Hi All,

This is my first post except for a quick intro, so apologies if I do something wrong.

My car is a '14 Focus 1.6 Ecoboost 180 Tit X

Started it a couple of days ago and loads of warning lights stayed on, the info system scrolled through several error messages (Hill Start, Tyre Pressure System, Traction control etc unavailable). Also the power steering wasn't working.

I drove carefully round the block but no change. Tried to stop it (on the button) and it wouldn't stop!! 

After several presses of the button, it did finally stop.

I restarted it again but all the faults were still there.

I disconnected the battery for a couple of minutes, then started it again and all was OK.

I crossed my fingers and it's been OK for a few days, until today when all the faults came back while I was driving.

They cleared themselves and then returned a few times (and are not present at the mo').

Has anyone had this before?

Thanks in advance

Gareth

19 minutes ago, GarethJones said:

Has anyone had this before?

Yes, lots of times but usually on pre 2013 models.

On your car I would suspect the State Of Charge of the vehicle battery. Once it gets below 60% very random faults start to occur.

Measure the battery voltage with a meter approx 1 hour after it has been parked and compare it against the attached table:

Thanks - I'll check the voltage later, after work. The battery is quite new though (maybe 6mnths old) and the start/stop has been working OK where it wouldn't/shouldn't if it thought the battery was low.

 

even with new batteries, you dont know if it has been charged enough or not. 

best to charge it for at least 12 hours.

I measured the battery voltage - 12.11 V immediately after ignition off (so some systems still drawing), then disconnected the battery and measured 12.35 v. Seems low to me.

Checked when I bought it - Jan this year, from Halfords with a 5yr warranty.

I don't have the receipt (paper or electronic) but I think batteries used to have a date code stamped on them somewhere. 

Have I got any chance of a refund/exchange?

Also, thanks for the help so far.

Edit - with the engine running, it's approx 15v so I guess it's trying to charge 

12.35v resting is fine, the charging system won't charge it much above that.  No chance of refund or exchange.

Should I charge the battery, then refit it and reset the BMS?

Not 100% sure but I don't think I reset the BMS when I fitted the new battery in Jan'

13 minutes ago, GarethJones said:

Should I charge the battery, then refit it and reset the BMS?

Not 100% sure but I don't think I reset the BMS when I fitted the new battery in Jan'

Yes, you can try that.  It won't do any harm.

I'm not convinced this is a battery fault yet though.

I gave it a good charge and reset the BMS.

At least I think I did - ignition on, 10 X fog light button, 10 X hazard button and the battery light on the dash flashed 3 times.

I'll cross my fingers and hope the problem goes away unless anyone has any other possible causes?

That sounds like too many presses, but if thd battery light flashed then it should be reset.

If they do return, I'd be looking at the ABS sensors.  Just one faulty can cause all of your warnings...except the start button fault.  That's an odd anomaly.

I thought it seemed too many presses but I couldn't remember and picked the shortest "how to" clip on YouTube.

Could faulty ABS sensors cause a problem if the car isn't moving? The first time it happened was on the drive stationary. 

One other symptom I forgot - when it happened as I was driving, the speedo needle dropped to zero (I was doing 30 ish). The speedo corrected when the other faults disappeared. 

 

You have a faulty ABS wheel sensor. Use FORScan to find out which one is giving a poor signal. 

That's 2 votes for ABS sensor then. 

I assume Forscan is better on a laptop? I'll buy a lead. I've got a Bluetooth dongle for my phone but I don't like it. 

Where do I get Forscan? Couldn't see it in Google Play store (but I want it for PC anyway)

26 minutes ago, GarethJones said:

I assume Forscan is better on a laptop?

For fault finding and clearing codes it is exactly the same, but it is fussy about what Adaptor you use so may not work with a cheap Adaptor.

Here is a link if you want to download it, the free Demo for Android should should tell you if your Adaptor is ok and the free Laptop system should work with your Bluetooth Adaptor as well although it is not recommended.

https://forscan.org/download.html

 

 

I had a steering angle sensor fault which cycled the same error messages however my power steering continued working fine.

The fix for me was to replace the steering column squib / stalk assembly with a replacement from a breaker on eBay. £30 later (airbag off, wheel off, swap squib, wheel on, airbag on).

You'll need to plug it into Forscan ideally, it will give you the shadow error codes for whatever the issue is and allow live data read from sensors. I use it with a vLinker FS cable.