New Mk6 Escort Owner

[Pelmenis]

Hi,

I became a Ford owner for the first time just about a week ago when I purchased my current daily driver, which is a MK6 Escort with a massive 1.4 engine, haha.

Here is a picture of it:

It needs a good clean, yes, I know. The previous owner had it for 9 and a half years, has recently serviced it and replaced timing belt 19k miles ago. It drives very nicely.

Here's the few little things that need attention:

1) It unlocks from both sides, but locks only from passenger side.

2) Can't open the boot with the key, it doesn't even turn.

3) Light stalk is a bit dodgy. Sometimes you have to tap it to switch of full beam and it doesn't stop the indicator along with the steering wheel when indicating left.

4) Fog lights are not working.

For the most part that's actually it. Need to replace the Wiper Blades, gear knob and have a look what's going on with the interior light, but all in all, very happy with it especially given what I paid for it.

Would appreciate if anyone has any advice on those 4 things mentioned, or anything else. One more question - is the interior clock supposed to be back lit?

Thanks. :)

[grahambute]

Hi, welcome to the Ford fraternity. When you say it only locks from passenger side, do you mean the key won't turn or that the central locking does not operate? When I first got mine (Mk5a) I only got one key and it was very difficult to operate the locks at all. I got 2 new keys cut for my son & grandson (from Timpsons) and they work perfectly. As I have a 1992 Sierra as my daily driver my grandson uses the Escort most of the time. It does frequently suffer from electrical problems, the fuse boxes on these seem to be particularly prone to problems. I took all the fuses out one by one and cleaned them and the contacts with fine sandpaper and this has cured most of the problems, I understand that many owners have found it necessary to replace the complete fuse box - not that difficult a job for a competent home mechanic.

The one problem I have never been able to resolve is that the airbag warning light stays on permanently, I need to resolve this by March when MOT due. It looks like the previous owner got away with it by sticking a bit of black paper over the warning light as you can see the scalpel marks around the light where he obviously cut away the surplus paper.

Think clock should be backlit, suggest you get onto eBay and buy a Haynes manual. Will cost you less than £10 and will save you a fortune in time and money explaining various jobs. Cant look at mine as it is with the car which is with my grandson. Foglights will either be bad wiring connection or again fuse box problems. I had same with my Sierra after I had had a wing replaced, the foglight wiring had been plugged into the wrong place!

Good luck

[Pelmenis]

Thanks for the reply, grahambute.

The key turns in driver side door just as much as it does on the passenger side, but I can only unlock it. It doesn't lock any doors from the driver side. The person who I bought it from said he has another key which he will post out to me, so I might just wait for that first. He also said that he disconnected the fog lights for the MOT, so I hope that's true.

Thankfully mine doesn't have any warning lights or any electrical problems that I know of.

I guess I should invest in a Haynes manual.

[Pelmenis]

Received my Haynes manual this morning. Only cost me £4.25 including shipping. :)

EDIT:

Update on the fog lights

The fog lights were indeed disconnected however only passenger side worked after plugging them back in. Hopefully it's just a bulb problem on the other side.

Update on interior clock

Got a new pair of green LED Bulbs, replaced them with the old ones and now it is backlit. :)

[grahambute]

Worthwhile investment. Now for that foglight bulb. n.b. one of the screws is for beam adjustment, only 2 need to be undone to remove glass etc.

[Dibblegti]

Hi I had a few of these problems with my gti when I got it, the boot lock may have been broken in to so I took the lock out smoothed the hole n have it open with my key fob alarm. And the light stalks I replaced due to having the same problem, only cost £20. Hope this helps will be nice to see updates 

[Pelmenis]

11 hours ago, Dibblegti said:

Hi I had a few of these problems with my gti when I got it, the boot lock may have been broken in to so I took the lock out smoothed the hole n have it open with my key fob alarm. And the light stalks I replaced due to having the same problem, only cost £20. Hope this helps will be nice to see updates 

Hi. Thanks for that, I will need to find the steering column. How do you open the boot with your key?

I'm posting all my updates in this thread now: 

 

 

 

 

[Dibblegti]

I bought a alarm kit off eBay and was a function on it. Only a £15 alarm but does the job. 

The steering Colunm their is 4 hex screws to take the casing off, then disconnect both wiring looms, then one screw on top of the indicator n light stalk, then it'll just slide off.

 

the photo is what it looks like with no lock.

[Pelmenis]

Ah right. I've been looking at those kits myself but the thing which has held me back is how safe are they?

Thanks for the info. Your Escort looks good. Tidy work on the key hole.

[Dibblegti]

They are NOT insurance approved but I just wanted key less entry. I am going to upgrade to an insurance approved soon just wanted to learn the wiring first before killing a £300 kit. 

 

N cheers man here's a few more for you.