Hi, i am wondering if someone can offer me some advice on what may be wrong with our car. We have a 57 plate ford focus st 2.5. We have had it around 18 months and its done 25000 miles. Last week my partner said that the power assisted steering didnt seem to be working properly altho i hadnt noticed it at all. Tonight i have reversed the car into the drive, once id turned the engine of i realised i had left the window down however the car will now not start what so ever! I managed to get the window up without the engine running, however the window moved much slower then normal. My partner has been out since to try to get the car to start but still no joy. He has noticed that the electrics are playing up, if he trys to turn the window down the radio goes off, if he turns the radio up then the lights go off etc etc etc. The dash says ''engine system failure'' and ''acceleration decrease''

anyone any thoughts on what it could be? No idea if it is related but three nights ago someone tried to break into the car and managed to get the passanger window a few inchs but other then that there seems to be no apparent damage???

thanks in advance

 

I think, and don't hold me on this, there is a fault on these that causes those exact symptoms, but i cannot remember what part causes it.

Is the battery ok? if the battery was flat and you pressed a window switch that would zap the power and turn off other features.

 

alternator belt slipping?

 

There was a recall on the powersteering IIRC something to do with a banjo fitting leaking and the pump fluid dripping out over time.

Other symptoms sound like a flat battery.

 

well i had literally just turned the engine off but it would not start again? It has been starting fine all week but now it literally wont even tick over. I dont know a great deal on cars being the typical lady driver lol but if it was the battery would it have died that quickly that within 5 minutes it simply wont even try to start?

Anyway got the father in law coming out this morning to have a quick check over it before i call a garage. Fingers crossed its only the battery!! thank you guys!! x

 

Yep, if the alternator wasn't charging the battery or the battery was fucked, you could of drained the battery conpletely on your last car journey, and once you turned the car off then it would not had enough power to crank over again! Get someone to jump the car and see if it will turn over on another cars battery!

 

Focuses have a fused battery cable which can blow causing no starter operation and stops the battery from charging. Been out to a few of these now.

The symptoms do suggest a flat battery though. Could possibly be an iffy alternator too.

 

As said above, more than likely a flat battery but check alternator too (this is a known problem with STs) and the battery cables as they do fail.

 

My mate had the same problem. Turned out to be the fuse box. He couldnt get his car to stop though. Keys out, engine still running. Not cool.

 

It will most probably the alternator.

Ive had 3 STs and all three of them at precisely between 28-31k made a whiney noise then sometimes the ABS light came on somthimes the ESP light or engine system failure, untill it eventually dies as its used up the battery without the alternator to charge it.

Around 250-300 from stealers iirc or 150 private if it is that.

Dont know if youl have an ammeter laying around you could get it to start via jump leads and then check the voltage, if not just give it enough power to start and leave it on, then watch it die.