Hi all, newbie here so I thought I best introduce myself.

Im Sharon, i've got a 58 reg Zetec, its done me well, owned it for the last 5yrs after my last one was written off parked outside my home after only owning it for 3 days... sad times.

But I come here looking for some advise from those more knowledgable as I can't find the exact answer to what I need.

I've just had it in for its MOT and it failed severely. It failed on the following:

• Anti roll back linkage missing offside rear (bottom snapped off)
• Coil spring fractured or broken nearside front
• Coil spring fractured or broken offside rear
• Suspension arm pin or bush excessively worn nearside front

It's costing me a fortune to repair and today the garage came back to me saying they couldn't retest it despite having completed all the work because when they got it back off the ramps to retest, the traction control light was coming on and that would be a failure. This light has never come on before and even they have confirmed that it was never on before the MOT or prior to repairs taking place or it would have been on the failure cert. 

The instant thing they went for on the phone was something to do with the abs unit being the issue and said that was in the bulkhead no where near where they've been working so its nothing to do with them. My thoughts went straight to the abs sensors and the fact they needed to disconnect them in order to complete the work so had they not been connected properly, had they got dirt in or even been broken during the process?...

Anyway they've come back to me after overlooking their work and trying to figure it out and said they can't locate the fault and because they can't do electrics, they can't fix it however they've provided me with an image of the fault code etc and it says

" C1288-E0 Brake Pressure Sensor Circuit Fault"

Would I be right in thinking the E0 part of the code would signify electrical as they're now also suggesting it could be the abs pump? 

In your experience, what's the likelihood of this fault being caused as a result of the work they've done? Has anyone come across this fault before to give me a better indication and understanding of what it is?

Thanks very much :)

Hi Sharon and welcome to the forum. 

What did the garage use to get that code? Probably an expensive generic one. It's recommended you get Forscan. It's Ford dedicated and 2nd only to what Ford use. 

It's possible the garage could have damaged a wire on one of the abs sensors. You say they're not electricians so find an auto electrician to test the wires.

Look on YouTube for your car and those issues. 

21 minutes ago, tazzman600 said:

Hi Sharon and welcome to the forum. 

What did the garage use to get that code? Probably an expensive generic one. It's recommended you get Forscan. It's Ford dedicated and 2nd only to what Ford use. 

It's possible the garage could have damaged a wire on one of the abs sensors. You say they're not electricians so find an auto electrician to test the wires.

Look on YouTube for your car and those issues. 

Hi, thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it.

Sadly I couldn't tell you exactly what they were using but as they're not a Ford garage I doubt it was anything special. I can show you a screenshot of their diagnostics screen though as they sent it to me.

Would them damaging a wire likely come out with this error code? I was wondering myself if they had maybe been a bit heavy handed in disconnecting the sensors as I would imagine they could get quite stiff if they've been in situ since new. They say they can recommend a garage for the electrical testing part but they're not open again until Monday so I'm just trying to do a bit of homework between now and then.

1 hour ago, Nikita_st said:

the abs unit being the issue and said that was in the bulkhead no where near where they've been working

Well that's not true 🤨. Your list includes a broken coil spring on the nearside (passenger side) front. The ABS unit is on that same side of the engine bay, located behind the battery. To replace the coil spring they would have had to remove the entire macpherson strut. The top of the strut is secured to the vehicle frame with three bolts located to one side of the battery. You have to work in the engine bay to get to them. There's a brace that the three bolts pass through which supposedly needs to be removed for the procedure (according to the Haynes manual). Accessing the brace requires removing the two panels at the bottom of the windscreen (the 'scuttle cowl panel' and the 'bulkhead extension panel'), which in turn require removing the windscreen wipers. With those panels removed the ABS module would have been exposed to them. Removing the panels, the brace and the three strut bolts, they'd have been working within inches of the ABS unit. I don't understand why they are falsely claiming to have been nowhere near it, that's bullshit. Having been working right next to it there's every possibility that they could have slipped and damaged it.

That said, it's also entirely possible that the fault has developed through no fault of their's and it's just an unlucky coincidence.

1 hour ago, Nikita_st said:

My thoughts went straight to the abs sensors and the fact they needed to disconnect them in order to complete the work so had they not been connected properly, had they got dirt in or even been broken during the process?...

The 'ABS sensors' are your wheel speed sensors. The sensor referenced by the error code (DTC) is something completely different, a sensor that measures pressure in the brake hydraulic system. I'm thus sure that it won't have anything to do with their work down in the area of the wheels.

1 hour ago, Nikita_st said:

" C1288-E0 Brake Pressure Sensor Circuit Fault"

Would I be right in thinking the E0 part of the code would signify electrical as they're now also suggesting it could be the abs pump? 

No. The 'C' on the front of the code indicates the 'chassis' category (there are four categories, P = powertrain, B = body, C = chassis, and U = Unknown/network/other). The next four digits are the code number within that category. The '-E0' bit is just providing some additional status information. I don't know what each possible such indicator value means, but it can signify whether it's an active or intermitted fault for instance.

1 hour ago, Nikita_st said:

Has anyone come across this fault before to give me a better indication and understanding of what it is?

From a quick search, it's come up here before and did seem to require a new ABS pump:

1 hour ago, Nikita_st said:

My thoughts went straight to the abs sensors and the fact they needed to disconnect them in order to complete the work so had they not been connected properly, had they got dirt in or even been broken during the process?...

Very reasonable thoughts, I would have thought the same.

I see from the photo that the garage used a generic code reader and so the code and/or the explanation of the fault may very well not be exact. As already said the best way to read the DTC's is to use FORScan.

Do I think the ABS unit/pump is at fault ? No, unless they have actually done something to it.

Have you driven the car since this warning light came on ?

Thank you so much Rd457, that's massively helpful. So if they do come back and say it's the abs unit, which wasn't a fault prior to me taking it in to them but somehow became a fault whilst my car was off the road and in their care all week, then I could quite possibly have a case for them to repair this at no extra cost to myself based upon what you've said.

8 minutes ago, unofix said:

Very reasonable thoughts, I would have thought the same.

I see from the photo that the garage used a generic code reader and so the code and/or the explanation of the fault may very well not be exact. As already said the best way to read the DTC's is to use FORScan.

Do I think the ABS unit/pump is at fault ? No, unless they have actually done something to it.

Have you driven the car since this warning light came on ?

Hi thanks for that.

I haven't driven the car no, in fact i've not seen the car since Monday which is when I left the car with them. They only completed the repairs today (Friday) and said they found the dash light had come on after completing the repairs and were about to get it ready for a retest. Funnily enough, I left the car with them with about 30miles of fuel and now it only has 2 in according to them so they've clearly had it running and have moved it in and out of the garage all week.

24 minutes ago, Nikita_st said:

Thank you so much Rd457, that's massively helpful. So if they do come back and say it's the abs unit, which wasn't a fault prior to me taking it in to them but somehow became a fault whilst my car was off the road and in their care all week, then I could quite possibly have a case for them to repair this at no extra cost to myself based upon what you've said.

That's a hard one. Sensors fail sometimes. They could have damaged it, or it could just be pure coincidence that the failure has presented itself at this moment in time, or has done so simply because the work done has disturbed it. If you take it to an autoelectrician and they find clear damage has been done, then you'd be in a good position to have them fix it at no cost to you. Otherwise...

19 minutes ago, Nikita_st said:

Funnily enough, I left the car with them with about 30miles of fuel and now it only has 2 in according to them so they've clearly had it running and have moved it in and out of the garage all week.

They probably took it for a quick run after doing the repairs to check things (pretty standard). Could they also have taken it to a separate business for wheel alignment? Also, note that the number of miles of fuel left indicator is just a rather rough estimate based upon rate of fuel consumption which can vary significantly depending upon how the vehicle is being used, so they have not necessarily used up "28 miles' worth" (~90%) of your remaining fuel at all.

Update - 

The garage have come back to me just now, they sent the car to another garage for further diagnostics this morning and they've said its the abs pump or rather the sensor within the pump and that they can get the garage to take it out and send it away for repair rather than replacement. They reckon it'll be about £200 but haven't given an exact quote.

They're still adamant that they've not gone anywhere near it as I asked if any wires had possibly been snagged or trapped and they've said they've not, they've only removed the 3 bolts under the Bonet and were happy to show me where it all was that it was behind the battery etc. I told them I knew exactly where it was (which I did as I did my homework first and why I knew they had been pretty close to it just like rd457 had said) but have maintained that it was just "one of those things".

How liable do you think they should be for something that wasn't previously a fault to all of a sudden just go like that whilst in their care? If it had been sat on my drive way and suddenly just failed I'd have accepted it as one of those things but surely if it happened whilst in their care and during repairs, its a bit too much of a coincidence? Do these units typically just randomly fail like that or would they become intermittent before total failure?

Thanks

As a side note - Ford have just quoted me over £1k for parts and labour to replace it and I'm awaiting a quote from the place who did the further diagnostics this morning. They said they'd checked the work the previous garage had done to check and said it wasn't what they'd done, reckoned it was a common fault so now I'm awaiting another massive bill for repairs 😞 Theyve said its the traction control module, pressure transducer.

My motto is, the light wasn't on when it came in, it better not be on when it comes out, so whatever you've damaged, or left disconnected, to make the light come on, fix it.

Or just stick a ticket on it and I'll take it elsewhere

ABS units can go just light a lounge light can.

My last car, a beloved Lexus is250, had ABS light come on but the ABS worked as it should. I put a diagnostic on it, techstream which is 2nd to none on toyota/lexus, and a code came up which I forget. The actual problem was the multiplug connection. Two pins on the ABS unit had rusted through water ingress, God only knows how water got into it, so I had no choice but to buy another ABS unit. Luckily I got a reconditioned one and got it fitted locally. All in was under 200 quid. No more ABS light.

I think to be fair you should ask the garage to go at least halves on the cost.

Well the new garage has come back to me, £510 to remove the unit, recondition it and refit it. The original garage has said they'll retest for free because the timescale for the repair would then take it over the period where you can get a free retest so it was the least they could do.

I just get so suspicious when the guy at the MOT garage keeps protesting the way that he does that they've not caused it and now the new garage (who the MOT one recommended and sent the car to themselves) is also protesting quite heavily that this is just one of those things and its a common fault.

I'm having to conceed to some degree but I really don't like it, on top of the original repairs, its now going to cost me nearly £1300 to get my car working and road worthy again. I am tempted to email their customer services and say something to see if they're willing to contribute as I wouldn't expect my car to suddenly become worse whilst in their care. Granted things do sometimes happen but not to the tune of another £510.

I can roughly remember that some years back cars from several manufacturers started having issues with ABS modules failing, possibly all Bosch units. 
 

Result being ABS light on dash and MOT failure due to there being a warning lamp present, big bill to replace the ABS unit. Eventually service kits were released for the ABS unit to be repaired instead of replaced - I may be wrong but I’m sure the transducer was part of the problem. 

I thought I read something similar myself the other day resulting in Ford heavily reducing the cost of the job which is why I was baffled by their quote for a grand to repair but they wouldn't guarantee the work because they hadn't completed the diagnostics themselves.

WABCO on Land Rovers was another one, you can buy the shuttle valves which was the most common problem on them.