2002 Focus Electrical Ghost

[Master]

Just wondering if one of you Ford Gurus might have an opinon on why the speedo keeps going dead on the Focus. Ford says unless it does it in front of them they can't diagnose it. At random, though, it comes and goes. When it comes back it cycles the locks and adjusts the radio volume so to me it sounds more like the whole electrical control module and not just the speedo. Seems obvious that the whole system is going on the blink.
Any thoughts? Again, Ford said that without it showing a code (would it, though, really) or doing it in front of them then there is nothing they can do. I find that really hard to believe.
Love to hear from you guys, with thanks in advance.

[chader]

have them do an AVR test(charging and battery).I know it souinds funny but I have seen it b4 on the same car!!

[Master]

Funny thing is that they did exactly that (to the tune of $40). Jo had had her car to another dealer for regular service and they had said her alt was on the way out. So, she had Ford check it and they said it was fine. I do not disbelieve your at all, in fact. I'd heard of that, too and recall it happening in the Contour when its alternator went. In this case, though, her speedo jumps back to life and works 90%, going out only intermittantly.
whereas the Contour with the bad alt got worse all the time till everything just totally died.
Thoughts?

[chader]

I'd still bet on the alt.It is likely that it would show to work fine when the faults were not present.It is *****ty to have to take a guess at a fix but if you are not wanting to be Found on road dead,you make have to start guessing.Besides a alt is probly cheaper then a tow or the hourly shop rate to tell you what you can see?..jmo

[ctrlraven]

2000 to 2003 had a ton of recalls and TSBs. You might want to check into all of them if they haven't been corrected.

My friend had a 2002 Focus 4dr.....needless to say she doesn't anymore since the fuel pump shorted out, caught fire and burned to the ground. I had a 2001 ZX3 (2nd owner) and had no problems with it at all since all the stuff was taken care of before I got it lol.

[larryo340]

Any thoughts? Again, Ford said that without it showing a code (would it, though, really) or doing it in front of them then there is nothing they can do. I find that really hard to believe.
Love to hear from you guys, with thanks in advance.

I don't know what's wrong with your car, but an intermitant electrical problem is extremely hard to pinpoint unless it occurs when being looked at. This makes them very difficult to find so they are not feeding you a line of B.S. I'm sure there is a poor connection somewhere, could be supply or ground it's just finding it that could take awhile.

It would help them if you could give them more information. Try to be more aware of where, when, how fast, bumps in road?, headlights on or off, does any other gauge act eraticly, does the clock reset, did you have any work done on the car recently, did you turn on any accessory, and so on.......

[rayjay]

Go to the main Focus enthusist site, focaljet.com and do a search. My guess is you'll find it there. If not through a search, join and ask. Tons of info there. We had enough members there that we were able to force a recall on the bad fuel pumps Ford installed on 00-01 Foci.

[Master]

We did give them pretty detailed descriptions of the problem. I know if it were one of our pieces of gear (we fix HVAC, most of which are now run by computers, much like cars), we would have a process to follow to trouble shoot the problem. In looking through the Ford manuals, there are very few problems that don't have detailed troubleshooting procedures and since this is likely not the first Tempo of the millions sold to experience this problem, there is likely a TSB on exactly this problem sitting out there somewhere.
On the bright side, they did agree to keep the car and drive it for a few days to see if it would act up on them.
FYI: It seems quite random as to when it comes and goes with an only slightly greater bias towards being dead on start-up and springing to life a few minutes into the drive. Apart from that, it occurs pretty randomly.

[ctrlraven]

Try another dealership?

[grampaws]

Check electric connections. Loose or corroded grounds under the dash.
firewall and engine toframe-something is loose -Loose main power or grounds can do weird stuff without setting codes.

[Vortex]

Dont know about electrical problems but I spent the better part of Friday helping my brother find a replacement battery for his 2007 Focus. What a pain in the azz. Here are the places in west San Antonio you cannot get that battery: Wal-Mart, NAPA, OReilly, Pep Boys. At Auto Zone the guy came out and measured the damn thing and we made one fit. Stuff like that gets me mad.

[Master]

The car did it for them the very next day and it turned out to be a bad speed sensor. This does not explain the other problem, which is the radio turning on and off (not the volume up and down, but on and off) so it will doubtless be going back for that before long. Same goes for the heated seat. They told us it was fin when they checked it, but when I sat in the car, the problem was exactly as it had been when we dropped it off. The heated seat button is on, and stays on as does the seat heater. Obviously it was never even checked. God I hate lip service! So, back again for that, too.
They love this stuff I think because of the $100 deductible everytime you walk through the door. They won't be getting it for this one, though, I can tell you that!
Thanks for the tips to everyone. Most appreciated!