Hi all,

Just over a year in to my Focus ownership, I am after some advice again if you would all be so kind.

So around a month back I had noticed driving home one uncharacteristically hot May afternoon that my AC had basically decided to pack up, as in, blowing hot air into the cabin, after trying to stop the car and turning the engine back over, no change; it's been a window down job the last few weeks, and thankfully the weather hasn't been overly warm until the last few days so my motivation for a potentially expensive repair outside warranty was not there, so had not got the fault investigated..

Fast forward to last week, I had been driving for a short while and had forgotten the AC had not been functional since the last time I has tried to use it, several weeks ago, and almost immediately after turning the AC on I was greeted by a 'Drive Select Mode' not available message on the dash in yellow font, alongside a yellow spanner warning on the dash and a message on the App which read 'Powertrain Malfunction/ Reduced Power '.

The car subsequently went into limp mode upon after receiving the dash warning and rather worryingly felt very sluggish and slow to respond..

After needing to move my car on the drive, the warning message on the dash and yellow spanner had disappeared.

A little background, on receiving the car last April, it had a dying 12v battery and poor AC functionality so the dealer agreed to replace the battery and regassed the AC for me, after which the battery and AC issues went away last summer, until now..

My main questions would be is the drive select/powertrain messages directly linked to a failing AC element/electrical issue; or could this be something more sinister with the car, for example, a clogged oil pick-up and damaged engine [ I have the 2020 MHEV 1.0 155BHP EcoBoost, with 23000miles on the clock]. Would the car be safe to drive in the mean time without any of the warnings present?

I have two choices for servicing, a main dealer who has quoted £168 for diagnostics next week, or a Ford Independant who can fit me in mid June, who charges £72 for a diagnostic, either ways I need to pay as have no warranty left on the car..

As always, your advice is much appreciated, thanks.

I’d think getting Forscan or similar to read the DTC’s off your car would help point you in the right direction for understanding the cause of the engine light and car going into limp mode

5 hours ago, Tribal said:

after turning the AC on I was greeted by a 'Drive Select Mode' not available message on the dash in yellow font, alongside a yellow spanner warning on the dash and a message on the App which read 'Powertrain Malfunction/ Reduced Power '.

I've seen this recently on a Focus.

Problem was a poor State Of Charge of the battery. We put the battery on charge for around 18 hours which solved the problem for about a week. In the end had to replace the battery and so far (been nearly two months) the problem has not returned.