Hi guys

When I start the car the AC light always comes ON. It doesn't matter what position any of the dials are at. On AC (cold/full left) I can understand it but it doesn't matter what the positions are on any of the dials.

Any help would be extremely helpful...

Thank you

Prepare for the AC police telling you it should never be switched off.  Ever.  EVER! 😱

But this does sound like a fault.  It should only come on automatically if the direction dial is pointing to the windscreen.

1 minute ago, TomsFocus said:

Prepare for the AC police telling you it should never be switched off.  Ever.  EVER! 😱

But this does sound like a fault.  It should only come on automatically if the direction dial is pointing to the windscreen.

So if the direction dial is pointed to the windscreen it will ALWAYS come on?

1 minute ago, Zippy020171 said:

So if the direction dial is pointed to the windscreen it will ALWAYS come on?

Yes.  It assumes you want to demist the windscreen.

2 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Yes.  It assumes you want to demist the windscreen.

OK I didn't know that, thank you...

Mine comes on every time I start the car regardless of any of the dial positions.

Any fix?

51 minutes ago, Zippy020171 said:

Mine comes on every time I start the car regardless of any of the dial positions.

It's not faulty, it's designed to default to on.

You can manually switch it off (heaven knows why you would want too).

Really, default to ON? Why?

 

I don't think it should default on every time.  At least, I've never had a car that does that so far.  I hate AC and only use it for cooling when absolutely necessary.

The manual shows there is more than one setting that automatically triggers it in the Mk3 Focus though. 

https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/vdirsnet/OwnerManual/Home/Content?variantid=3006&languageCode=en&countryCode=USA&Uid=G1477963&ProcUid=G1311532&userMarket=GBR&div=f&vFilteringEnabled=False&buildtype=web

Ford Galaxy 2001 with full climate control, had no way to turn off the system, it was always on.

There was a button sequence that could be used by the garage to disable the climate control while it was been serviced but that was not intended to be used daily.

12 hours ago, unofix said:

Ford Galaxy 2001 with full climate control, had no way to turn off the system, it was always on.

There was a button sequence that could be used by the garage to disable the climate control while it was been serviced but that was not intended to be used daily.

That's odd.  Weren't they almost entirely VW?  I had a 2001 Golf with 'Climatronic' climate control which had an 'Econ' button that could be used to maintain temperature using fan speed alone, without AC.

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Weren't they almost entirely VW?

To a very large extent they were like the VW, mine had a 100% Ford 2.3 petrol engine.

To be honest I don't recall the 'Econ' button but if it did have one it didn't disengage the AC compressor.

This is because while I owned the Galaxy the compressor totally seized one day just after the engine had started and as a result it stalled the engine. After trying to find a way to quickly turn off the AC, I spoke with the Ford garage and they told me how to hold down 2 or 3 buttons (it's a very long time ago now, so I forget). After following the instructions the screen displayed 'OFF' and I was able to restart the engine.

Found a Mk1 Galaxy manual.  The Econ button does switch off the AC on those as it does with VW's.  Good to know Ford staff were as competent back then as they are now.

Re AC there has historically always been a divide between real cars and shopping cars - I guess stemming from low power engines and high consumption old world AC

large engined luxury cars the AC light was to warn you had stupidly disabled it (this is how all my cars have been for 40 years) - whereas her Focus has a light to say it might go a bit slower as you left the AC engaged

the next part of the puzzle - its called "air conditioning" - it does not mean "air cooling" - the idea is to manage temp, humidity and dust - better than cars that have only an old world heater - and on even higher spec systems a fourth option reduces fumes - her volvo's all had it in 2006 - these automatically sniff the fumes coming in and auto switch over between fresh air intake or its recycle

I would leave it on - since 2005 most cars have a variable rate low power consumption compressor - and on the focus Mk2.5 and anything newer its linked to the engine ECU to wind back the ACs consumption when accelerating or using significant engine power so you hardly notice its on - except that you can see out the windows all year round - instead of just for 3 weeks in a good summer

it also turns off automatically below 3C to stop it damaging itself with wind chill on the condenser

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Found a Mk1 Galaxy manual.

That dashboard is like the 1998 model I had but I only had manual A/C on that one.

The 2001 had a much more square look dashboard and I seem to think radio unit was double din size and the climate control was fitted under the radio.

It was probably this unit, which I see does have an econ button (probably never ever used it)