Is your Ford Focus giving you some major problems? **Sigh** My closest relative owns a Ford Focus and every once in a while her little car will start acting up. I can’t tell you how distressed she gets when this happens. This page is dedicated to my baby sister and her Ford Focus and some of her “hacks” to get it working again.
I hope you get some help from this page and if YOU have come up with a solution to fix a problem on your Ford Focus then please DO share it! It will help others who are in the same boat with you. 🙂
****Disclaimer****
Neither of us are mechanics! Do the following at your own risk. When in doubt, please see a mechanic.
Notes: Anything that is linked to the electrical system can be used in conjunction with turning the key to turn on your engine. See the fixes below….
Ford Focus Electrical Problems – A Temporary Bandaid
Sometimes, the car will start to make clicking sounds and then, it will refuse to turn on! It can take up to thirty minutes for her to get it to turn on sometimes. Whenever this happens, she ends up borrowing my car.
Here’s her quick fix for it below that sometimes works…
To get her car to turn on, she’s told me that when she’s driving around and parks and is ready to turn off her car, she will leave her headlights ON and then shut off the car. Then she’ll turn the headlights OFF.
I have no idea why but this sometimes does the trick for her.
Another Temporary Electrical Fix For For Clicking Sounds
The clicking sounds would not shut off and eventually, they drained her battery!! This was a fairly new battery on her little Ford so the next time she purchased a new one she was ready. Whenever she hears it clicking, she opens the hood and disconnects one of the battery cables from the terminal. ** Always be careful when working with the battery **
All you need to remove is one! When you are ready to drive again, you connect it once more (follow your manual’s instructions if unsure) and it starts right up (usually).
Another Electrical Trick
If your car will NOT start, try this one. Turn your headlights on, turn the ignition and then it might start.
Ford Focus Shuts Off While Driving
Disconnecting the battery also helps when your car has just shut off while driving! I know this one for a fact because my sister and I were driving ON THE FREEWAY one day and this car chose that time to SHUT OFF completely. This could have been an incredibly dangerous situation and I’m surprised Ford hasn’t done anything to recall these models by now (hers is a 2003 Focus).
After the car shut itself off, we put on the emergency lights and pulled off to the side as quickly and safely as possible. I got out of the car (with people speeding past us at 80 mph), opened the hood and disconnected one of the terminals from the battery. I then gave it about 20 seconds and reconnected it and told her to try starting the car and it turned right on!
Please be advised that this was a VERY Dangerous situation. If you can, you need to pull off the freeway and into a station (if possible). Your safety should Always be first priority.
Keep Your Terminals Clean
Steel brushes are good for keeping your battery terminals clean. This could be one of the reasons causing a shutoff so be sure to maintain this area.
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