Misc

I recently bought an '03 focus 4 door with the 2.3l engine and a five speed it's a fun drive. The car is great, but it has a couple quirks that I'd like to get rid of.

The LX model has no tach, which is fine, but it does have this annoying arrow telling you to upshift periodically. Anyone else disable this? I'm looking at three screws to undo the instrument panel and snip it, but I wondered if there is an easier way. Also the turn signal noise is grating, I'd like to cut that too, but I'm not sure where it's coming from.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Blakistone
Loading thread data ...

The simplest way is a piece of black electrical tape over the light, but the best fix is to remove the instrument panel and pull the bulb. It's not hard if you have the right tools. Just take your time and check for all the screws and clips. I lost one of the metal clips down into the column somewhere, so a cloth under the panel would be a wise move. Also a good precaution to disconnect the battery to avoid shorts.

Reply to
Dave Gower

Boy are they still fitting that dumb thing? If you don't have cruise control you can effectively disable it very simply by removing a switch on the clutch pedal. Otherwise you'll have to remove the bulb. Check here for information on both procedures:

formatting link

There is an interesting story behind this. The Focus doesn't have a turn signal relay. All functions in the car requiring a time interval, such as the turn signals, wipers, interior light etc, are controlled by a small computer called the "central timer module". As a result there is no turn signal relay to make the familiar "tick tick tick" noise when you are indicating left or right.

Ford figured out that people would freak if the car didn't make some kind of noise when they used the turn signals, so they put a small piezo-electric "clicker" into the turn signal stalk itself. In my 2000 Focus, this is fairly quiet and innocuous. However, I understand that in 2002 (or so) Ford decided it wasn't loud enough and increased the volume considerably, to the point where many people find it annoying.

The simplest way to reduce the noise is to add a small piece of electrical tape over the sounder. It is located on the turn signal stalk, where it attaches to the steering column. You can follow the first few steps of the write-up I produced on replacing the wiper stalk to remove the turn signal stalk:

formatting link
...once you get the turn signal stalk out I think the sounder will be quite obvious.

Let us know how you get on!

Jon

Reply to
Jon Sturgeon

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.