hey peeps!

T reg mondy st24

All my lights, interior & exterior have suddenly started flickering quite heavily but only when engine is running??? with the ignition on and engine off they hardly flicker at all??? any ideas? also if related to it, on accelerating it feels a tad lumpy/hesitant???

getting annoyed with this car now as it one thing after another

 

possibly alternator on its way out or maybe a bad earth, check the voltage on batt when running with a volt meter should be close to or slightly above 14 volts

 

ok cheers, ill give that a check in the morning, i have noticed that on tickover when there flickering, if you give it some revs 4-5k ish the flickerings not as bad an almost stops, soon as revs die down to tickover (which sometimes takes AAAAAAAGGGGGGEEEESSSSS) the flickering gets bad again

 

Alternator on its way out i'd say!

 

the whole cars on its way out lmfao!!

clutch drags every now an then, biting point is right at the top, tickover speed drops to 600 and sometimes stools, rear wheel bearing squeeks a good'en, disc on same wheel rattles when driving even tho wheels done up tight, on accelerating and cornering the car is is really jumpy! think it needs a complete overhaul!!!

 

Sounds to me like it needs a one way trip to the scrappers

 

it will rattle because of the wheel bearing mate the play will be effectivley causing the disc to knock the pads back in the caliper and causing them to rattle! very unsafe imo as it will cause excess travel on the brake pedal and could also result in the bearing eventually locking up at speed!

 

take the ISCV off, its two bolts, its at the back, right hand side of the upper inlet manifold, clean it out with brake fluid, that will sort your tickover problem out. i did mine last week, be carefull with the pipe that goes to the EGR valve though, its rite next to the ISCV, and there very brittle, its a green plastic pipe.

 

yeah i know mate, been driving like a learner last couple of days (no offence to learners)
its only got worse yesterday an today especially and now the lights playing up on top of that, i think thats the last trip the mondy does till she better! got 2 young girls an a prenant partner so not even worth thinking about it!!

now i think about it, the rear drivers wheel thats got the rattly disc an dodgy bearing is also the same wheel that the tire keeps going down on!! had the valve changed last week but didnt work, both rear tires are near to new an the guy at garage said there was no punctures an that it could be the inner part of the rim damaged??? just seems strange that its all on that rear corner!!

back to the lights tho, ill check the earth lead/s tomorrow an check the voltage, other than that im clueless! lol

 

right, is the big belt on the left side of the engine for the alternator/power steering????

the tensioner thats in the middle/ish of this belt is wobbling slightly and making a whiring sort of sound at the same time, and also in key with that woble and whiring ive noticed that the lights are flashing in time with it??? that make sense????? lol

done the multimeter reading an with only the engine running it was just over 14, sometimes tipped 15 but never settled, with engine off it slowly went down to just under 13. any ideas?

 

anyone about? really getting frustrate with the little things that are wrong with this! i want to like this car but so far from day one its given nothing but grief
any help gratefully received

 

Is all the lights flickering or is it brake warning lights that are doing it?

 

every single light possible mate! sidelight/headlights, rear lights, number plate lights, every interior light including dash lights, and i had to laugh thismorning but as i was using the electric pump to pump the rear tire up, the noise from the pump was whiring to, as if it was getting more power then less power then more power and so on! the multimeter reading goes from 14-15, back down to 14 back to 15 etc etc etc

 

Oh ok um I think u need to get it a auto electrician and let them check the shit out of it

It has to be a bad earth somewhere

 

i think thats needed to lol! do you know if the alternator belt tensioner should rock back an forward at all?

 

Not a easy job doing a alternator on those.

 

Na shouldn't move at all

 

hmmm well it defo rocks! are you on facebook at all? theres a vid on there of it

 

Na I'm not mate get a new and go from there boss

 

ok dude, ill give it a go!! as for the ISCV can i use wd40 to give it a clean out or does it have to be brake fluid?

 

Mate use brake cleaner

 

if it is the alternator (sounds like it is)
then good luck I changed one on my v6 mondeo and it was an horrific job, ended up taking the os driveshaft out for access!
you also need 4 long extensions on the socket to reach the top mounting bolt from the ns wheelarch!!
took me 7 hours to change the alternator!

steve

 

sounds like fun! i actually cant wait............................ NOT!!! lol

i not long done a gearbox & clutch change on my previous car (rover 25) and the driveshafts were a complete B1tch!!!

im just about to go an undo every earth point an give it all a good clean an see if that helps, then to source a cheap alternator,belt,tensioner pullies etc! determined not to get beaten by this, i just want to drive it and enjoy it!

 

i had a similiar problem and had the alternator changed, i also needed the aux pulley changing as the bearing was knackered. i had the belt tensioner done at the same time and the car drives the best it has for a long time

Matthew

 

im going to change it all now, belt looks a bit split in places so needs doing before it snaps, so even if it dont cure the problem at least i know its done!

on a funny note: noticed tonight that when the engines running an the lights are flickering, if i turn the rear demister or heated front screen, or traction control etc on the flickering STOPS!!! even when i do up any of the electric windows or even operate the electric seat position it stops!! so drove home tonight with traction control on the whole way and had no flickering at all lmfao! but to me that would suggest an earth problem no????

 

Brake cleaner pal. I don't think brake fluid will do it many favours at all!! WD might do, but brake cleaner is more powerful ad evaporates away to nothing. You can get an aerosol of it for a couple of squid.

 

Alan,

They are prone to this and can either be the altenator OR could be the wiring between the altenator and the battery. Ford actually have a revised wiring loom for this issue if it is needed and it costs less than an alternator does. Still a pain to do but a quicker and cheaper.

Jeff

 

When you say traction control on all the way you mean that you didnt turn it off when you started the car. The default for the traction control is to be unless you switch it off by pressing the button under the radio. This then lights and lthere is a warning light in the dash cluster that then warns you traction control is off.

I will call you later about the thrrottle hang fix.

Jeff

 

Silver scott, i got some carb cleaner today in an aerosol and cleaned everything with that, and done the iscv with it, looks brand new again, also cleaned the throttle body an it was coated in black sludge!!! put a new air filter in, and changed the fuel filter just for the sake of knowing its been done, and im glad to say that it now ticks over pretty good, no hunting, no cutting out at junctions, also tightened some slack in the throttle cable, its so much smoother an more responsive!! defo proof that this car needs some tlc! its so not been looked after the poor thing!

ah thanks for that Jeff, right, when i start the engine, the traction control light appears on the dash for a moment, then goes off, and the switch under radio is UNLIT! even when pushing the switch to make the switch light up, nothing appears on the dash? is that right????

oh yeah and regarding the throttle hang, i may have fixed it! you wont believe how but it has stopped it so far! all these little things have made the power feel so much better an made it run so smooth im amazed!! also have moved the imrc from top of the engine and located it in a temp position near the battery..

 

oh and as for the flickering lights, i just had a look at the earth strap under the battery tray and the end of it is beyond rusty, its turned a greeny blue color and the bolt is as rusty as you can imagine! wouldnt undo so cleaned it up a bit but am going to renew it tomorrow with some nice thick ground cable out my old sub/amp wiring kit! see for laughs if that helps

 

Glad thats sorted anyway pal! Usually the way, loads of little things that get put off along the lines of 'ill do it at some point' or 'ill do it when i've got five minutes on a nice day' and they all add up to a load of mither! I have been told its only a temporary thing cleaning the Idle Control Valve, but to be honest i cleaned it out on me old Esquirt and it were bob on after that.

 

yeah defo!! looking over th car you can see thats happened a lot over the years lol!!! soon be up to scratch if i have my way lol! its a little bit juddery on acceleration still but nowhere near as bad so can put up with it for now while i get the flickering problem sorted!

just wondering if anyone knows..... with the flickering, if its an electrical fault of some kind or even if it is the alternator, would a diagnostics/fault findinf machine pick it up? so im gauranteed to sort the problem and not end up changing things an it have no afect?

 

The reader will only pick up faults logged in the ECU. When my altenator went there were no faults logged at all.