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Got a puzzling problem with my car: Ford Focus Diesel '02 if anyone can help, I'm no mechanic but I've got freinds who are car savvy and are a little stumped.
Basically about 6 weeks ago my car wouldn't start in the morning-flat battery, freind came down and ran tests on it, altenator was charging fine, he thought it was battery or smart system on car.
I bought a battery and it ran well for a month, now it's dead again. Recharged battery at home yesterday and now it won't start with a full battery?
Spoke to my mate who said it could be the main earth? A lad at work said could be an eath to the starter motor, altenator?
Help!
1.8 tddi?
Bad earth would have it konking out whilst moving (Least it did on my escort van with the 1.8 td engine)
I'd suspect a constant drain somewhere - lamp in glovebox/boot/sidelights (does your lights on warning noise work?)
Your new battery could be borked from the total drain?
not a lot of help, sorry.
re-do the earths. what is the current symptoms with not starting? Does the dash light up, starter motor turn etc?
Yes mate.
My brother suggested a drain, possibly the boot light. Going to check it out tomorrow if possible, the battery was fully charged though.
Dash lit up like a christmas tree this morning, then starter motor idled in that horribly moany way and then nothing. Not the click of a dead battery.
really does sound like the wiring. give the wires next to the crimps a flex and see if they fall apart (like the rest of a ford) and if the wire is sound then undo the mounting point and clean it up with a wire brush and refit.
Check all of them and both ends - main earth, starter and alternator. Sounds like the starter wiring tbh though.
Crimps?
I'll have a butchers tomorrow at those.
What battery did you fit? With the smart charging system a calcium battery is required as its charged hard then the alternator cuts charge to save fuel. I think a cheap battery will can be killed in a few weeks.
I had cold starting problems with one of these, had loads of parts changed by so called experts. Problem was a piece of metal had found its way into starter motor and was shorting, draining current and sending the ecu into a frenzy. Only found out after 6 years when the starter motor failed and I opened it up.
Easy way to identify earth problems is to get a set of jump leads and use them to create a temporary earth. Use one lead to connect earth to a chassis earth point, if no improvement move the lead from chassis and clamp to engine block.
A multimeter will often show good earth continuity but under a heavy load such as starting a poorly terminated earth will have a high resistance.
Is the battery definitely charged? If unsure, it should read about 12.7v. 12.4v is 50% discharged.