Focus won't start

Thomas93

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Our 07 Ford Focus 1.8 Diesel won't start, or charge. We've got one of those things that plugs onto the car battery and into the house that can charge it (won't work) or give it enough juice to start the car. On the latter setting it sounds as if it's about to start but just doesn't.

The only thing is the car is still running inside, the trip computer is still there, all the dash lights up it even tells me the bloody drivers door is open! To me it seems there is more than enough electricity to start the car, especially when it's plugged into the house, even the car must think so to tell me such pointless things?

Any ideas?
 
It takes a lot of power to run a starter motor. It's very common to have enough voltage to run the interior electrics but not be able to start the car. If you can, pull the battery, take it by an auto parts place and have them run a test on it. It will probably come back saying the amperage is low, meaning the battery won't take/hold a charge. If you bought the car new, it should still be under warranty and they should replace that no problem. It's strange the battery in a car that new needs replacing though, so once you get a new one in there, take the car by a place for an alternator test to make sure 's getting charged properly.
 
Narf I haven't checked but it was topped up two days ago, if that much diesel disappeared i'd be surprised!
Level it sounds to me as though it is (i'm only 17 so not too clued up) it sounds as if a little more juice and it would go as usual.
Nabster my first thoughts were pretty much the same, though the car seems to think warning me the doors open and powering the Sony stereo are more worthwhile than starting up.
 
If it was moved a few days ago then good - I was not just checking whether it has got fuel, in cold weather a half-filled tank can collect lots of water over time, potentially sinking to the fuel intake thingy.
 
It does, but they're not great in this weather, it's just not worth all the risks of doing a push start only to have to get it started again later.

Forgot to mention everyone leaves by the time the focus gets used and my Gran's C1 doesn't have enough juice to jump start it.
 
If the brakes fail in the weather it's failing starter probably is a sign from ... whatever ... that you should not drive :tease:
 
though the car seems to think warning me the doors open and powering the Sony stereo are more worthwhile than starting up.

Those use next to no power when compared to the starter. Try turning over your engine by hand, that's a lot of weight.
 
Just sounds like the battery is dead to me. A normal low amp trickle charger won't give it enough of a boost to start it, you need a proper booster pack for that. You'd be surprised how well the electricals can appear to work when the battery doesn't have enough power to crank the engine over quick enough. Been there, done that.

I'd get it started using suicide cables from a neighbour's car. Something big.
 
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Post-97 Jaguars and other Fords have an alternator/computer protection system. If the voltage at the battery is 11.7 volts or less, the car will refuse to start. It may sound like it wants to, but it simply will not run; later versions won't even try to engage the starter. Everything else will look like it works fine. Confuses the hell out of people when they first encounter it.

This usually happens about 5-7 years into the car's life and at the same interval thereafter. Usually it just means it is time to replace the battery. You can't even be 0.1V below the critical voltage.
 
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Do you have access to another battery that you could try?
 
Post-97 Jaguars and other Fords have an alternator/computer protection system. If the voltage at the battery is 11.7 volts or less, the car will refuse to start. It may sound like it wants to, but it simply will not run; later versions won't even try to engage the starter. Everything else will look like it works fine. Confuses the hell out of people when they first encounter it.

This usually happens about 5-7 years into the car's life and at the same interval thereafter. Usually it just means it is time to replace the battery. You can't even be 0.1V below the critical voltage.

I'm educated on electrics enough to know that improper voltages can do damage, but such a small deviation can't kill electrical components..seems a daft idea to me.
 
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