Unusual Electrical Faults....

[mancini602]

Hi, I have a '02 Galaxy that seems to have gone completely loony.

 

It all started the other day with the fuel gauge...the tank was half full, but as I left home and then slowed at the end of the road, the needle shot to empty and the display was reading 'please refuel' along with the normal 'warning beep' that you get. Seconds later, the engine management light came on. The fuel gauge settled but the engine warning light stayed on...then the speedo failed and the 'please refuel message popped up again and the beeping started (as it does every time I brake...) I stopped the car. Restarted, all faults the same. On way home (with no speedo, milometer and a nutcase fuel gauge) I needed to switch side lights on. Lo and behold, the speedo started working, the refuel beeping and warnings stopped, engine management light stayed on tho. Wow...

 

Next day, engine management light was off after starting (as should be). Speedo still not working, unless I turned side lights on. Within 5 minutes I put the radio on. Switched on side lights, speedo came on, radio died, please refuel came up, fuel gauge needle was like it was sea sick and bobbing from empty to half full.

 

Now in a position where fuel gauge is hopeless, radio works ok (with or without lights), climate control display flashes when ignition first switched on, engine management light stays on, speedo does not work at all, until you switch lights on and then you get a faint needle movement and then it dies again.

 

The car is booked into Ford next week....Any ideas what the hell is going on?...No water in car near ecu or anything. Have checked battery connections etc. All Ok.....HELP!!!...Oh and Cruise Control has stopped working...(not that I used it anyway)

[insider]

Sounds like a bad connection to the instrument cluster.

[mumof4]

welcome to the forum...

 

isnt it norty to drive with no speedo working??

[mancini602]

Indeed, very norty so car is now stuck at home whilst I ponce on a pushbike...

 

Couldn't drive the car anymore...not only naughty, but with all the beeping and flashing displays etc it was like a poor mans 70's disco in there...but then again, I did once own a white suit..............Did I just say that out loud?

Edited September 13, 2007 by mancini602

[seatkid]

I would try disconnecting the battery (after checking I've got the radio code!) for a couple of minutes and reconnecting. Could be a CANBUS (communication bus) problem - maybe a module has crashed, or is faulty. All sorts of information is passed around on the CANBUS.

 

Worth a try for nowt.

[mancini602]

I would try disconnecting the battery (after checking I've got the radio code!) for a couple of minutes and reconnecting. Could be a CANBUS (communication bus) problem - maybe a module has crashed, or is faulty. All sorts of information is passed around on the CANBUS.

 

Worth a try for nowt.

 

Tried that yesterday...Engine warning light stayed off after battery reconnected...well, for about five minutes anyway. Still no speedo (sometimes works if I have headlights on), mad fuel gauge and now...climate control display flashes unreadable information for a few minutes before returning to normal...Did I mention that cruise control doesn't work either?

 

Car is booked into Ford on Friday... How much is that gonna cost? :angry2:

[mumof4]

Sell anything that isnt nailed down cost :angry2:

[big_kev]

Car is booked into Ford on Friday... How much is that gonna cost? :46:

 

I lot and they won't fix it... :angry2:

 

I concur with Insider....dodgy connection to cluster.

[sal_park]

how about a bad earth somewhere ?

[mumof4]

Agree with you BK..they will replace this that and the other...test everything..charge you for it all then either say it was this or...sorry it needs a really expensive part whilst charging you for everything else they did

[adrianf.]

I would try to get an auto electrician to have a look rather than the highly skilled/trained Ford chimps.

[sal_park]

Hi mancini602,

 

when you turn the lights on does this always 'stop' the problem ?

 

when the lights are off, is the problem always there ?

 

I would think that if you experiment with this a bit so ideally you can, as suggested by adrianf take it to an auto electrician and say to them 'do xyz and the fault occurs, do abc and there is no problem'. This is probably going to be the easiest/cheapest way to get this problem fixed.

 

 

sal_park

[mumof4]

Just a thought..have you checked the main fuse feed box??..a few of us had probs with these.

[mancini602]

Hi mancini602,

 

when you turn the lights on does this always 'stop' the problem ?

 

when the lights are off, is the problem always there ?

 

I would think that if you experiment with this a bit so ideally you can, as suggested by adrianf take it to an auto electrician and say to them 'do xyz and the fault occurs, do abc and there is no problem'. This is probably going to be the easiest/cheapest way to get this problem fixed.

 

 

sal_park

 

when you turn the lights on does this always 'stop' the problem ? No, but the speedo/fuel gauge etc work more than not if the lights are on

when the lights are off, is the problem always there ? No, but mostly.

 

It's a typical intermittent fault with speedo, fuel gauge, on board computer, climate control, cruise control.

[Windy Miller]

Hi. I have a very similar problem with my 1.9TDi Ghia (52 plate). Mine started with the low fuel warning light and "PLEASE REFUEL" (very polite car) message appearing even though the tank was half full. A couple of days later the speedo stopped working too. Both faults are intermittent. On Monday it went into Lifestyle Ford in Horsham and was diagnosed with corroded contacts and wires behind the dash. They kept it over night and supplied a new connector and whilst it was OK on the 10m drive home, the same evening both faults reappeared. BTW my lights, radio and climate control are all OK. So on Wednesday they came and collected it and this time found a dead cell in the battery, and faulty dashboard. They changed both and were driving it back when the fault reoccurred, so they took it back. This time they found a faulty fuel sender card and replaced this too.

[seatkid]

Anyone have any suggestions as to ......................... how I tackle the dealer on Monday??!!

Below the belt, very hard and fast.......

[gregers]

Hi. I have a very similar problem with my 1.9TDi Ghia (52 plate). Mine started with the low fuel warning light and "PLEASE REFUEL" (very polite car) message appearing even though the tank was half full. A couple of days later the speedo stopped working too. Both faults are intermittent. On Monday it went into Lifestyle Ford in Horsham and was diagnosed with corroded contacts and wires behind the dash. They kept it over night and supplied a new connector and whilst it was OK on the 10m drive home, the same evening both faults reappeared. BTW my lights, radio and climate control are all OK. So on Wednesday they came and collected it and this time found a dead cell in the battery, and faulty dashboard. They changed both and were driving it back when the fault reoccurred, so they took it back. This time they found a faulty fuel sender card and replaced this too.

[mancini602]

Well, my car spent all day Friday at Inchcape Ford...

 

At about 4pm I called the garage for an update...they cannot find the source of the problem but do suspect a loose connection somewhere. They want the car back for several days for further investigation...................................

[insider]

I would try to get an auto electrician to have a look rather than the highly skilled/trained Ford chimps.

I agree with adrianf - auto electricians are specialists, i.e. they do this day in day out. Main Dealers have to cover everything so their expertise is diluted (polite way of putting it!). You should also find them much cheaper than a Dealer.

[mancini602]

Well...an update for you.

 

Ford have had the car on 2 occassions now (2 days) and still can't find what is causing the electrical problems. I gave up with them and went to an auto-electrician. He has done loads of tests and said...both your speedo sender unit and your fuel gauge sender unit are stuffed.

 

I then said 'that's more than coincidental that they both failed at the same time'. I re-iterrated that the speedo and fuel gauge only work if I have my side lights on and that they stop if I turn my side lights off...he then said, Oh, can't be those units then. This requires more investigation.

 

HELP!!!! Please, anyone got any idea as to what's causing these problems? Please someone tell me before I take the car to wasteland and torch it!

[Bigjeeze]

Might sound unlikley - but have you tired the Brake light switch? it does seem to cause a lot of problems - usually totally unrelated.

[Rallim]

Well...an update for you.

 

Ford have had the car on 2 occassions now (2 days) and still can't find what is causing the electrical problems. I gave up with them and went to an auto-electrician. He has done loads of tests and said...both your speedo sender unit and your fuel gauge sender unit are stuffed.

 

I then said 'that's more than coincidental that they both failed at the same time'. I re-iterrated that the speedo and fuel gauge only work if I have my side lights on and that they stop if I turn my side lights off...he then said, Oh, can't be those units then. This requires more investigation.

 

HELP!!!! Please, anyone got any idea as to what's causing these problems? Please someone tell me before I take the car to wasteland and torch it!

 

Hi out of interest have you managed to resolve this problem? If so, what was it?

My Sharan has started doing similar things but not as dramatic, initially it was my speedo which would stop working on longer journeys, so it was fine round town etc. I initially thought it was the speedo sender but before I got to investigate further the fault developed to include the fuel gauge - when the speedo stops working the fuel gauge does exactly the same as yours, and moves all over the place when you brake / accelerate.

 

I have taken the instrument cluster out and visually checked all the connections they look ok (managed to gain an air bag error whilst fiddling with the connectors.... thank goodness for VAG-COM to clear that!). I have located and earth point near the drivers door but I am not sure the location of other earthing points to check. :lol:

 

Thanks

 

Gordon.

[roy202]

hi i have just started to have this problem with my galaxy, did you ever get to the bottom of this? im really stuck and dont know where to start with this problem ive tried all obvious things but am getting nowhere fast!

thanks

[srafferty]

May be unrelated, but worth checking this one.

 

http://www.fordgalaxy.org.uk/forum/index.php/topic,3241.0.html

[j0nesy]

Has any1 worked out what the problem is as mine has started to do it and the beeping is getting on my nerves