Hi guys wonder if any of you can shed some light on a few issues i have with my focus. We have a 2002 1.8 estate with running issues. Nearly every time she stops the car cuts out, I originally thought she was stalling the car but its doing it when i drive too.Also the speedo works as and when it wants to but when it does the stereo turns up too.Any advice is greatly appreciated as shes doing my head in. Thanks in advance guys.

I would say it is the vehicle speed sensor that is the problem, it is mounted on the gearbox somewhere, and I think that if it is faulty, it would produce the problems that you seem to have.

Phil.

That would just be for the cutting out bud?

Cutting out is the speed sensor or a dash cluster fault which causes all sorts of issues electrically incorrect types of battery can cause major issues with electrics and running no lead acid for these cars or you have a serious electrical fault there should be a fault code somewhere

We had it on the fault code reader and it showed nothing whatsoever yet we pulled out the garage and the !Removed! thing died. So i think ill try the sensor. Would this also cause a problem with the clocks too or could that just be a bad earth on the stereo?

You may have 2 issues the speed sensor will cause it to cut out but an incorrect non silver calcium battery can cause all of these so a free battery check is needed do the dash test youreself you should see 14.4v from the battery it can also be a faulty cable from the alternator to the smartcharge a common issue it may be stalling due to tge battery either being the wrong type or the smart charge not working meaning the battery isnt being charged so ide check the voltage using the dash trick if thats okay ide look more at the dash cluster or wiring issue they sound connected but could be seperate was it a ford garage or an indy as some indys dont have a clue about smart charge

A back street garage bud

There in lies half the problem ford deal with ford a backstreet deals with everything but masters of nothing most couldnt tell you about smartcharge have no idea what a cluster fault looks like and a lot dont have the proper equipment to check the fault codes whereas ford can check the live data

Sounds like a canbus fault?

It is definitely the speed sensor.

The clocks dropping and the car stalling are classic symptoms.

The radio volume changing is due to the AVC settings on the radio.

AVC (automatic volume control) is where the radio can be set to increase and decrease volume depending on vehicle speed in order to account for engine or road noise.

As the VSS is playing up the AVC is being confused resulting in random volume changes.

Go into the radio menu and change AVC to 0 and that will stop.