At my wits end with issue!!!

[Riksta]

I've posted this issue up before and not really got much help, thought I would try again anyway see if anyone has ANY idea whatsoever what could be causing this.

Its been back under warranty a couple of times, seemed to have come good, then again - previously it did it in hot weather, today's the first decent hot day we've seen in months and whammo, issue pops straight back up again.

Basically - these are the symptoms exactly as I've noted them - when it comes good again all but one of the symptoms disappear.
- Hot day
- Start car
- Odo screen displays "Power Steering Failure"
- Power steering does not work (very heavy non power assisted)
- ABS Light stays on
- Park brake light stays on (even when park brake is off)
- Engine light stays on
- Speedo does not register any speed (sits on zero)
- Windscreen jets will not squirt (front wipers will work)
- Rear wiper will not do a full sweep and return. Works about a third of this, then stops - only way to get it going is to stop/start the rear wiper - at which point it will only do another third and so on.

Now - when it comes good - it comes good, but the engine light stays on for quite a while afterwards.

This list is all I have noticed, there may be other things behind the scenes I haven't noticed yet - but everything else like power windows & the wireless all seem fine.

I've called the RAA in the past on it, they're at a loss to explain it, the dealer (Holden dealer I bought it from) can't figure it out and send it off to Ford dealers - who replaced the power steering pump because all they would listen to (despite me telling them all the above) was the fact power steering was failing.

It normally comes good after 15-20 minutes of running the car, but when I'm trying to get home from work I don't want to sit and wait for it to come good (I drove it home tonight and it came good after about 15 minutes into the journey).

Apparently "there's nothing wrong with my car" as no dealer can seem to replicate this fault, but in all seriousness I'm about to hand the car back and basically say I don't care if it has to go back to South Africa to get fixed, JUST FIX IT.

Does anybody have any ideas or insight as to what it might be so I can tell them a possible cause when I get to take it in (won't be for just over a week unfortunately) - although even if I do give them a possible cause they'll probably ignore me because they know best.

Any help appreciated.

[Russ]

Really only clutching at straws here mate but as it's obviously an intermittent issue I would be inclined to think it's associated with the PCM. For so many different components of the system to be playing up at the same time it must be to do with the electrics and as the PCM basically controls everything in the car that needs power to make it function correctly (including the power steering) that's where I'd be looking

I have heard also that a faulty PCM won't always throw error codes when run on diagnostics either, not unless it starts doing while it's being tested :(

[Riksta]

Thanks Russ. I was thinking ECU or something computer related. The thing that gets me is it ONLY does it on hot days. I remember when it was last doing it the days were all 35 degrees plus, and today was really warm and all of a sudden an issue that disappeared during the colder months has popped up again.

So will keep PCM in mind to tell them.

[gtfpv]

SOUNDS LIKE A BCM FAULT thats ( Body Control Module) thia controls things like your speedo windscreen wipers blinkers ABS etc . and they can have intermittant faults . eventually it will give up the ghost . the power steering though has nothing to do with it < but i could be wrong about that .
i'm surprised FORD havent got an idea of this .

[falconhell74]

yep sounds like dry solder joints in pcm as the solder will heat & expand quicker than the metal posts it is holding in & thus loosing contact, then the posts heat up & regain contact . just a thought.

[kevino]

My car was doing the same thing -putting up messages like yours.

Mechanic did various checks and suggested new battery.

All issues disappeared!

[rand0mn00b]

interesting... I would agree with the above message that suggests it could be dry solder joints - this is common to electronics in general

another issue if I remember correctly someone else had with their Focus was the car was not grounded/earthed properly - i think an auto electrician may be able to assist

[jrfttf]

times x many time it been said, intermittent fault in the computer or even a long shot at a **** earth wire somewhere!

Seen a car which had issues, turns out when the car was made they managed put a screw through a wire and over the time it rubbed through, when it did rub through it would touch and cause all sorts of ****! I know its a long shot but hopefully you get it sorted!

[DZFord]

I would say it sounds electrical as well. I was having similar, intermittent warning lights / error messages during the period leading up to when my battery failed. These lights only came on during startup. The reason you get the power steering failure is because the Focus has electronically assisted power steering. No electrical supply = no power steering.

So hopefully, not the ECU and something that a new battery / auto-electrician may fix.

[tex]

Alternator. / battery / electrical.

I reckon there's an intermittent current supply variance to the computer.

[Franco Cozzo]

Take off the connectors on the control moduels and re-seat them, and check where they earth to.

[Riksta]

Thanks for all the info guys.

As for earthing - the wire that comes off the battery and attaches via a bolt to the body to earth was a bit loose once - that was one of the first times the RAA came out, checked all that, even took a nick of paint off the metal so it would make better contact. Seemed to fix it until the next night I had to leave work.

Would heat affect the battery and electrics much other than solder joints? Because in all seriousness, it is ONLY when its a hot day and the car's been sitting in the carpark for the day that it seems to happen.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by Riksta

Thanks for all the info guys.

As for earthing - the wire that comes off the battery and attaches via a bolt to the body to earth was a bit loose once - that was one of the first times the RAA came out, checked all that, even took a nick of paint off the metal so it would make better contact. Seemed to fix it until the next night I had to leave work.

Would heat affect the battery and electrics much other than solder joints? Because in all seriousness, it is ONLY when its a hot day and the car's been sitting in the carpark for the day that it seems to happen.

Batteries can be a bit touch and go mate, they may test OK with a meter but if they have a cell on the way out it's still possible for it to have intermittent problems. If it's the original battery the first step I would take would be to look for a replacement. The way the weather has been can affect them as well, hot one minute cold the next, make sure you go for a good heavy duty one and be sure it has the correct cold cranking ampage etc.... If the issue still remains then at least you know the battery is not the cause and shouldn't give you any trouble in the near future either