Sometimes my car wont start it’s a 2014 Ford focus. I normally need to jump start it 2 times a day one in the morning and sometimes lunch or at night. It’s not the battery as I have replaced. Or the starter or alternator. I have took it to 3 garages including my local Ford, they did a diagnostic and said everything was fine mainly. Worked for a week then didn’t. Done the same thing. Just wondering if it could be a loose earth or something similar. My local Ford garage has someone that can come out to do a diagnostic. He’s comes when Ford or any garage can’t figure it out. But that might not be until the end of December. Had to jump start it for the past month and it’s just a hassle. Does anyone have and ideas. Thank you
Is this car “new to you”, or have you owned it a long time, and this problem is new?
Has your driving pattern changed, do you now only do short drives each time you use it?
Yes, the ground (earth) could be bad. Find where the negative goes to the engine/chassis and clean it. Both connections to the battery should be clean. The shops you have had check your car should have done that. I don’t know what your dealership charges but mine is around $150 for a diagnosis.
Having said all that, the battery needs to be fully charged for a diagnosis. That might be why it worked for a week.
The other thing, did any of these shops check for parasitic draw?
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Just because you have a new battery doesn’t mean the battery isn’t faulty. I had a dead battery on a car several years ago. It was replaced but it wouldn’t turn over after a couple of weeks. I took it back to the shop that installed it and they replaced the battery. This happened again. Finally on the third battery it worked.
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The reason battery’s have warranty’s, is because they can go bad in a short amount of time, or be bad from the get go… If nothing was ever defective or went bad early, nothing would have warranty’s… Ever look in a new car dealerships shop, new cars having major work done, warranty repairs…
When it doesn’t start, what does it actually do? Strong crank? Weak crank? No crank?
Do you have a basic multimeter? I’d be curious to know the battery voltage on a no-start.
Presuming this is a no-crank problem. When I’ve had that problem the first test I do is measure the two input voltages to the starter motor during attempted cranking. The results often make the culprit obvious. Both should measure at least 10.5 volts. Disclaimer: I’m a knucklehead diy’er, not a pro mechanic. Both of my vehicles crank robustly every time.
I might be having the same problem. First time I sat idling for 30 minutes and it shut off. Wouldn’t crank and no clicking. I go inside the house for 15 minutes and try again and it starts. If I make a couple stops it won’t start so if I’m on my way to work I leave it running and use the spare key to unlock it. Jumping hasn’t helped but I’ve only tried jumping it one time so idk. I have noticed that if I sit and don’t try to mess with it and wait about 10 mins or so I see the clock shut off and then within about 5 mins I hear the what I think is the whole system shutting down? And then it starts. Still have no idea but as long as I can work around the problem I am not going to pay the outrageous price to take it into the shop. I’m going to be trying some fuses and relays today but I have no idea what I’m doing. I’d think if it were bad fuses or relays then they would just be bad, not bad sometimes but Idk, pretty annoying lol
@ash83syd_193550 - you should start your own, separate thread for this.
Start out with specs on the car - year, make, model, mileage, anything you can day generally about maintenance history and the like. Also indicate whether or not you have any warning lights gleaming at you on your dash.
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Thank you! I’m new today and I just posted my post! Hopefully, i can get it figured out!!
Oh geez, i didn’t do it right, of course. Alright, I have to leave the house ut will get it right when i get back home
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No worries. Looks like you go things straight. Just trying to help you help yourself, of course.
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I just watched a video and it’s not fun to change both battery cables. It looks like labor will run over $100 but the parts can be had for less than that if you buy the cheapest junk and $150 if you don’t. To have a shop do it may cost over $300. We’re not talking Brooklyn or Brookline. Either place could be more than Dayton.
If you don’t want to spend money now, then make sure your starter isn’t loose. After that, make a small jumper cable with two alligator clips and run it from engine block to body as an extra ground. See if that has any effect. I have seen a few miracles. As always, see if your plastic part of the starter mounted solenoid is cracked or fried from exhaust heat if it’s near the exhaust.
Unless there is a loose wiring connection, this is possibly a defective ignition switch, but most likely a defective starter. I went through this recently on my 2002 Daewoo. Intermittent no-start, no-crank, but I heard the fuel pump running and the fuel injectors pulsing. It ended up being the starter, after I spent a bunch of money and effort replacing other parts.
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UPDATE: I figured it out and it only cost $4.00! I had no idea there were fuses between the air filter and battery. I took the whole air filter and the thing that it sits it out. Got the panel off that’s in front of the battery. Never seen those fuses before. They’re held on by nuts. Got voltage when they were on but decided to take them off one by one and test. One of them looked darker inside and has no voltage. Had to run up to the Oriellys warehouse bc the store was out and $4 later it’s running with no problems! Thank you guys! And hopefully this will help someone else!!
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I posted an update, thank you!
I posted what the problem was, thank you!