult to mark a line on because it looks like the centre possibly does not rotate and only the part with the belt on rotates. Mark a line across the Vee grooved part of the pulley with a thick black marker pen.

I note that the battery has the Ford badge, is it still the original ? If it is the original then it almost certainly needs replaced.

Again as Alex has already said the AC not working could very well just be that the auxiliary drive belt is slipping, which you will find out if you do the tests above.

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

It's very hard to tell from the video, but as @alexp999 has already said are all the pulleys rotating or is the belt just slipping ? 🤔

With the engine OFF use some white chalk or some tippex correction fluid and mark some white lines on the pulleys. Put a line on the back of the belt so it's easy to see it moving. The alternator pulley might be difficult to mark a line on because it looks like the centre possibly does not rotate and only the part with the belt on rotates. Mark a line across the Vee grooved part of the pulley with a thick black marker pen.

I note that the battery has the Ford badge, is it still the original ? If it is the original then it is almost certainly needs replaced.

Again as Alex has already said the AC not working could very well just be that the auxiliary drive belt is slipping, which you will find out if you do the tests above.

I will get on that as soon as possible. 
the battery is original ford, but that is a donor battery while my one is charging.

thank you for your help, it’s been extremely useful 

As unlikely as it sounds you have an ignition switch position issue. Full details in the thread below but in a nutshell the switch is sitting slightly out of position and causing inconsistency of run state across different ECU modules.

If it is anything like ours it doesn't actually need 'fixing', just something to be aware of it it ever happens again (the remedy being to make sure the switch reverts fully back to the 'ON' position after starting). Ours hasn't caused an issue for six years now so when it was happening it must've just been sticking for some reason.

22 hours ago, MJNewton said:

As unlikely as it sounds you have an ignition switch position issue. Full details in the thread below but in a nutshell the switch is sitting slightly out of position and causing inconsistency of run state across different ECU modules.

If it is anything like ours it doesn't actually need 'fixing', just something to be aware of it it ever happens again (the remedy being to make sure the switch reverts fully back to the 'ON' position after starting). Ours hasn't caused an issue for six years now so when it was happening it must've just been sticking for some reason.

Hi,

yes! I did read your thread and followed the remedy’s you suggested.

knocking and wiggling the key doesn’t fix anything, so I think my issue is more faulty circuitry. 
Thank you again for your response, I got a friend to test and yes, the alternator and battery works when the key is held in the ignition, and the key does then revert back to the II position on the key way.

ive pulled some fault codes and it appears to be more related to a grounding issue. As all the modules I have state a open circuit!

thanks again 

Jacob

1 hour ago, Jacob Booker said:

Ive pulled some fault codes and it appears to be more related to a grounding issue. As all the modules I have state a open circuit!

Can you post them up? Copy them verbatim.

Quote

Thank you again for your response, I got a friend to test and yes, the alternator and battery works when the key is held in the ignition, and the key does then revert back to the II position on the key way.

Whilst it might be returning physically it might not be electrically. It'd be worth monitoring the voltage at a 'Hot at run or start' location within the wiring, say at Fuse 13 in the interior fuse box. This will help conclusively indicate what position the switch is in as far as the car is concerned.

3 hours ago, MJNewton said:

Can you post them up? Copy them verbatim.

Whilst it might be returning physically it might not be electrically. It'd be worth monitoring the voltage at a 'Hot at run or start' location within the wiring, say at Fuse 13 in the interior fuse box. This will help conclusively indicate what position the switch is in as far as the car is concerned.

Hi mate,

After 3 days of starting at a multimeter and starting to contemplate the inner working of electricity and the horrors it’s brought to society. 
I fixed the issue

FUSE 14

Fuse 14, that sneaky little guy had become slightly dislodged. And when I say slightly, I mean it must’ve been a micrometer away from touching the contacts.

This fuse, which as far as I can tell provides power to absolutely everything to do with the ECU, caused the following fault

airbags, alternator, windows, aircon, headlights, fog lights, power steering, ABS, and literally stopped the car from turning on because it thought I was trying to steal it. (Immobilizer issue) 

I just so happened to push it in when I was testing its grounding with a multimeter, and boom, everything worked. 
So thank you to everyone and the advice given, it’s been invaluable in diagnosing and fixing my car!

Im off to buy a lottery ticket and hit up Beyoncé.

Thank you all

Jacob

Ah excellent! One of those faults that there's every chance you might not have got to the bottom of! Well done.