Lots Of Little Electrical Faults, A Whopper, Or A Bit Of Both?

[willendintears]

Hi all, I hope someone can give me some advice

I bought a 2011 1.6 TDCi S-Max in January to replace my written off Mondeo. Since I have had it, I have had nothing but niggles with electrical systems in the car. It started out with the bonnet claiming to be open when it was firmly closed and the alarm going off because of it, and a speaker in the dash that wasn't working. The dealer cleaned up the bonnet catch and hey presto the bonnet registered as closed and the alarm stopped waking up the neighbours in the night. I've been trying to find a good day to get it in to look at the wiring for the speaker as it works intermittently, sometimes crackling, sometimes with good sound and sometimes not working at all.

I have had other issues crop up in the last week though:

The parking sensors beeping at me when I'm driving forwards slowly

The radio console not lighting up at all - after pressing some buttons the CD player worked, but I couldn't change it to radio or turn it off without turning off the ignition

The near-side windows would only open half an inch, and go up again, but not open more than half an inch

All of these things have spontaneously resolved. And now the bonnet is claiming to be open again and the alarm keeps going off.

I love the car but might go all Basil Fawlty on it at this rate .

The dealer has been very helpful, but I have limited time I can let them have the car to fiddle about with. My concern is that it's something major rather than lots of niggly dodgy connections. I would be grateful for any pointers so that I can steer the dealer in the right diection rather than waste time.

Many thanks

[Ford_Man]

I can't help to much sorry but what I would say is whilst the dealer is being helpful get it in and let them sort it, surely a couple of days managing without a car is better for a perfect motor in the long run?

[willendintears]

I agree. One of the problems of living in a rural county, working full time and ferrying around 3 children is finding a good time to do these things :) It's booked in for next Tuesday now. .

[Ford_Man]

I agree. One of the problems of living in a rural county, working full time and ferrying around 3 children is finding a good time to do these things :) It's booked in for next Tuesday now. .

Definitely agree their mate, keep us updated on the dealers findings

[willendintears]

Will do :)

[jeebowhite]

Sounds like the can bus is having issues as the sensors and radio use these.

As for the bonnet I think it's probably a bad switch cleaning it just bought you some time.

[willendintears]

That's interesting, thank you - would that normally be resolved with a firmware update or would it need to be replaced? Could that explain the window weirdness too?

[jeebowhite]

I think it comes down to a particular electric fault but it's a system not a single part or software. You need to check the wiring and probably may need an auto electrician

[willendintears]

Thanks. I will be having an in-depth conversation with the garage on Tuesday!

[jeebowhite]

Good luck mate I will be keeping an eye to see what it is...

[willendintears]

Hi all, thought I'd update you as promised.

The garage have gone over the car with the diagnostics system and not found anything to explain the blank radio panel. They couldn't find a fault with the parking sensors either, and they have said they can sometimes be really over-sensitive and that they can sometimes come on when driving forwards, so them going off randomly may just be due to over-sensitivity rather than an actual fault per se - but they have given the front sensors a clean up just in case. Unless they can see the radio problem then I think they are going to struggle to pinpoint the problem without the diagnostics system flagging it up tbh.

They have taken out all of the wires to do with the sound system, undone and rejoined all of the connectors and the Speakers sprung back in to life, so they are hoping that's it from them. They did get a fault code on the windows and I need to take the car back next week to get the part fitted as they are waiting for it to come in. They have also changed the switch and the catch on the bonnet so fingers crossed there too :)

The garage have been really excellent, so much so that we'll be going back there later in the year to replace DH's car.

[jeebowhite]

I would say over sensitivity is not how I would describe it, and my initial response was 'seriously? Are they taking the....' and then as I read on they did a decent job on the rest of the work....

I'm not sure if maybe it's because parking sensors aren't there forte but I don't believe that is the reason.

[747777]

Have you tried a window memory reset?

[willendintears]

I suspect the sensors are just not their forte. They said that they have a very wide angle and are actually a bit of a pain because of it. If the radio thing happens again I'm going to film it on my phone to show them.

The window has a part on order as that did actually produce a fault code.