mjt

You have random s*x with the lads??

If only!

They must be using Ford engineers to write their software.

On the full climate control if you push the demist button it should set the vents to screen, fan and temperature to max and turn on both front and rear heated screens and the AC. On our Mk3 Titanium it clears a misty screen within a few seconds. If there's frost on the screen it takes a fair bit longer, obviously, but still starts to clear within 5 minutes or so I'd say.

That's likely caused by the plastic housing deflecting the airflow. Since the engine speed changes and the headlights dim there must be power going through the actual screen elements. The relay wouldn't take nearly enough power to do that.

I'm quite keen to move to electric. This is partly because the number of driving years I have left is rapidly reducing so I can't afford to wait to see which way the technology develops and partly because my Mk3 EcoBoost is due for a very expensive wet belt change in two years. It seems to me that the measures being taken to reduce the environmental impact of internal combustion are making it much more expensive to run, much more complex and consequently much less reliable. In the medium term it looks as if battery electrics are going to be the way to go. I happened across this BBC Click item on EVs the other night when I was having trouble sleeping. It's an interesting watch. For someone in my position, where the car may sit for several weeks without being used and journeys are rarely more than a 60-100-mile round trip an EV would seem to be ideal. I imagine servicing costs will be drastically reduced as no need for oil, filter and air filter changes, just cabin filter occasionally. Also fewer consumables such as exhaust systems. For the type of use it would get overnight charging at home would be sufficient and we would just keep our older Mk2.5 1.8 for longer trips such as holidays. so what's not to like? I'm also keen to experience the off-the-line torque you can get with an electric

I would be very surprised if the pins are indeed burnt unless you were using a gas torch on them. They're very likely to be tinned steel and what often happens is that while trying to re-solder the very thin tin surface can be rubbed through and the solder will then not stick to the steel. I think if you were to send the IC to a specialist repairer they might well be able to resolder it. It may require the careful application of an acid flux to allow the solder to tin the steel pins. Any remaining flux would then need to be thoroughly cleaned off to avoid future corrosion. If I were tackling a job like that I would probably use solder wick and/or a solder sucker to remove the affected device from the board, apply the flux and re-tin the pins then clean up before reassembling. Even if the pins are brass you couldn't burn through them with an ordinary soldering iron.

I agree, the one under the 3 is cracked and so are the two to the left of it.

Reading this article suggests it might have been better to replace the lower sensor. It's an interesting read which you might want to share with your garage.

How do you control it with a broken light?

What cretin thought that starting the engine under either of these condtions would be a good idea. Morons!!! Surely anyone with a grain of common sense would want to prevent the engine from restarting in those situations - wouldn't they?

If it's an immobiliser problem it won't be the fob battery as that's only for the central locking and alarm. The immobiliser system uses a passive chip in the fob.

If you're not bothered about having the stop/start function working I wouldn't worry too much. The battery may not meet the state of charge required by the system but it will probably carry on perfectly fine for years yet. Stop/start didn't work on our Mk3 when we bought it nearly 5 years ago and I didn't need to renew the battery until a few weeks ago by which time it was around 8 years old. Stop/start works with the new battery, for now at least, but I'd be perfectly happy if it stopped working again. Not having it working saves a lot of wear on your starter motor.

At least on the Mk1 the boot can be opened with the key. While investigating the wiring in the rubber trunking between the body and hatch it's worth checking the rear washer tubing because that will almost certainly have hardened and become brittle.

That's what I thought he meant.