Morning all,

 

Bit of a background, car wouldn't start the other day, had to bump start it. After this the car was working fine, had a mechanic look at the starter motor and this was working fine. The battery is also fine. 

 

I was driving along last night and got this fault: "Steering lock malfunction Stop Safely". I drove it home and parked it up, now it won't start and keeps throwing this error up.

 

I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery, unplugging and plugging in the BCU, and pulling fuse 72 and redoing. All of these thing haven't worked.

 

Anybody have any other ideas? Thanks,

 

George. 

3 hours ago, TheDaman said:

Anybody have any other ideas?

You could use FORScan and read the DTC's to see what actually has malfunctioned and is causing the fault. Without a DTC you could replace half the car and still not fix the problem.

2 hours ago, unofix said:

You could use FORScan and read the DTC's to see what actually has malfunctioned and is causing the fault. Without a DTC you could replace half the car and still not fix the problem.

Thanks for the reply, I'm borrowing my friends OBD2 scanner tonight so will see if that shows anything. Will report back here. 

Showing no codes!

@unofix will be along shortly to explain why your generic scanner found nothing, and why you need ForScan...

2 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

@unofix will be along shortly to explain why your generic scanner found nothing, and why you need ForScan...

Fair enough! Do I need the full on windows version or is the android version ok?

All modern Ford vehicles run two Canbus systems, the "High Speed" and the "Medium Speed". Also in addition to the standard generic codes that all vehicles have, Ford also use specific DTC's which are unique  to them. These two factors together mean that many generic code readers, even expensive ones, for example like Snap-on can not read all of the Ford DTC's.

You need to use FORScan if you want to stand a chance of getting every Ford DTC that your car has. It makes no difference if you use the Windows version on a laptop, or one of the phone versions (Android or iPhone), they all will read the same codes. There is one very important difference in that only the windows version can do programming changes.

On vehicles 2013 and onwards you need to use a vLinker device in order to connect your laptop or phone to FORScan.

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

vLinker FD (Android): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H82WC8L

vLinker FD+ (iPhone): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H8JHWP2

11 hours ago, unofix said:

All modern Ford vehicles run two Canbus systems, the "High Speed" and the "Medium Speed". Also in addition to the standard generic codes that all vehicles have, Ford also use specific DTC's which are unique  to them. These two factors together mean that many generic code readers, even expensive ones, for example like Snap-on can not read all of the Ford DTC's.

You need to use FORScan if you want to stand a chance of getting every Ford DTC that your car has. It makes no difference if you use the Windows version on a laptop, or one of the phone versions (Android or iPhone), they all will read the same codes. There is one very important difference in that only the windows version can do programming changes.

On vehicles 2013 and onwards you need to use a vLinker device in order to connect your laptop or phone to FORScan.

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

vLinker FD (Android): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H82WC8L

vLinker FD+ (iPhone): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vgate-Bluetooth-vLinker-Scanner-Diagnostic/dp/B08H8JHWP2

Thanks for the info, I've ordered the Android adapter, will report back with the findings 

14 hours ago, TheDaman said:

Showing no codes!

These readers will only show you why your engine management light is on, they never show anything other than the standard OBD2 codes which in general are pretty useless. Proper manufacturer spec diagnostics is worth the investment these days. Forscan and a vLinker FS on the laptop will give you full diagnostics and coding for any Ford manufacturered from 2002-present day, VAGCOM basically anything VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat for a similar timeframe, INPA/ISTA for BMW's over the same timeframe.

These will hook into every available module on the car and give you error codes stored for all of them. Even something as silly in my case for example as "the central locking indicator LED isn't connected" to "speaker 11 disconnected".

I'd say you need a new battery

11 minutes ago, DaveT70 said:

I'd say you need a new battery

When the RAC bloke came out originally he said the battery was ok, do you think he could have been wrong?

If it wouldn't start and you had to bump start it, I'd say yes

Did you bump it or jump it?

Generally a weak battery needs a jump.  A knackered starter needs a bump.

3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Did you bump it or jump it?

Generally a weak battery needs a jump.  A knackered starter needs a bump.

Bumped it, however someone came and looked at the starter motor and it was ok, didn't need replacing. And it was starting/driving fine afterwards, until this error came up. 

You're not supposed to bump start modern cars, it really doesn't do them any good.

4 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

You're not supposed to bump start modern cars, it really doesn't do them any good.

I'll bear that in mind for the future, this is what the RAC bloke did though. 

4 minutes ago, TheDaman said:

Bumped it, however someone came and looked at the starter motor and it was ok, didn't need replacing. And it was starting/driving fine afterwards, until this error came up. 

Thanks for clarifying.

I agree with Dave that these symptoms are usually caused by a battery fault.  Something odd going on here.  The steering lock itself may even be faulty but seems like too much of a coincidence.

4 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Thanks for clarifying.

I agree with Dave that these symptoms are usually caused by a battery fault.  Something odd going on here.  The steering lock itself may even be faulty but seems like too much of a coincidence.

Ok, thanks for the help. Agree that the steering lock seems like a coincidence also.

 

I've ordered the forscan adapter for tomorrow so will report back what it says then. I've also now ordered a new battery to be fitted Saturday just in case. 

If you're sorting yourself with Forscan, fit a new battery and reset the modules

I assume yours is push button start, so the steering lock is electronic. If it was bump started (not jump started) there is every chance that the mechanism was damaged as the engine would have been started and car moving with the lock in place on the steering rack.

Have you got a multimeter you can check the battery voltage with?

1 minute ago, alexp999 said:

I assume yours is push button start, so the steering lock is electronic. If it was bump started (not jump started) there is every chance that the mechanism was damaged as the engine would have been started and car moving with the lock in place on the steering rack.

Have you got a multimeter you can check the battery voltage with?

So the lock was actually disengaged when he bump started it as he needed to turn the wheel to get it out of the parking space. The vehicle was turning on (i.e. the radio etc) just wouldn't start the engine.

 

I don't have one of those, shall I just buy any one off amazon?

3 minutes ago, TheDaman said:

I don't have one of those,

Basic digital multimeter available for £10

• B&Q
• ToolStation
• Aldi
• Screwfix
• HomeBargins
• Halfords
• and yes even Amazon !

1 minute ago, unofix said:

Basic digital multimeter available for £10

• B&Q
• ToolStation
• Aldi
• Screwfix
• HomeBargins
• Halfords
• and yes even Amazon !

Sorry to sound thick, this one should be ok?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beizkna-Multimeter-Continuity-Resistance-Electrical/dp/B07W3T2542/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3JT9EL4PWCHDB&keywords=multimeter&qid=1702393194&sprefix=multim%2Caps%2C108&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

 

Not that I know how to use it! 

That will be fine 👍

4 hours ago, unofix said:

That will be fine 👍

Showing 11.75 volts when off