Hey,

I recently bought an 04 Ford Fiesta Zetez, it was cheap due to shabby paintwork due to someone attacking it with a screwdriver and a very scrathed window. I could deal with that.

Two days after driving my revs now Idle at 1500 and I have been shown "EAC FAIL" on my dash twice.

Oh S...

I took it to a local garage (Ford Garage prices are Mega High - right?) and they told me I need a new "EAC" and I'm looking at around £1000. I bought the car for this price so I'm turning green right now.

I asked why it's so much and was told it was due to the part being expensive and labour is not much at all, So I go home, google multiple "Used ford Fiesta EAC" and get nothing. I go to sites that search for parts and send quotes and "EAC" isn't even an option on their drop down list.

I did however put "EAC" down anyway and have recieved 3 quotes of £20, £35 & £140 (roughly) and 3 people have asked me what an EAC is.

The garage is trying to rip me off? These spare parts places don't know what they're doing? I need a more specific part?

I'm so confused.

I new I needed to spend ££ to fix up my Fiesta, but I budgeted around £500 for small things like a new window, fix power steering leaks etc, please help! :)

EAC refers to the Electronic Accelerator Control, so this could be a problem from a faulty sensor on the pedal (which converts the movement of your foot on the pedal into a signal strength), this is then sent to the Thorttle Body Assembly (which takes that value and turns it into a reading of X MPH is how fast you are wanting to accelerate / maintain) and then passes this value onto the GEM module for the car to take the "I want to go" into a "Right, we're off!"

The first quesiton is what are they offering you for £20 up to £140? the full assembly, or just the accelerator.

When did you buy the car, for how much and how many miles have you driven it? If I was you, I would be contacting them and quoting that they resolve it under the sale of goods act (if it was a trader, seller or dealer) - this will not apply if its a private sale.

If it is in fact a dealer sale, then remind them of your rights under the sale of goods act quoting that the item is inherently faulty and that you expect a repair to be made under their expense to ensure the vehicle is mechanically safe, roadworthy and of satisfactory mechanical quality.

If they decide to argue, then tell them you will (and follow through to) contact Trading Standards and advise how the dealer has breached your rights.

I would suggest you get the error codes checked out, best case scenario, its a few quid for a used accelerator pedal with the sensor, or more for a new, same with the throttle body in the engine bay.

Worst case scenario, your looking at a replacement GEM board, and they can go for a few quid more!

"The first quesiton is what are they offering you for £20 up to £140? the full assembly, or just the accelerator."

This is one of my problems. The garage just told me I need a new "EAC" no more, no less. So this is what I've asked for. Thats as much info I know. The quotes are also for "EAC" which I assume if the part I need as it's what my garage has told me. See my confusion? :(

I bought this Private.

If you bought the car from a private seller you do not have any rights under the Sale of Goods Act as far as 'satisfactory

quality' is concerned. In the case of private sales it is 'caveat emptor' (let the buyer beware)unless there was a

mis-description of some sort which there does not seem to have been in this case.

agree with Graham, so you are a bit stuffed there.

The most likely bad part is going to be the accelerator pedal. Get quotes as you have done for the pedal assembly with Sensor, then ask also for the throttle body itself, and also ask for the GEM board with your part number.

Clearly your dealer is a fool, the EAC is a system, they might as well have just told you "your cars broke" and left it at that.

Start off by getting under the bonnet, check the connections are tight, make sure that there are no blatantly damaged wires, then look to get the quotes for these parts. I would also suggest you find yourself another dealer or another garage to diagnose the issue, see if someone can be more specific.

Thanks guys :)

Got some faith back!

"Clearly your dealer is a fool, the EAC is a system, they might as well have just told you "your cars broke" and left it at that"

^ This! - I'm not car smart and glad you pointed out if was my garage causing the confusion and not myself being stupid :)

I've decided to open my wallet and booked my car in at a Ford Dealership for a Diagnosis @ £91 (OUCH!) but I'm hoping this will find the direct issue and not just be a "Need new EAC k thx bye" Good move? Will they be able to tell me if it's a pedal, throttle or GEM from this test? (What's a GEM?) Could you give me a rough price for each too? I found a Pedal is around £20.

I'll then find the issue, buy the part and get a friend to install or take it to another garage.

Thanks again.

Hi Matt,

No its not your error, all they have done is regurgitate the message on screen and told you thats your problem, but like I say, its a system, not a part and thats what they should be looking for!

As for Ford, its the right call, expensive, but they will diagnose exactly where the error is and will give you a price to repair it. Your option to proceed with them or not, but if you get the report saying (for example) faulty accelerator pedal, then you can take it away and fix it yourself, or with another garage for cheaper, or just get Ford to do it.

As for the parts:

Accelerator Pedal Assembly: Used about £20 is right, new your looking closer to the £70 mark (at a rough guess)

Throttle Body: New is about £150, used can be gotten for under £50 (hopefully with warranty)

GEM: your looking around £150 - £200 for new, probably get it for less than £70 used.

The GEM is the Generic Electronic Module (or General Electronics Module). This is basically the brain that processes all the electrical requests and directs them where they need to be, so for example, when you turn the indicators, press a switch, hazard lights etc, the signal is routed to the GEM board which then turns that feature on.

If you do need a GEM, pm me, I kept my old one that I removed when I fitted RCL which is redundant (depends on your car specification of course).

Judgement day is looming

Today I decided to test something out. As I'm idling at 1500 I figured that I'd try to pull of without using any acceleration (As it's already doing some due to the 1500). I pulled away as expected, once I put my foot down to speed up, EAC FAIL. Does this mean it could just be the Pedal or still any of those parts? It also happened again as I pulled of from a hill start, wasn't riding clutch at all, just handbrake of and away.

Also on a longer trip (10Miles) my car gets very hot and the/a fan will stay on for several minutes after the engine is off (pretty loud too), there is also steam coming from under the bonnet. After a closer look It's coming from the top left area (When looking at the car from the front) Just above and to the right of where my water is. (Pic: http://oi57.tinypic.com/10crmnb.jpg), area is circled in Red. There seems to be alot of bubbling (like the sound of someone blowing air through a straw into water) in the Engine coolant (The water on the left side of red circle?) Any of this Normal?

I also noticed a hissing sound where the blue circle is, what's this about?

I'm aware I'm missing some air pipe thing on the right side, but figured this can't be causing much problems and will get a new one when/if my current issues wont cost me the price of a small house.

So... Who wants to be the bearer of bad news?

Judgement day is looming

Today I decided to test something out. As I'm idling at 1500 I figured that I'd try to pull of without using any acceleration (As it's already doing some due to the 1500). I pulled away as expected, once I put my foot down to speed up, EAC FAIL. Does this mean it could just be the Pedal or still any of those parts? It also happened again as I pulled of from a hill start, wasn't riding clutch at all, just handbrake of and away.

This could still be any part of the puzzle, I would say you should just leave this part to the dealer, its a safer bet to guess what is wrong with the car, at least they will tell you and you can take it away unfixed and take it back later if necessary.

Also on a longer trip (10Miles) my car gets very hot and the/a fan will stay on for several minutes after the engine is off (pretty loud too), there is also steam coming from under the bonnet. After a closer look It's coming from the top left area (When looking at the car from the front) Just above and to the right of where my water is. (Pic: http://oi57.tinypic.com/10crmnb.jpg), area is circled in Red. There seems to be alot of bubbling (like the sound of someone blowing air through a straw into water) in the Engine coolant (The water on the left side of red circle?) Any of this Normal?

I also noticed a hissing sound where the blue circle is, what's this about?

The red circle looks possibly to be the brake fluid, or power steering fluid? as I think the coolant is the white weird triangle shape on the far left? I could be wrong its been a while since I looked at a Fez book, check what the manual says for where the coolant is, but if it is the coolant reservoir, just buy a new cap and that probably will resolve it.

As for the hissing blue, that looks to be the alternator? in which case it could be either faulty or just a worn bearing?

I'm aware I'm missing some air pipe thing on the right side, but figured this can't be causing much problems and will get a new one when/if my current issues wont cost me the price of a small house.

So... Who wants to be the bearer of bad news?

I resume you mean by the "air pipe thing" you are meaning the mass air flow hose? if so, you should do this sooner rather than later. I cant see where the air filter box is, and if your engine is sucking in clean filtered air, or if you are sucking in any old air that could take debris into the engine...?

Hello again.

I took my car too ford this afternoon, was told that it would take an hour for the Diagnostic results, so I wondered off and waited for the dreaded phone call.

Ford rang me and said that my car didn't have any issues at all, just one that needs urgent attention an that they had the part to fit today which would be around £70. The part was a "Breather Hose" which was leaking oil and what I assume was the reason for smoke. Possibly that hissing noise I could hear too? I asked them that I didn't want this fixed unless they can tell me the problem I have with my EAC. The Mechanic assured me this would fix the problem.

I was wary, "how does a oil leak fix electronic problems?!" I asked myself, but decided to trust the guy. It took 90 minutes for the work to be done, I paid my £160 bill an the mechanic come and showed me the old pipe, it looked like it had been murdered. He gave me a free cap for my engine coolant too. He also reset my computer settings or something and it will re-learn stuff whilst I drive.

I got in my car, started it up. 900 Revs. Massive Smile. Drove away a happy customer!

So it seems I found the problem and got it fixed for a price I'm very happy with, I'll update in a few days so any others with a similar problem know if it fixed it permanently.

I didn't get a few advised things that total £150, but I'll get them done next week sometime. One if "Brake Fluid - Advise BFS" What is this? Expensive at £40? I have noticed that when I lift my foot of the brakes I hear a squeak, also the same with my handbrake (Which I now have to pull very high, will get a fiend to check it)

My last questions is that I need a new driver side window as the previous owner had enemies, has a huge amount of scratches thanks to a screwdriver. I'd geuss around £20-£30 for a 2nd hand one, are they easy enough to put in myself?

A big thanks to everyone that gave me their input, I can now keep my Fiesta and I'm a very happy guy!!

wow, that is a result, never would have taken a hose to be the cause of the EAC! thats a new one and advice to share if it efinately works!

Sounds like the brake fluid is degraded, so they just advise a drain flush and fill, at £40 from a dealer thats not a bad deal at all!

£20 - £30 - is about what I would expect for a used window, as for fitting, you probably could do it by pulling the door card off, drop the and then remove the seals and pull the window out then just slot the new one in!

Awesome news eh? :) Didn't have any faith at all that fixing an oil leak would resolve so many issues. A user PM'd me whilst my car was at Ford that it is probably that pipe, shame I didn't get his message sooner, but I'd have bitten someone arms of if they offered to fix my problem for £160 a few days ago ;)

Would degraded brake fluid cause my brakes to squeak ? How much would I be looking at to get it flushed out from a local garage, worth saving a few £ or Ford will do a far better job and may as well pay the £?

Good to hear the window isn't too expensive, I'll have a sexy Fiesta rolling around in no time!

Defraded fluid would work less effectively, it could be causing the brakes to not fully return so could be causing them to sit on the disk.

To be honest £40 would be the average rate, but an indie might do a more thorough job than Ford (oddly!)

The window isn't exactly a case of just slotting it in tbh, they need to be seated correctly and on the right plane otherwise when you wind it up it could crack as it'll be bending into the window frame due to being curved ( learned this with a frameless window rover, thought it was ok but it munched into the window seal when I made it go up and then cracked FFFFFFF )

but it's easy enough to do, just need to put it in and see how well it travels, then take it back down and adjust and repeat, takes quite a long time to get it right but it's easy and annoying at the same time.

Tip, before removing the window from the mech, mark out where it sits on the glass with a glass pen and use it as a stencil onto the new window ( like tracing paper ), will shave some time off.

The hissing noise is just the fuel rail it comes in down that side from the tank in fuel lines etc, it's also made to sound worse because that's also where the air intake is so it is sucking air in anyway.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Ford OC mobile app