I have a 2008 focus. 1.6 petrol. Not had it long. I was driving along and out of the blue an engine malfunction warning came up, and reduced acceleration warning.. The gauges dropped to zero, but the car didn’t cut out, and I carried on driving. It didn’t seem to be down on power. The gauges came back to life after about 30 seconds. I got home and turned the engine off, and tried to start it again, but nothing. Wouldn’t turn over or even try to. I’ve had a fault code reader on the car and it came up with U10001 and U10003. I left the car for about 30 minutes and tried starting it again. It started first turn of the key, but engine management light was on. I took it to a garage to have the battery and alternator checked and they’re both ok. Funnily enough though after the mechanic had put the probes on the battery terminals the engine management light went off. It’s back on again now. Sorry it’s a bit long winded, but wanted to give as much information as possible. Any help with what could be wrong would be very much appreciated. 

good morning

Did they check the battery terminals were tight? also making sure terminals are clean and not corroded.

Hi

 

It could be the instrument cluster fault that is common in Focus's of that age. It happened in mine last year. The dials dropped to zero and a I had a message saying "Engine System Fault", and it wouldn't restart when I got home. Look it up on this forum, there are lots of stories about the IC (instrument cluster) needing to be re-soldered.

Generic code readers are not reliable enough to read all the codes (dtc).

you really need the Ford system (expensive) or Forscan with recommended interface  and a laptop.

Slapping the dash above the centre of the cluster and seeing reactions (engine running) would point to the cluster solder issue.

also check for dampness/water at the BCM/Fusebox behind the glovebox.

5 hours ago, Steve said:

good morning

Did they check the battery terminals were tight? also making sure terminals are clean and not corroded.

Yes they checked them. 

3 hours ago, RL123 said:

Generic code readers are not reliable enough to read all the codes (dtc).

you really need the Ford system (expensive) or Forscan with recommended interface  and a laptop.

Slapping the dash above the centre of the cluster and seeing reactions (engine running) would point to the cluster solder issue.

also check for dampness/water at the BCM/Fusebox behind the glovebox.

Thank you. I’ll try that.