mjt

I agree that one should always be careful about sparks around a battery but if the charger is turned off before disconnecting, as it should be, there shouldn't be any spark. There's more chance of a spark when disconnecting the battery from the car because the modern electronics are always powered so it's probably safer to charge in situ. Actually, since the gas produced is Hydrogen one would have thought, being lighter than air, it shouldn't hang around the top of the battery.

I think Tom's hit the nail on the head. It's best not to jump start but there's no reason why you can't charge the battery on the car as long as you don't try to start the engine. In fact my CK charger guide explicitly says you can charge in situ but to connect the negative cable to a chassis earth rather than to the battery. I can't quite see what difference that makes to be honest, there's not going to be a significant voltage drop across the battery earth strap at the current the charger puts out. I would definitely try charging before investing in another battery.

Have you never heard of "if it ain't broke don't fix it?" I also logged in whilst it was "under development" and realised someone must be tinkering . . . . .

I just renewed the VED on our 1.8HE petrol. It was £230. The 1.0L 125ps Ecoboost was £30. On mostly non-urban driving we get about 35mpg on the 1.8 and 45mpg on the Ecoboost.

Certainly putting the 'WD-40' label on it is a recipe for confusion.

In future please use a more descriptive title for your topics.

I thought the same but hesitated because I wondered if WD40 do make a contact cleaner. It turns out they do, see here.

One possible (serious) suggestion is to use these which will allow you to fix the plate with machine screws and no further danger of stripped plastic threads. They're really intended for use in thin metal sheet but I think they should work in plastic.

The way intermittent wipe works is that the relay pulls in for a short time to start the wiper motor running. This closes a switch in the motor so that when the relay drops out the motor continues to run until it gets back to the park position. If there's a break in the circuit from the motor switch back through the normally-closed relay contact the motor will stop as soon as the relay drops out. It sounds as if this is what is happening. This could be burnt contacts in the relay, or it could be the wiring from the tailgate to the body has fractured inside the rubber boot, both of which are common failures.

It's important to understand that the ABS works by pulsing the brakes on and off. It doesn't have the capability for proportional braking. By braking the spinning wheel power is transferred via the diff to the other wheel. I believe some traction control systems combine braking with reducing engine power. I don't know if the Focus system does this.

That's what I was wondering.

Just to clarify I think he means silicone sealant. Silicone grease would be fine and better for the foam seals than lube grease. Vaseline would be a possible alternative.

As Isetta said water wouldn't get into the cylinders from a heater matrix failure. Anyway if that had happened you'd have had coolant in your footwells. I believe one of the problems with the earlier ecoboosts was loss of coolant due to cracking of the manifold and I think that's more likely to be the cause. Other than that if it's lost coolant and overheated the head gasket may have blown.

Me too. The only time it's worked was after I'd had the battery on the charger, but like Isetta I prefer it not working so I haven't bothered trying to reset the BMS.

No, the code is stored somewhere in the car, maybe the BCU I'm not sure, and the radio checks the codes match whenever it's turned on so it's no longer necessary to enter a code after it, or the battery, have been disconnected. This does mean that if a new unit is installed it has to be coded to the car.