Car Dashboard lights

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becs said:
Had a problem with my car coming home from the match. It's a 2008 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi.

Shortly after leaving the car park, the battery light came on. Then when we were stuck in traffic going past the cemetery, the ABS light and pic of a sliding car lights came on for a few minutes and went back off again, even though I wasn't sliding. The battery light remained on. I stopped at the fish shop and the car started fine but the battery light was still on driving home.

Looked in the manual and it helpfully said if the battery light is on, you have a fault so contact a mechanic.

Car is running as normal and there's no strange noises or anything out of the ordinary happening when I drive it.

Anyone want to guess at what the fault is?

Hope it's nothing serious as I'm in my mental busy season for work and can't really afford to lose days because the car is in the garage.
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Let me think on it
 
The focus is fcking shite for electrics. I've got a 53 plate mark 1 1.8 tdi and it's always had problems from glowplug light flashing, airbag light flashing and every now and then the speedo and rev counter will start spiking for no reason.

Apparently it's a common fault with Ford cars
 
RokerLegend said:
The focus is fcking shite for electrics. I've got a 53 plate mark 1 1.8 tdi and it's always had problems from glowplug light flashing, airbag light flashing and every now and then the speedo and rev counter will start spiking for no reason.

Apparently it's a common fault with Ford cars
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Really?, i know the focus suffers from dodgy clocks but electrics in general are far better than some other cars i could mention. Believe it or not but the clocks problem is apparently down to cheap lead free solder being used in the manufacture of the clocks, due to eu regs on solder lead content. Basicly shite solder. An easy repair if your handy with a soldering iron. Theres people on ebay charging £120 for 10 mins work.
 
yamar1 said:
Really?, i know the focus suffers from dodgy clocks but electrics in general are far better than some other cars i could mention. Believe it or not but the clocks problem is apparently down to cheap lead free solder being used in the manufacture of the clocks, due to eu regs on solder lead content. Basicly shite solder. An easy repair if your handy with a soldering iron. Theres people on ebay charging £120 for 10 mins work.
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Just from what I've researched on various focus/car websites trying to get to the bottom of my problems. In the end I gave up and just live with its quirky ways.

The glowplug fault is the most common and most dangerous as the car will sometime just stall as your driving. That's supposed to be down to a faulty sensor rather than electrics but ive read a good few stories about faulty dashboards. I even followed a YouTube vid and took my dashboard out and using a cotton bud applied wd40 on the contact points.

Made no difference mind
 
I've got a 2008 Mondeo and if you hold down the 'Ok' button while putting ignition into position II ( I think !) it will go into diagnostic mode and show you how many volts the battery is outputting

also, TalkFord is a decent resource for all things Ford
 
Ignore it and drive like the wind, it's a money making scam. When the car starts making funny noises just turn the stereo up and drive like the wind. If the stereo packs in due to lack of power don your ipod and drive like the wind.
 
RokerLegend said:
Just from what I've researched on various focus/car websites trying to get to the bottom of my problems. In the end I gave up and just live with its quirky ways.

The glowplug fault is the most common and most dangerous as the car will sometime just stall as your driving. That's supposed to be down to a faulty sensor rather than electrics but ive read a good few stories about faulty dashboards. I even followed a YouTube vid and took my dashboard out and using a cotton bud applied wd40 on the contact points.

Made no difference mind
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electrical contact cleaner is the stuff to use. Condensation gets in and creates shorts on the back of the clocks. Did you see the white residue? That all needs to be spotless then it sometimes cures the problem.
 
becs said:
Had a problem with my car coming home from the match. It's a 2008 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi.

Shortly after leaving the car park, the battery light came on. Then when we were stuck in traffic going past the cemetery, the ABS light and pic of a sliding car lights came on for a few minutes and went back off again, even though I wasn't sliding. The battery light remained on. I stopped at the fish shop and the car started fine but the battery light was still on driving home.

Looked in the manual and it helpfully said if the battery light is on, you have a fault so contact a mechanic.

Car is running as normal and there's no strange noises or anything out of the ordinary happening when I drive it.

Anyone want to guess at what the fault is?

Hope it's nothing serious as I'm in my mental busy season for work and can't really afford to lose days because the car is in the garage.
Click to expand...

Your main priority is to ask yourself why you are harming your health by eating fish and chips. Cut them out. You know it makes sense.
 
gillythedilf said:
Was it Terry's chippy you stopped at?
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Bells at Teal Farm. I've not had them for months and I really fancied some!

I've got home breakdown cover. I think I'll ring them in a bit and get them to come out and look at it and make a diagnosis.

I only bought the car last year and it came with a free 2 year Jencare warranty but I haven't got any paperwork to say what is included. Hopefully it might be covered under that.
 
becs said:
Had a problem with my car coming home from the match. It's a 2008 Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi.

Shortly after leaving the car park, the battery light came on. Then when we were stuck in traffic going past the cemetery, the ABS light and pic of a sliding car lights came on for a few minutes and went back off again, even though I wasn't sliding. The battery light remained on. I stopped at the fish shop and the car started fine but the battery light was still on driving home.

Looked in the manual and it helpfully said if the battery light is on, you have a fault so contact a mechanic.

Car is running as normal and there's no strange noises or anything out of the ordinary happening when I drive it.

Anyone want to guess at what the fault is?

Hope it's nothing serious as I'm in my mental busy season for work and can't really afford to lose days because the car is in the garage.
Click to expand...
It could be a faulty connection from your alternator. In fact I'd put a safe bet on it being that
 
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