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Ford focus help..

Hi I was hoping for some help with my ford focus 2009. I've been having a few problems which I will list below. They are intermittent which is why I haven't rushed to fix but I can't rely on my car now.

It randomly immobilizes itself it can drive fine then I lock and leave it and then it won't start. It can non start for hours or days then just restarts. My dad thinks it's when people have been in and out of other doors and the boot. When I bought the car I wasn't given the main key I have a spare key. Silly yes I know but I'm a woman and a key seems like a key.

It also randomly comes up with engine malfuction lights and all the warning lights come on. The car then goes into reduced acceleration mode and the car won't let me accelerate properly. This doesn't usually last long once turned off and on it goes again.

I've done some reading and thinking is it the cluster? I don't have money to pay a garage to root around finding the root cause of the problem as the car could be fine whilst they have it.

I have noticed sometimes when I turn on my lights there is a delay on them coming on and same with my dash lights. Also when the car goes into reduced acceleration the speed pedometer arm is swinging all over even though my speed obviously isn't. Hope this makes sense I'm not great with cars.

I would be grateful for any advice

Reply to
Lolly1121
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How old is the battery and what sort of weekly mileage do you do? While it may have genuine faults, modern cars can also throw suprious codes if the battery is weak.

I would suggest asking around family/friends/person down the pub etc to see if anyone has an Elm and a smartphone who could read any stored codes for you...

Reply to
Lee

No concrete suggestions, I'm afraid, but when my old Fiesta started to show a lot of strange behaviour that all seemed in some way 'electrical', it was (as the other poster Lee may be suggesting) all caused by a battery that would no longer hold charge. See if someone is prepared to swap with you, if you can't afford to replace it just for testing purposes. Or see if someone has one of those smart chargers that can detect a battery that isn't taking enough charge. You may know someone with a battery drop tester, but I think fewer people have those.

Of course, it could be all sorts of things, but this is the first, and easiest, thing I'd try.

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

Halfords will test your battery free of charge. They have a gizmo which prints out a little report (assuming it has paper in it ;-)) They were happy to check a couple of leisure batteries for me just before I trade in my motorhome- I wanted to be sure I left a good on in it (unfortunately both were duff so I had to buy a new one to pop in). There was no pressure to buy from them.

Reply to
Brian Reay

Very good to know. Thanks!

Reply to
Dan S. MacAbre

I suspect it is quite a common service. I had to get a new number plate made for my trailer (to match the new MH) and popped into a small local spares shop. Some was having a battery tested and it seemed to be free. I suppose it is an easy way to generate some good will and maybe get a sale- if the battery is bad most people will just buy a new on the spot, especially for a car- a leisure battery is less critical/urgent.

Reply to
Brian Reay

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