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Ford Focus Mk2 Common Problems Thread


jamesm182
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My guess is that the memory capacitor inside the radio has failed.

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My guess is that the memory capacitor inside the radio has failed.

Probably not an easy thing to check/replace?

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easy enough to check once you get the radio out, and then you spend a couple of hours taking it to bits and putting it back together, just not a cost effective thing to do.

Buy a Chinese Android unit which will have loads more features and look more upto date.

 

 

@StephenFord theres a man here in need of a Flux Capacitor 🤣

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My MK2 1.4 Petrol has the "IC display doesn't sleep" effect and lately it  started to open up the boot randomly. Sometimes when I get into the car and sit down, the trunk-lock opens or when locking the car after arriving home it opens the boot-lock. I have a factory Sony CD radio installed also and now I can't decide which is causing the IC to stay on all night. Today morning it flattened my battery dead. 

I have a brand new battery and alternator, since the factory one didn't charged anymore.

 

Edit: I have a keyless system and I've read it might be the ignition barrel, because it has a switch which is not turning off properly. Maybe I try putting in the key after lubricating with WD40.

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9 hours ago, Heleas03 said:

lately it  started to open up the boot randomly.

My money (at least 50p, anyway!) would be on the wiring to the boot lock, or the mechanism itself. If it keeps sending varying signals to the BCM (aka GEM) about the boot not being closed, or the boot open button being pressed, it will keep the BCM and the IC awake.

Check if the door ajar warning comes on when the boot unlocks, or if the boot light (if fitted) comes on. Also try bending and pulling the wiring between boot door & body. (Is is a hatchback?)

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In the meantime I've done some research and found this:

Open the boot - Take off the boot wall carpit on the left - there will be a big black cable - unplug it - apply WD40 - plug in again - finish.

I will try this today, it very well fits what you've just said, Peter. 

Plus I've measured my battery after I charged it a bit, put the positive and negative on and it showed 12.54V then I took off the negative and measured 12.44V. Is it normal?

Quote

(Is is a hatchback?)

Yes, looks exactly like my profile picture 🙂

 

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Check if the door ajar warning comes on when the boot unlocks, or if the boot light (if fitted) comes on

Yes, I have two circles on the dashboard and when I go through a bump on the road it blinks a red on the right side and says door is open, so the car knows the boot door is open. And yep I have a lamp on the right side of the boot, but thats also sometimes works sometimes doesn't. Haha

 

Found this on the forums: 

You mean that cable which coming from the left and connects to the boot-lock with a white ending?

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4 hours ago, Heleas03 said:

I've measured my battery after I charged it a bit, put the positive and negative on and it showed 12.54V then I took off the negative and measured 12.44V. Is it normal?

battery voltage varies with a lot of things, especially time. For several hours after a good charge it will register higher than normal voltage, dropping very slowly, unless a load is applied to bring it down. And similarly, after a heavy load like headlights, it will take quite a while (maybe about an hour) to recover up to its steady voltage. This effect is sometimes referred to as "surface charge". So the 0.1v drop could be just part of that recovery. It would be odd if removing the negative car to battery connection gave a drop in battery voltage, unless either a charger was connected in the car, or the engine was running. (Never disconnect a battery with a running engine, just as a general caution note!.) A good battery, fully charged, should read 12.4v to 12.6v after being left idle for something like 6 to 24 hours.

Parasitic current draw can be detected by firmly connecting a multimeter on 10A current range, from battery -ve post to a good earth on the body, and then disconnecting the -ve battery to car wire. (Using a typical multimeter to power up a car after a battery disconnect is likely to blow the 10A fuse that they usually have, due to the current surge as lots of stuff powers up.) Once the meter is connected, it should be possible to change to a more sensitive range without breaking the circuit. It can take a long time (30 mins or so) for the car to power down after almost any disturbance, though. Normal long term draw is typically 10mA to 30mA, for remote control receiver, alarm etc.

I like the amusing and informative guide! I know it can be summarised as "Undo the screws and then pull the plastic off!" as someone slightly rudely did. But as Stef said, knowing how, when and where to apply force, and where all the hidden clips are, is a huge bonus. I hate taking trim off the 1st time for that reason. If Haynes went to that depth, each volume would be about 3 feet thick!

The black cable almost certainly goes up to the top of the hatch, and through the flexi section to the car. It is that flexi section I was thinking about, wire failures inside those are quite common. As a minor point, all locking & general lighting circuits will go to the BCM (aka GEM, or FJB, or Passenger fuse box). The BCM talks to the IC over the MS-CAN bus, telling the IC to light the door ajar LED for one thing among many.

But your comment about the light coming on on bumps changes it a bit, it is more likely to be a problem in the latch mechanism, including the door ajar sensing microswitch which is part of it. I am fairly sure that on my boot, closing the latch using a screwdriver but with the tailgate left open will put out the boot light and the door ajar warning LED. Thus the sensing is of the latch movement, not the tailgate itself.

 

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Thanks Peter for the thorough explanation! It was helpful.

However, finally I managed to solve this mystery. First I took off the boot wall carpit and replugged the black cable which goes into the door lock system. (Applied some WD as well.) It resolved the random opens it seems. However, the IC stayed on again and on Saturday morning my car was dead again. So I took a glimpse through my Ford Manual and found the glovebox fuse diagram which varies from the UK one it seems. And I've found that the fuse 58 was crossed with an X. And guess what? That is the radio. Went down took of the 58th fuse and woala. Two days have passed and my car is sleeping like a baby.

I will try to buy a new fuse though and give it a go. Maybe it was just the fuse.

 

So long story short:

Ford Focus mk2 Instrument Cluster doesn't sleep problem:

My issue was caused by the radio. (Mine has a genuine Sony 6000 CD radio)

Took of the fuse 58 (Austrian version) from the glovebox fusebox.

 

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3 hours ago, Heleas03 said:

fuse 58 (Austrian version) from the glovebox fusebox.

The most common cause of battery drain is malfunctions in radios and add-on hi-tech bits like BT adapters. I put the boot top of the list because it was showing definite symptoms, but am not entirely surprised that it turned out to be two separate faults.

The Focus has two versions of the Passenger Fuse Box, changed about 2007, I think just before the Mk2a came out. On my 2006 manual, fuse 58 is Audio Modules battery Supply. It would be fuse 112 in the later fusebox, and in most documentation.

Mk2-BCM.JPG

Early (Mk2) Fuse Box

Mk2a-BCM.JPG

Later, (Mk2a) Fuse Box (& possibly some late Mk2s)

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I have the upper one (older). Then it seems the website where I checked the diagram first is faulty. It says F58 is alarm system and navigation, F68 is audio system.

Now I wonder, should I try the radio with a new 15A fuse or leave it be?

 

Untitled.png

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5 hours ago, Heleas03 said:

t seems the website where I checked the diagram first is faulty. It says F58 is alarm system and navigation,

I had a quick scan, they are both correct, but wording has been changed quite a lot. Audio modules does fit reasonably with satnav & touchscreen. In my proper Ford manual F68 is "Accessory to cluster (audio & navigation unit)"

So the essential difference is F58 is always on (battery direct), F68 is from the Ign switch, and is on in Acc & Ign positions.

If everything works ok with F58 removed, I would leave it out. It could be that the radio or other modules will forget their settings if F58 is missing, as they will be completely powered down when the Ign is off. But at least they will be less likely to flatten the battery due to spurious activity while supposed to be off. It should do no harm to test it.

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Yes now that I have translated it to english it says "accessories", so yes it's right.

Have some updates on the matter. My boot is again living on its own haha, opening randomly and wakes up the IC. I'm thinking on the boot switch (the one between the two licence plate lamps), because mine is not working for a couple of months now. My guess would be it's sending signals to the BCM which keeps up the IC because a "door is open". Fortunately it's not that heavy drainage as the radio was, but I will unplug it for the time being and get a new switch. 

Today I will install a new fuse to the radio slot, so I will update in the coming days about that.

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Update: If only I knew this sooner, that such a small thing could cause this much headache... So all the problems are solved. It has been five days since I installed a new 15A fuse to the fusebox (radio) and I disconnected the boot lid switch. The car is sleeping like a newborn after breastfeeding. I even dared to let her sit two days without driving and today morning she ignited like a pheonix. My next task will be to change the boot lid switch, but that will wait till spring. I can use the key button to open the boot, so it is not a big of a deal. The radio is fine, so I guess it's a happy ending after all.

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On 11/2/2021 at 1:39 AM, Tdci-Peter said:

I have had a quick look at the data, but I don't really know what TPMODE is. I have a feeling it just shows closed, part open (PT) and open, so is not very informative. Are there any other entries for the throttle, I seem to recall seeing EGR_THRTL or some such odd name.

It certainly looks like something is holding the air flow back. The EGR valve shuts as the APP rises, which is correct. But the MAF lags, and actually falls, as I might expect from a jammed throttle valve. Then it suddenly seems to free up and the MAF rises, along with the RPM. So more info on that throttle valve would be very helpful.

The Fuel rail pressure certainly seems to shoot up nicely to >1500Bar (150,000kPa), so it is not the pump, and not really likely to be injectors.

Thanks for the previous help! Meanwhile car was running good by somehow for about 1-2k but now the problem is back and worse than ever. Yesterday engine cut off or lost power multiple times while driving on the highway. I just replaced the fuel filter and went for a little test drive. At first everything was ok but after 5km or so engine cut off while turning around and didn't start. After some effort got it working again and tried to reach home but when i slowed down to stop and took the gear out it cut off again. Now here I am sitting on the road waiting for a tow. I read the DTCs before changing fuel filter, reset them and then now read them again. Also have a log file of last test drive.

Maybe someone can help where to start finding the issue?

 

 

04.12 faults before chaning fuel filter.txt 04.12 dtc after changing fuel filter test drive.txt

04.12 test drive.txt

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Towed the car home and after some time it started up again. Let it run on idle for about 15 minutes, everything okay. Also fitted a hand pump and a piece of transparent hose coming out of the fuel filter. Went again for a test ride and exactly the same scenario as before. Checked under the hood if the fuel has dropped from the transparent hose but everything OK there, the fuel line after the filter was full. Tried to pump with hand pump at the same time when turning the ignition but didn't help either. So I loosened one high pressure fuel pipe going to the injector to see if any fuel is even going to the injectors and nothing came from there...

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2 hours ago, m619ster said:

So I loosened one high pressure fuel pipe going to the injector to see if any fuel is even going to the injectors and nothing came from there...

After reading that (I don't approve of loosening HP pipes, there is a chance of leaks or even getting swarf into injectors, but this might be an exception!), I looked at the Forscan data, and did not like the look of the FRP signal. It seemed to be spiking up for no reason, and FP was going down. Normally they both go in the same direction, up when APP goes up to increase fuel & RPM. I wondered if there were any FRP DTCs..

Also at 104 sec, there is a little FRP spike fo no apparent reason. I guess the car was in neutral for this test.

And at 77.5sec, FRP jumps from 392Bar to 1790Bar in about 1.2sec, which is too high and too fast to be realistic, I think.

Then I looked at the DTC lists, and FRP was there.

So relying on FRP to determine if fuel is present in the rail won't work if FRP is dodgy, justifying the leak test.

If FRP reads high because of a wiring or sensor fault, the PCM will not activate the fuel metering valve (FP or IMV), so the engine will not start.

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7 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Also at 104 sec, there is a little FRP spike fo no apparent reason. I guess the car was in neutral for this test.

Thanks, Peter! I think at the 104 sec is when I was slowing down with gears to stop. As i wanted to keep the engine running I shifted down at quite high RPMs trying to avoid RPMs going too low because of the engine cut off issue  but as you can see it didn't work out as from 104s RPM-s keep going down until cut off. Might shifting down give that spike you mentioned?

I will try to drive to the some experienced garage soon and let's see what they can do!

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4 hours ago, m619ster said:

I think at the 104 sec is when I was slowing down with gears to stop. As i wanted to keep the engine running I shifted down at quite high RPMs trying to avoid RPMs going too low because of the engine cut off issue  but as you can see it didn't work out as from 104s RPM-s keep going down until cut off. Might shifting down give that spike you mentioned?

I think I was sent off the track earlier, when I saw no reports of FRP DTCs, plus not being quite sure what FP meant, in particular which way up it was, I assumed FRP readings were ok.

I have looked again at the 1 Nov data, and there it looked originally like FP went low (6%) for maximum fuel, and high for minimum fuel. But with the 2nd data run, and FRP DTCs placing suspicion on that sensor, it now looks like FP is low for min fuel, and high for max. This is the same way round as the IMV readings I get on my engine.

When all is working, APP, FP and FRP should all track together most of the time. If FRP is mis-behaving, and reads high in error, the PCM will reduce FR to try to get the FRP reading down. Hence FRP and FR tend to go in opposite directions if there is a FRP problem.

I thought I had some other 1.6TDCI data somewhere, maybe with FR on it, but can not find it just now!

If FR really should read high for max fuel, then both data runs point firmly towards a faulty FRP sensor or its wiring.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So the central locking on my Focus MK2 -05 is behaving strangely... The doors lock and unlock themselves randomly (not very frequently but still) during driving and even when the car is parked with the engine off and whatnot. One day it did it ALOT and even the fuel gauge and temp gauge went crazy but it hasn't done that after that one instance. The screen in the middle of the dashboard also stays on for a while even after locking the doors with the FOB (this might be normal though not certain). Also turn lights do not blink anymore after locking the doors, but they blink when unlocking the doors. Any ideas? Already checked battery, its wires and grounding and those seemed OK.

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The most common fault on your car is the BCM (Body Control Module) it will have got water in to it at sometime in the past. Disconnect the negative lead from the car battery.

BCM is part of the fusebox located behind the glovebox. Remove the connectors and look for signs of water, and check for greenish corrosion of the connector pins.

Second most common fault on your car is the soldering of the circuit board and connectors on the main Instrument Cluster. If this is the problem then it needs to be professionally fully resoldered. Check on eBay for companies that repair and refurbish instrument clusters. 

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3 hours ago, Jurpp said:

The screen in the middle of the dashboard also stays on for a while even after locking the doors with the FOB (this might be normal though not certain). Also turn lights do not blink anymore after locking the doors, but they blink when unlocking the doors

Those two items sound normal. LCD stays lit for several minutes after leaving the car. If it goes out after 30 mins or so, it is fine. Indicators do not blink on standard locking, they double blink on double locking (2nd press of the lock button). (I half recall there may be a way to set it for blink on lock, but default is no blink).

If it is only one door that is misbehaving, then it is likely to be a problem in that door latch. If all doors do it together, it could be a problem in the driver's door latch or module, as that controls all of them. But as Unofix says, it is more likely to be a problem with water getting in the BCM (passenger fusebox).

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31 minutes ago, Tdci-Peter said:

Those two items sound normal. LCD stays lit for several minutes after leaving the car. If it goes out after 30 mins or so, it is fine. Indicators do not blink on standard locking, they double blink on double locking (2nd press of the lock button). (I half recall there may be a way to set it for blink on lock, but default is no blink).

If it is only one door that is misbehaving, then it is likely to be a problem in that door latch. If all doors do it together, it could be a problem in the driver's door latch or module, as that controls all of them. But as Unofix says, it is more likely to be a problem with water getting in the BCM (passenger fusebox).

At least on my Focus locking the doors DID flash the turn signals but it just randomly stopped doing it one day and then the central locking went haywire. And yeah, it does the locking-unlocking to all 4 doors in the car.

I'll try to check the BCM, is there a guide on which cables I should plug out and inspect? I don't need to remove the fusebox do I?

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The back of the fuesbox is the BCM.

You need to check all the plugs and sockets.

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Surprised no ones mentioned the dry solder joint issue in the IP. Causes engine malfunction / limp home . Can effect HS and MS Canbus connectivity.

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2 hours ago, RL123 said:

Surprised no ones mentioned the dry solder joint issue in the IP.

Would that be possibly what I said a few hours ago ? 

6 hours ago, unofix said:

Second most common fault on your car is the soldering of the circuit board and connectors on the main Instrument Cluster. If this is the problem then it needs to be professionally fully resoldered. Check on eBay for companies that repair and refurbish instrument clusters. 

 

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