2016 titanium Focus that has never given a minutes bother. Drives well and returns great milage. That said when i tried to start it today all i got was a relay click behind me in the boot and a message on the dash saying engine start pending. Then nothing. No matter how often i tried it that was all i got.

Any suggestions as to where and what i should look at.

By the way is it possible to start the car by pushing it?

Hugh

Hi,

The battery is probably flat. That's the first thing to check.

Push start might work if you can push it fast enough to spin the engine at 300rpm+. The ECU won't let the injectors fire at less than that.

Definitely not the battery. It is some sort of relay or electronic sensor as it does start sometimes. 2 days without starting and this morning started first time. I hate electronics. Give me the old fashioned Cortina's any day

Which engine is it?

Could you hear the tank pump priming when you open the door or switch the ignition on?

If there's nothing obvious to go on then you'll need to plug into Ford specific diagnostics in the hope of there being a fault code to narrow down the fault location. We generally recommend Forscan on here, as a DIY alternative to the £160 Ford dealers would charge.

Its the 1500 Diesel engine and all is working as normal. Just going to engine start pending and then nothing...occasionally. Im guessing a relay or the like but as you say i need to put it on a diagnostic tool. I just though it might be a well know fault.

Ok, not a common fault, in fact I can't remember seeing these symptoms before.

The tank pumps fail on these occasionally, but they just need a nudge to get them going. Just getting out of the car or shutting the door can be enough. So keep an ear out for the pump printing next time it happens.

The only other thing happening when the 'engine start pending' message pops up is the glowplugs preheating for extra time when the weather is very cold. So potentially a glowplug module fault.

Just a quick follow up on this matter. The issue was a cracked positive terminal connection which was allowing power but not enough by times to start the car. I have replaced it but in doing so i notice a white wire which was taped onto the battery lead. What does it do as it did not appear to be connected to the actual positive power source??

Good to hear it was an easy fix in the end. Can't remember seeing a cracked terminal on these before.

Not sure what the white wire is without a picture.

I just cable tied the white wire out of the way and all seems to be working well. If I discover it controls something I will let you know

Catching up on a few posts and came across this. I replaced the battery on my Mk3 over Christmas and also wondered about the extra wire from the positive battery terminal. From the wiring diagrams (Mk3.5 I found somewhere) it looks as though it's the positive supply for the Battery Monitoring Sensor on the negative terminal.

It runs from the positive terminal, routed through the High Current Battery Junction Box to F22 in the Battery Junction Box, then on to the Battery Monitoring Sensor.

My assumption would be that it should be connected to the positive terminal - though others more knowledgeable could confirm. Without it the BMS may be non-operational, and I'm sure I've read that the alternator will operate in a default non-smart manner.

Edit: Had an image search of the BJB open and noticed the image in this thread where someone is suggesting modifying that wire - a possibility for why it may not be connected.

https://www.focusst.org/threads/starting-issues.162083/