Hi

I bought a 56 plate 2.5T S-Max Titanium last week, so am new to it but have had a focus for a few years, so first thing is to say hello.

It's nice and frosty today, so tested the heated screen (unfortunately I was not able to test this at the time and it was a private sale, so it's my problem now) and found that only about 20% of it seems to be working. The focus has the odd missing line which I put down to failure within the screen but to lose big chunks of it on the S-Max implies to me that it's a wiring connection type issue as there does not seem to be any obvious physical damage to teh screen.

Does anyone know how the power supply to the screen is wired up and can be tested?

On a side point, are there any workshop manuals available for the S-Max as the usual supect (Haynes) does not list one. I've seen some one on ebay with the TIS on CD but I bought one of these a few years ago for the focus (probably from another seller) and ended up with a disk that did not work. I got a refund at the time but no data, so not much help.

Thanks

The screens on the smax are very easily damaged & cause problem with the heated elements. The only cure is to replace the windscreen.

There does not appear to be any physical damage in evidence, so I don't understand how the screen would be physically damaged.

OK other than replacing the screen (I'm guessing we're talking £500+, so it can stay not working on that basis) are there any other thing to look at that may be the issue e.g. wiring connections, fuses, earthing, etc?

To my knowledge, it's not "physical" damage which causes the elements to fail. Can you not "accidentally" hit a big stone and cause a crack on the windscreen so you get it replaced by your insurance company (£70 xs and no loss of NCD)?

I could but doing that goes aganist the grain... not that I haven't bought a car with a chipped windscreen in the past and replaced it in that way. But taking a big stone to my new car is a step too far, so I shall live with it for the moment.

I think my local garage 'reset' the electrics on my SMax and it cured my 50-50 heated screen problem, that was free too. I believe you can do it yourself with the key and ignition but you'd need to ask on here if they know how?

Is it all over the window which fails to demist or one particular side

Although this is a focus the princaple should be the same

50/50 working / not working is failure of the electrics on one side - as they are effectively 2 separate circuits - hence why a reset procedure may fix this. A "barcode" effect is failure of the heater elements in the screen itself - for which the only "fix" is a new windscreen.

There is a known problem with heated front screens where the ribbon connector to the matrix is snagged by the wiper motor arm and the connection snaps.

This topic has been discussed at length on the forum and a fix explained.