Hi

The missus has got an 05 1.6i petrol C-max with 57k on the clock. Apparently today the battery light came on and wouldn't go out.

I checked connections and everything was as should be so dug or my OBD2 cable and hooked it up to the laptop and ran the Formidable programme.

Initially it came up with DTC P0620 Generator Control Circuit Malfuntion. I cleared this, the battery light went out, then came back on about 10 seconds later, ran the check again and got P1000 OBD readiness test not completed, cleared this, light went out came back on, read again P1000 again and P0206 Injector circuit / open - cylinder 6 (thought it was only a 4 cyl :) ). Cleared this, came back and so on. Ran the dashboard diagnostics check and got D0900.

It seems to be running ok, though she did say that it stalled immediately upon starting a couple of times this week.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Planning on multimeter test on the battery tomorrow and checking alternator belt as well. Would the battery light come on solid if it was the alternator (either the belt or the unit). I've only ever had alternator problems on old motors when the battery light would glow initially, and go out and over time would come on solid.

Anyway any tips before i start getting dirty would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Usually points to a faulty alternator.

If the battery is dying you tend to see the instrument cluster needles do a sweep on start up.

Modern cars throw all sorts of red herring fault codes and do weird and wonderful stuff when Alt is faulty, its because of the low voltage and voltage spikes you sometimes get. a simple test with a multimeter will tell you or go to your local garage to get it checked out.

Alternator's where my thoughts are as well. I'll get it checked at a garage. We bought it less than 6 months ago from a dealer so hopefully they'll cover the cost, OFT guidelines and all that

Exactly Sean, they should cover it, please see the link in my signature if you do want a refresher on this particular quote of the sales of goods!

Damn, Signatures gone AWOL!

Damn, Signatures gone AWOL!

I blame the Mods

Sounds like the alternator to me too. It can be a common fault on the MK2 focus so may well be the same for the C Max too!

Cheers all. I've checked it out with a multimeter, unplugged the smartcharge plug, engine on/off, a/c turned on/off and it looks like the alternator. Have contacted the dealer who said that because I paid so little for it (£2500) it wasn't covered, which I pointed out was incorrect (I was very polite) and told him to talk to someone who knew about these things. I shall call him back tomorrow, i've already rang around and found best price for the replacement unit so unless he wants trading standards after him he wants to play ball.

Cheers all. I've checked it out with a multimeter, unplugged the smartcharge plug, engine on/off, a/c turned on/off and it looks like the alternator. Have contacted the dealer who said that because I paid so little for it (£2500) it wasn't covered, which I pointed out was incorrect (I was very polite) and told him to talk to someone who knew about these things. I shall call him back tomorrow, i've already rang around and found best price for the replacement unit so unless he wants trading standards after him he wants to play ball.

Sounds like you have it covered fingers crossed! :)

I look forward to your outcome!

"because you paid so little for it!" my backside! - my signatures are back in line now so the links are back.

Actually lets be clear here, its entirely legal for a dealer to sell a car with no "warranty" in as much as the word is worth. The Sale Of Goods act specifies that a vehicle must be fit for purpose, and its down to them to prove that the fault has occurred since the vehicle has been in your posession. If they can do so in a reasonable manner (independant report) then the obligation is to you (the owner) to repair or replace the fault.

However, if the fault cannot be clearly identified as being a fault existing on the vehicle at the time of sale, then it is the requirement by law, that the dealer rectifies this issue.