If I am honest. I just need a location to rant. I've been lumbered a MK3 focus estate. Someone spent my money to put a deposit down on a family members car, sighting it to be completely sound and reliable. I didn't agree to the purchase of the car. It still technically is not in my name. I said I wanted it looked over, I was told it would have a fresh MOT etc

 

But here we are.

The car was dumped on my doorstep just before the MOT expired. It then failed the MOT.

Currently it's raining and 40 minutes past midnight. I'm sat in the drivers seat attempting to get some sleep. I cannot easily get my tools out the car!

The last few days I've been trying to get the MOT requirements done whilst dodging the thunder storms.

The cars electrical systems has gone down for the second time since the storms have come through. I fully charged the battery yesterday which I discovered wasn't fully empty. Reading at 13.7A 5.8V on charge (I think from memory)

This car has a stupid design, without electrical power, you are unable to lock the car. There's no work around. If you remove the battery to swap it, the alarm will go off for around half an hour, at least this is what happened to me yesterday, so this is not a reasonable step at this time of the night.

I'm at the point I don't want the car, I didn't sign up for this, equally I would usually see things like this through.

Is it worth it though?

Where might the water be interrupting the current enough to have ZERO power. Even if I put the key in the ignition, no light, no clicks, nothing.

I'll be doing another battery reading in the morning but I'm certain there's enough juice.

Anyone have any tips, I've read on here there's boot water ingress issues with the MK3. Would that be enough to completely make the car lose power when it rains though?

Has anyone else experienced this loss of power issue??

In the past I've had an MK1&2 & never experienced this issue, they also didn't have have stupid locking systems, so if there was a battery issue, you just manually locked the doors, the boot and bonnet had its own lock.... allowing you to get on with your life!

Any advice on possible ways to find the fault or a solution appreciated.

Hi,

There's no point reading battery voltage while it's on charge.  All you're reading is the charger's charging rate.  That has nothing to do with battery storage capacity.

If the estate has a fusebox in the boot, then water ingress could be shorting that out.

Is there really no way of locking individual doors without power?  On my Golf, each of the doors has a small key slot on the edge which can be used to lock it.  Then pulling the handles from inside unlocks it.  Boot on Mk2 does not have it's own keyhole, you needed power to open that one as well, as with pretty much every car since the 2000's.  Mk3 bonnet is cable operated, so that can be opened without power.  I've never experienced the alarm going off just by doing that.  Not sure what's going on with yours.

I never had a Mk3 estate but the Mk3 hatchback could certainly be unlocked using the key in the drivers door. I don't see any reason why the estate would have a different arrangement.

Put the key in the drivers door and turn the top of the key towards the rear of the vehicle. If that lock hasn't been used since the vehicle was new it is likely to be very stiff and need a few squirts of lube.

Disabling the alarm may require the ignition to be switched on within 12 seconds of opening the door.

3 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

I never had a Mk3 estate but the Mk3 hatchback could certainly be unlocked using the key in the drivers door. I don't see any reason why the estate would have a different arrangement.

Put the key in the drivers door and turn the top of the key towards the rear of the vehicle. If that lock hasn't been used since the vehicle was new it is likely to be very stiff and need a few squirts of lube.

Disabling the alarm may require the ignition to be switched on within 12 seconds of opening the door.

That only locks one door though.  Leaving the other 3 open.  I would be surprised if there was no mechanical way to lock them without power though.

If the battery is flat, the ignition won't turn on to disable the alarm.  I assume the problem they're having is the backup battery for the sounder.

53 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

would be surprised if there was no mechanical way to lock them without power though.

Yes they can all be individually locked from the inside just by pushing the door handle inwards. No power required, and the driver's door can be locked with the key.

On 9/10/2025 at 12:50 AM, focus000 said:

without electrical power, you are unable to lock the car

Not true. There's a keyblade inside the fob that can be used to lock the driver's door. The other doors can be locked from inside by pushing in the handles as unofix says.