Hi there. I've got a 2001 Mk3 Mondeo, a Ghia X 2.5l V6.

First of all is the brake light supposed to come on when I've got the clutch depressed? Seems to come on only when the clutch is very lightly touched then go off again or it comes on and stay on if I've got the clutch pressed right down.

Secondly, the central locking seems to have developed a mind of it's own, but only in damp or cold weather (it does occasionally do it on hot sunny days but seeing as we haven't had many of them lately...). Basically it has this habit of locking itself again after I unlock it. Sometimes it'll do it up to three times after I unlock it, other times it'll just stay unlocked for about a minute or so before locking itself again (usually by that point I've got in the car). On other occasions if I'm in the car and press the lock in on the door handle it will lock that door but the central locking doesn't lock the other doors, as if it wasn't work. Usually when this happens after a while only that door unlocks itself. It's most peculiar and I presume it's some sort of fault due to the damp or perhaps there's water somewhere it shouldn't be.

Anyway thanks for any insights you can provide.

Brake light on clutch? Maybe the brake light switch/cable is being pinched by the clutch linkage?

Central locking- sounds like water or corrosion in the drivers side lock solenoid.

That can cause shorting and the symptoms you describe.

the brake lights coming on with the clutch pedal is a common fault and is usually cured by bending the bracked which the brake light switch sits on slightley towards the top of the pedal.

funny i had a prob with my central locking turned out to be faulty micro switch in key fob try removing battry from the fob after unlocking car and see if it still dose it regards pete

Thanks for the responses. Sorry it took me so long to get back, I've had a lot of beef on my plate lately. My alternator seems to have given up the ghost now, to top it all off. But that's probably for another topic.

The brake light I guess can be relatively easily fixed then (or easy enough anyway).

As for the central locking, is it possible that the boot could be causing the issue? I've noticed for the first time yesterday since the problem started to occur that my boot lid wouldn't open even though I'd unlocked the car with the key fob. After a while I heard it try to "unlock itself" again and the boot was now able to be opened (that's another quirk of the central locking, it doesn't always just lock itself again after I unlock it, sometimes you can hear it unlocking itself even though it's already unlocked, but it has never ever to my knowledge ever unlocked itself after I've locked it, thankfully).

It seemed a bit suspicious to me that the boot wouldn't open when I first tried to unlock it, I'm wondering as such if perhaps the lock mechanism for the boot is the culprit, maybe it's getting stuck or something and causing the rest of the central locking to act up? Is there anyway I can test this or even fix it if it is the case?

Usually with the boot mechanism the only recourse is to replace it.