46 minutes ago, mjt said:

That does rather suggest a failing battery. If you had a multimeter, as unofix recommended, you'd be able to monitor the rate at which the voltage declines after a charge. I suspect you'd find it dropping fairly rapidly below the minimum SOC level necessary to maintain operation of the various accessories. If the garage ran the battery very low trying to start the car after the filter change that may well have accelerated the reduction in capacity, bearing in mind it's age. In my experience 5 to 7 years is a pretty good life for a battery.

Thanks for input appreciated 👌 in summary everyone's input is pointing me to the battery because I've never had any electrical problems with this car

No leaks or any of the typical focus problems but it is a 08 plate not the 57 which had more issues, there's no dpf & it's chain driven which are the key reasons I purchased it approx 8yrs ago

will definitely be calling the AA out under my warranty will post back to update - fingers crossed it's the battery & it's a free replacement

just hoping they don't send out one of these moody patrolmen clueless types in which case if he's having a bad day And doesn't like my tan he might kick the tyres 😁

On 12/31/2023 at 5:43 PM, unofix said:

Have you used a multimeter and measured the cars battery voltage?

It sounds like the SOC could be low and on the threshold of the central locking been able to fully work. The locking and unlocking of the doors uses a lot of power and can quickly run the car battery down.

A Good New Year unofix & forum members,

My electrical understanding is sketchy at best.  Would the drain on the battery to lock/unlock the doors be the same, irrespective whether fob buttons or keyblade in lock are used to activate?

Cheers.

26 minutes ago, A Sampson said:

A Good New Year unofix & forum members,

My electrical understanding is sketchy at best.  Would the drain on the battery to lock/unlock the doors be the same, irrespective whether fob buttons or keyblade in lock are used to activate?

Cheers.

Healthy new year mate 🤗 good question - I have little idea I assumed the remote will use more battery because it's at a distance so generally using more power than the key which is fixed to the car - if you follow what the thread above the disconnecting battery worked for me because my remote central locking has been working most of the time but I'm almost certain now it's the battery because that's what I was advised to disconnect 👍

5 hours ago, A Sampson said:

Would the drain on the battery to lock/unlock the doors be the same, irrespective whether fob buttons or keyblade in lock are used to activate?

The amount of power required to operate the central locking system is virtually identical regardless of what means or how it is operated.

It is the actual door lock motors which take almost all of the power. The control system uses only a few mA.

2 hours ago, unofix said:

The amount of power required to operate the central locking system is virtually identical regardless of what means or how it is operated.

It is the actual door lock motors which take almost all of the power. The control system uses only a few mA.

Appreciated input 👍 well the weather has dropped here to around 3 degrees in the West Midlands where I'm based and my remote locking is playing up again obviously the battery's taking a hit - I'll be calling AA out Monday and will update back - just wanted to say how grateful I am for this site of free crucial information I genuinely was petrified because I'm on such a low income at the moment and being without my car aka baby 💘 😂 would be horrific for various reasons - garages are generally clueless even when they say they are fast ford lovers and old school yet the the amount of spiel they dribble out when there's a problem like this is shocking to say the least

I have to mention this 💙 it was well over 10 years ago when I found this site that was the time I had to pay I thinki 9.99 for the year and it was a bargain to say the very least

I had a mk1 focus which would cut out randomly whilst driving & would either restart automatically or I would have to restart - it was a really scary short period because my power steering would cut out

no garage good figure that one out but this site I think took a day or two for a few peeps to point to 1 most likely lowest cost fix - turned out to be the speed sensor in the gearbox which tells the car when it's in motion

cost me about to supply and fit even the Mechanic who fitted it for me said he doesn't think that's the problem 🤣 I said well I trust the Ford owners club

 

1 minute ago, Riky#MK2 FOCUS 1.8D 2008 said:

I have to mention this 💙 it was well over 10 years ago when I found this site that was the time I had to pay I thinki 9.99 for the year and it was a bargain to say the very least

I had a mk1 focus which would cut out randomly whilst driving & would either restart automatically or I would have to restart - it was a really scary short period because my power steering would cut out

no garage good figure that one out but this site I think took a day or two for a few peeps to point to 1 most likely lowest cost fix - turned out to be the speed sensor in the gearbox which tells the car when it's in motion

cost me about £80 to supply and fit even the Mechanic who fitted it for me said he doesn't think that's the problem 🤣 I said well I trust the Ford owners club

 

 

 

Hello and thank you to all that contributed especially the chap who said to test the battery as central locking takes more power than you think I didn't know that...going to ramble a little as thread may hit different peeps minds on different perspectives 

called AA out they only did basic test not the thorough test that I have seen them do before and confirmed the yuasa battery originally supplied by AA with 5-year warranty is near cooked and needs changing

But as usual aa customer service centre shoddy they couldn't find the warranty for my 5 year battery - So couldn't get the battery changed away from home and had to call aa myself later on who did locate the warranty which was a week over 5 years but they sorted it for me after discussion of AA app stating no home call outs due to busy period from previous week whilst I was under warranty 

I was hoping for the same yuasa battery but they only do bosch I have attached pictures hoping this one's decent as I'm not a fan of them because I had an s-Line Bosch battery years years ago which would play up after going away on holiday and coming back to a temperamental battery - Bosch wipers are well overpriced and overrated imo

Remote central locking is now working about 80% of the time with fob but sometimes not locking definitely a lot better...hmmmm do I need to disconnect the negative again?

What I don't understand is the battery has been changed but the stereo didn't ask for the key code...?? but it did when I disconnected the negative myself on previous yuasa as advised in previous thread - really strange

I'm baffled what to do next apart from disconnecting the negative again considering it's a brand new bosch battery - also no jelly type stuff applied to battery terminals??attached pics 

Just to update - AA now use Euro car parts - this battery is £133 retail there - AA would normally charge £160 to menbers supply & fit - average online price is £95 - now I'm a tad worried as I've just researched appears to be a budget type battery but it is the equivalent of my yuasa actually better numbers but for me it's about the brand not the numbers all the time - Trust!

Glad to hear that it is sorted. A poor state of charge of a car battery can cause many seemingly random problems.

S4 is the midrange battery from Bosch, with a 4 year warranty.  (Not 100 year warranty as the misleading graphic on top suggests lol).

It's not a calcium battery which should have been used for a Mk2...but apparently they don't make many of those any more.  Just make sure you keep the warranty safe.

50 minutes ago, unofix said:

Glad to hear that it is sorted. A poor state of charge of a car battery can cause many seemingly random problems.

Yes definitely learning curve unfortunately just don't know what to do to remedy the situation because the battery was definitely an issue as the remote fob is now working most of the time, do I disconnect the negative again etc etc 

17 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

S4 is the midrange battery from Bosch, with a 4 year warranty.  (Not 100 year warranty as the misleading graphic on top suggests lol).

It's not a calcium battery which should have been used for a Mk2...but apparently they don't make many of those any more.  Just make sure you keep the warranty safe.

UnFortunately there is no warranty on the battery because my original five year warranty is already expired, I do a lot of short runs less motorway which is not good for batteries in general but the yuasa battery didn't mind so much, when I asked patrolman about problems with these batteries I got the impression it would be down to the usage which tells me it's not going to hold charge long-term for someone doing a lot of short runs - the important thing is it's brand new and it was free under old warranty so I can't complain because I couldn't afford the new battery right now anyway - always trying to look at the positives rather than the old school British way of just focusing on negatives which hasn't helped me in the past 😂

The silver calcium batteries fitted originally lasted about 9 years to my knowledge, perhaps a reason why they discontinued them.

1 hour ago, RL123 said:

The silver calcium batteries fitted originally lasted about 9 years to my knowledge

Yes, they were excellent batteries. I replaced the one on my daughters Kuga that was more than 11 years old and had never once had any kind of issue. Unfortunately due to an alternator fault on Christmas day two years ago the battery got fried and actually almost caught fire. Who knows it might still have been going now if not for that incident.

Considering I'm still having the same problem but it's not happening all the time is it worth trying disconnecting the negative again? 

I'm still baffled while the stereo wouldn't ask for a key code after the AA changed battery but when I disconnected myself it did ask for it 🙃

Perhaps he used a voltage keeper while changing it. Maybe thro the obd port.

I believe Halfords do .

Aaah I do remember what look like battery charger connectors but once totally disconnected I didn't think there was a way...again ffoc I've learned something new thank you very much 👍