My Car Keeps Breaking Down

[tiggerblue10]

I have a problem with my Fiesta LX 2004. Its completely stopped in the middle of a busy main road twice in the last month now but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it according to a recovery chap and a mechanic. I've been told by various people that the reason it does this is because I only make small journeys each day which doesn't allow the battery to warm up enough.

Has anyone else had this problem? What do you do to prevent this?

[tiggerblue10]

5. Get battery check done at Halfords
6. Poss master cylinder knackered
7. Poss caliper joints leaking

[tonyav]

When you restart the car is the brake pedal ok then ?.

[Zacs-Master]

ABS light coming on is a separate prob related to the auto gearbox changing down. Possibly something to do with a sensor on the flywheel.

[tiggerblue10]

The (ABS) light does come on but that could be a problem with the dashboard mechanism. And come to think of it, a light did come on last night in the shape of what I think looks like an engine?!

when it happened last month the hazard lights turned off as well and wouldn't come back on.

[tiggerblue10]

The brake pedal is fine once restarted with jump leads.

[tiggerblue10]

8. Gearbox changing down
9. Sensor on flywheel

I could do with a basic course in car mechanics!

[tonyav]

Right then tigger if the engine management light come on it has stored a fault code in the ECU ( the cars electronic brain ) and it will have to be plugged into a diagnostic computer to read the code to tell you what the fault is. Don't know if your brake problem is related to the engine problem though.
It is important ( as you know ) to certainly get the brake problem sorted asap.

[tiggerblue10]

"ECU fail" did start flashing where the clock is. I'll tell my dad all this info tomorrow. Hopefully he can take it to a garage and explain to them to check all these things.

Thanks gents. I knew I could get good advice on AB :o)

[tiggerblue10]

Further info having just spoken to my dad.

The message that was flashing in the clock LCD bit said "EAC fail". I've looked it up and it seems to be a problem with some fiestas and fusions. May have to take it to a ford garage.

[SirOracle]

Eac light points to a problem with the accelerator. Maybe bad connections somewhere along the line.

Garage should be able to fix this fairly easily for you,probably only needs the connections cleaned and copper greased.

I hope this is all that is wrong here. I understand it is a fairly common problem with Ford cars.

[Old_Geezer]

As someone with little knowledge of cars, my thoughts would be that you seem to have more than one issue (excluding the brakes which I didn't read). If you have changed batteries and the battery still going flat then, to me, that indicates an issue with the charging part of the car. I'd have thought a decent mechanic would find why it wasn't charging when the car is running. But a non-charging battery ought not stop the car since once running it isn't needed. There must be a further issue for the car to suddenly stop. Possibly again electrically related.

[murraymints]

This happened to us ...it was the earth cable which had rubbed bare of its covering shorting against the chassis....wee bit of insulation tape ....problem solved !

[Peter Pedant]

O God I thought it was really serious -

I thougth you wrote -

My Cat keeps breaking down....

[tonyav]

Well cars do have cats, Peter.

[tiggerblue10]

May cat has been defective for a while now. But thats another story.

My parents took my car for a spin today and they said everything is fine. My dad still reckons its because I do very short journeys each day resulting in the engine not warming up enough. Apparently I need to rev it up a few times before driving off.

I'll still make a note of the recommendations so thanks to all :o)

[tonyav]

Good luck, tigger. If I were you I would give the battery a trickle charge now and again.

[tiggerblue10]

Well this is the second time its happened in one month so I guess I'll have to do that anyway next time it happens. I'm taking bets for Xmas Day on the drive to my parents :(

[tonyav]

You'll be fine, tigger. Have faith.

[tiggerblue10]

Keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't happen Tony. I wouldn't mind so much if I was on my own but it happens when I'm driving home after a long day at work and I've got Little Tiggs in the back. When I called the AA out last time they said someone would be with me within 45 mins. I ended up waiting over 2 hours.