Bloody Focus - update

Bloody smart charge electrickery alternators. I've seen a small wire broken that leads to the alternator

Disconnect the battery for at least 20 minutes and try again. That should sort it out. If not check the fault code again and see if it changes there may be another fault in there somewhere.

The joy of ford diagnostics. Ford EML only comes on if the fault is present (and that's only if the ecu sees it as major enough to warrant putting the light on). Have you checked that the alternator is charging properly once the car is running?

Indeed it are. In fact I suspect it's the most powerful motor in the vehicle. The engine is certainly nowt to write home about and propels the car with a lethargy previously only known to Lada and Citreon 2CV owners. As of this afternoon the battery is cranking out 12.53 volts which is a tad low but then it's cold and it wasn't on charge for long the other night but with the engine idling that goes up to 14.8 which is a manly and respectable figure if not even a tad high. Still. I'd rather have a bit too much output from the alternator than a bit too little.

Sadly the warning light is still on and I'm still getting fault code 9318 for low battery voltage so I'm about to go and chop a branch off one of my conifers and thrash the bastard to within an inch of its life if it doesn't start behaving. If you see a report in the news about a Buckinghamshire man arrested and sectioned under the mental health act for assaulting his car you'll know who it is.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

It's a long shot but we had a ex-police Senator 24v which was running rough, ECU said low battery voltage but it was fine, we even slapped a new battery on it! After several months we changed the fuel pump relay (also switched the lambda sensor heaters I think). Anyway this fixed it completely! Ran like a dream and engine light went out. If there is a relay for the fuel pump or one which runs the ECU it might be worth swapping it out if you have tried everything else!

Keep well,

Will

I've just done a google search on that code, and it turns out to translate to B1318. Now this means that it's a Body related Manufature specific code

318. This means that code has nowt to do with the engine, and is more likely to be a fault with the Instrument Cluster, but as it seems to be working, I would ignore that code. You are looking for a fault code that starts with a P, as they relate to the engine. If it's a P0xxx code, then it's emmisions related (ie. EOBD) If it's a P1xxx code, then it's non emmisions related.(ie. non-EOBD)

I agree it translates to B1318 but according to both the Ford Focus owner forum and the Ford Focus Hacks database it's low battery voltage.

9318 is listed at the bottom of the table in the supplementary DTC codes section.

What I should have done before charging the battery was measure the voltage to see just how low it had dropped. Now it's too late to know if it really was low or not. The car certainly started and ran fine but it had been doing a lot of short journeys so a flattish battery wouldn't surprise me. I'm a bit wary about disconnecting the battery to try and reset the warning light because the ECU might go into learn mode and I'll certainly have to reprogramme the radio but if there's no other way to reset things I might give it a go.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

Well I filled the beast up with petrol today and got two shocks. I knew the first was coming because I get about 36mpg and 400 miles to a tank on a run and this time I was close to empty after 200 miles. In fact it took 48 litres and 210 miles since the previous fill giving me a shameful 19.9 mpg for the tank. That's what 1/2 mile trips to Budgens in winter with the engine stone cold do for you. I'm pretty sure that's the worst fuel consumption I've had from any vehicle in 30 years of driving. It was probably even worse than that because I'm sure I could have squeezed a couple more litres in but I called it a day when the nozzle clicked off for the first time instead of brimming it like I usually do so as not to make the mpg look any worse. If I'd got 50 litres in there it would be 19.1 mpg which is even more pathetic.

The really sad bit is this though. Looking through my records the last time I filled it up was on the 24th of September. I've done 210 miles in just under 4 months. I used to make a fairly regular 15 mile round trip to collect engine parts from one of my suppliers but since the summer I've been dealing with someone else who delivers to me in his van so even those little trips are no longer necessary.

What's a bit more interesting is the comparison between the Focus and the Mondeo which preceded it. Both 2 litre Zetec engines and near as dammit the same car weight. They both get about the same mpg on a run (36/37 mpg) but the Mondeo never dropped below 26 mpg on the short trips to Budgens and the Focus struggles to beat 23mpg on anything under about a 5 mile trip. I can only assume the Focus runs a much richer mixture when it's cold due to a different management system. Even more puzzling is the Mondeo had a sticky thermostat (like nearly every Mondeo ever made) so it rarely got up to proper temperature and the Focus temp needle is up to normal within a mile. In fact it's the fastest car to warm up I've ever had but still gives me the worst fuel consumption of any car I've ever had.

The irony is that emissions regs get tighter year by year and the catalytic converters and other crap we are forced to pay for on modern cars are all designed to reduce pollutants but at great expense to the car owner. However, the mpg, which after all is surely the most important part of emissions and general environmental friendliness never seems to improve. Cars are on average 25% heavier than they were 20 years ago because of airbags, sound deadening and impact protection structures and all that extra weight uses more fuel to move it about. One of the best cars I ever had for mpg was the Metro I owned in the late 80s. It always beat 45mpg when it was standard and usually got 40 mpg even when I fitted a 1380 engine with big valve head, hairy cam and 85 bhp at the wheels. Why? because it was light, simple and had a single HIF SU carb with a manual choke which was about the best device for getting good mpg ever invented.

I could tweak the choke position to keep it just running while it warmed up on the leanest mixture possible. On the Focus I don't have any control over a damn thing and I'm sure it would still run fine when it's cold if I could lean it off by 10 or 20 percent.

I have a theory. If you properly account for all the energy and materials used in not only the manufacture of modern cars but also the R&D which has gone into developing catalytic converters, airbags and management systems over the years then we are possibly doing more harm to the environment with our supposedly efficient and environmentally friendly cars than we were in the past with lighter, simpler and supposedly more polluting ones. I don't deny that modern cars are nicer to drive, handle better, are safer in crashes, more ergonomic inside and have many more toys than cars of old but they are heavier, slower and a bitch to fix if anything goes wrong.

What I want is to keep the modern suspension systems, antilock brakes and nice interiors and ditch the ridiculously complex ecu's, cats and all the other emissions crap and 25% of the weight. Fuel systems can be one of two mandated types. Bosch L injection or HIF SU carb. Both are relatively simple to fit and fix and both give excellent mpg. Airbags are out as are side impact protection systems and all the other crap that increases weight in the attempt to keep bad drivers alive when they hit someone else. To replace it we bring in better driving tuition and stricter driving tests. Turning without indicating will be a capital offence punishable by beheading and not spotting a motorbike and pulling out in front of it loses you a testicle or ovary per offence.

SUV's are banned unless you have more than 4 children and 4x4's are banned unless you can prove you go off roading on a regular basis. Cars are no longer taxed on engine size but weight. Anything under a ton is free. Anything over 2 tons is banned unless you carry goods. Road fund license is scrapped and the cost added to petrol tax. SORN is scrapped and the people who invented it are deported to Australia.

Stealing a car means you go to jail. It doesn't matter how old you are and no more of this bollocks about kids getting a slap on the wrist and then being let out to steal again and again. If you're old enough to do the crime you're old enough to do the time. Speed cameras are out and more police traffic cars are in. All national speed limits are revoked. You take a test which determines you are capable of driving a car safely and that gives you the right to decide how fast you can safely go. If you have an accident and it's your own fault you go to jail though.

If you want a car license you have to drive a motorbike for a year. It'll teach you about road surfaces, manhole covers, diesel spills, wet leaves and many other things which car drivers have no clue about. If you die during that year then tough - that's Darwinian natural selection in action. It improves the gene pool and is generally good for the human race.

I think I'm having a teensy weensy rant. I spotted the fact that I was about

3/4 of the way through this but decided to carry on anyway. I still reckon that if I ran for Prime Minister most drivers would vote for me though.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

Just ever so slightly.

Disconnecting the battery on a ford doesn't cause the ecu to have to re-learn anything. Ford have yet to discover the self-learning ECU (thankfully!!). Personally it sounds as if there is something wrong with the engine management system, and would be more inclined to find some diagnostic equipment to plug in. I have never seen the engine management light come on because the battery has been flat. As far as I've seen, as long as there's been enough life in the battery to start the car, it'll run fine.

It has on the last 3 I've owned...

Agreed.

Chris

Hmm. I've got two cars of similar size and performance - both autos. The SD1 EFI Rover just about makes 30 mpg on the motorway. And it's rather better than the carb equivalent. My 7 year old BMW 528 manages 35mpg under the same conditions. Of course it has a 5 speed auto, therefore a much taller top gear. But it's also much better in town. I'm getting almost 15 mpg on my short journey to work. ;-(

Since Escorts were notorious for fuse box problems, wonder if the Focus has carried on where they left off?

My first check would be to measure the voltage drop between battery and ECU - there's bound to be a relay or fuse etc in the feed.

I've had two Senator 12v's identical engines, one 1988 vintage, with the L-Jetronic 'no-computer' electronic injection and seperate ignition system, the other one around (1991 model I think) with the a Motronic computer + ignition + lambda sensor + 2 cats. I will leave it up to the reader to determine which (by far) had the better throttle response and mpg. Let's just say I still have the 1988 one!

Early cat systems certainly were inefficient. But things have moved on since then.

Dave,

It would seem you have an underlying problem with either the alternator, ECU or power / earth feeds to it- probably more likely to be the earth.

The alternators output is controlled directly by the ECU and although not out of spec at 14.8v is alittle high. Its perfectly likely that the ECU isnt "seeing" this 14.8v and is increasing alternator output voltage to try to get sufficient volts.

Are you reading battery voltage at the battery with a DVM or off the dash readout? If the former- see what the dash figure is, as this is the figure the ECU is seeing.

Tim..

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the info. I'm reading battery voltage on the DMM. I wasn't aware I could get a reading off the dash. I've just gone out and tried cycling through all the test options but there are so many of them and I don't know how many presses to get voltage. More Googling in order. One display had F237 and kept flickering between that and F235 which looked a bit like the flickering DMM reading you get off a battery. Perhaps it means 12.37 volts. The one following it was L254 if that means anything.

I do however have working bulbs in the glow plug warning light and overdrive-off warning light whish is comforting to know in my manual petrol model. Strangely though the airbag warning light doesn't light up on the bulb test but does when the ignition is switched on. I think a Ford where everything worked perfectly would be cause for concern though.

How about I just check and clean the ECU earth if you'd be kind enough to tell me where it is.

-- Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

19 mpg jeez borrow a petrol Range Rover for a week and find out what fuel consumption really means in rush hour traffic you might see double figures but I really doubt it Derek (missing his Rangey)

As you obviously can't be bothered to take the second or two to quote what you are replying to I doubt if anyone has a clue what you are on about. Try learning some usenet etiquette please.