I feel bad about asking for help on here as I couldn't be further away from owning or building a kit after our twins were born 5 years ago but I am in a bit of a hole. I read nearly every post and hope it will happen one day though, I suspect there are a few like me...

Anyway, I have a sad 51 plate Focus 1.6 hatch and I have no:

Dash lights
Side lights
Tail lights (have brake light and indicators)
Number plate lights

All of these are connected to the blown fuse 32 from the headlight switch, this blows every time I switch it on so I am trying to find a short I guess.

I have checked inside the infamous tailgate grommet and can't find anything obvious to cause the problem.

I am getting continuity between the body and both sides (orange and black) of the wiring for the number plate bulb (with the bulb removed) when the fuse is blown and the headlight switch is disconnected - is that right? I am basing my fault finding on the fact that it isn't right, if I am wrong then I will never find it! The tail light shows the same result but functioning brake light doesn't.

I will probably never find it anyway as I have some parental duties to attend to but it would be nice to know I am on the right lines.

Thanks, David

quote:

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Originally posted by Mansfield
I feel bad about asking for help on here as I couldn't be further away from owning or building a kit after our twins were born 5 years ago but I am in a bit of a hole. I read nearly every post and hope it will happen one day though, I suspect there are a few like me...

Anyway, I have a sad 51 plate Focus 1.6 hatch and I have no:

Dash lights
Side lights
Tail lights (have brake light and indicators)
Number plate lights

All of these are connected to the blown fuse 32 from the headlight switch, this blows every time I switch it on so I am trying to find a short I guess.

I have checked inside the infamous tailgate grommet and can't find anything obvious to cause the problem.

I am getting continuity between the body and both sides (orange and black) of the wiring for the number plate bulb (with the bulb removed) when the fuse is blown and the headlight switch is disconnected - is that right? I am basing my fault finding on the fact that it isn't right, if I am wrong then I will never find it! The tail light shows the same result but functioning brake light doesn't.

I will probably never find it anyway as I have some parental duties to attend to but it would be nice to know I am on the right lines.

Thanks, David

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It's an analogue meter which I don't know very well ( haven't had it long) but the needle flies off past zero the same as touching the probes together so it looks like continuity to me.

yes, you are on the right lines.

positive side of sidelight circuit shorted to earth somewhere.
for initial testing, I would remove all the bulbs. (this may not be practical for the dash ones) and test them individually.(its not unknown for bulbs to short internally) also inspect their sockets.

OK
Can you get at the no plate light unit?

Glad to know I am on the right lines.

I have had the number plate lights out, I still have all the internal trim off the hatch and all the wires look good.

Thinking about it, this must be related to a problem I had with a different blown fuse (later in the circuit) on the nearside side/tail lights about 9 months ago , I will pull those bulbs and see if it is any different.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mansfield
Thinking about it, this must be related to a problem I had with a different blown fuse (later in the circuit) on the nearside side/tail lights about 9 months ago , I will pull those bulbs and see if it is any different.

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I have just pulled that fuse, and for the offside - no difference.

I have then pulled the external bulbs, the headlight switch and the stereo - no difference.

Unless its a relay, I think it's a wire problem.

I have the haynes manual but the fuse box diagram doesn't relate to my car so it is hard to trust anything about the wiring diagrams.

I have to go for family fun (translation: shouting at the children in public instead of in the house) soon so I have come in now but all suggestions welcome, and I am grateful for the help so far.

Thanks

David

since it still does it with those two fuses removed, (which rules out most of the wiring),
I suspect switch or relay problems.

this thread (though difficult to follow) suggests water ingress as possible.

http://www.justanswer.com/uk-ford/4bhbs-ford-focus-hello-question-electrical-fault.html#re.v/174/

It might be worth pulling the headlight relays and disconnecting the front and rear light clusters.

Take all the bulbs out that are related to that fuse put a fuse in and see if it blows if it doesn't then put one bulb in at a time then see which one blows it then you will be nearer the problem .

Disconnect all of the light clusters and replace fuse , if fuse blows then its likely to be a wiring fault , if fuses doesn't blow reconnect light clusters one at a time until fuse blows. My bet would be the tailgate wiring broken around the door hinge area and shorting out, it may be possible to disconnect the tailgate wiring in one of the rear pillars? If possible disconnect it and test to see if fuse blows.

I am not going to have the time and daylight to go through much more of it tonight but I will have a bit more of a look, in the meantime:


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since it still does it with those two fuses removed, (which rules out most of the wiring),
I suspect switch or relay problems.

this thread (though difficult to follow) suggests water ingress as possible.

http://www.justanswer.com/uk-ford/4bhbs-ford-focus-hello-question-electrical-fault.html#re.v/174/
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I have read through this and our problems seem similar, it also contains the nearest thing to a wiring diagram I have found. Not having a diagram is killing me, my manual is for the facelift in 2001 and perhaps the pre facelift wiring was different.


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It might be worth pulling the headlight relays and disconnecting the front and rear light clusters.
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I have disconnected the rear clusters and I think the headlight relays are on a different circuit.


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Take all the bulbs out that are related to that fuse put a fuse in and see if it blows if it doesn't then put one bulb in at a time then see which one blows it then you will be nearer the problem
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I have had the external bulbs out (and the stereo as that doesn't light up either) & the main headlight switch and I get continuity across +ve and -ve at each disconnected point, I haven't had the instrument cluster out. Yet.


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Disconnect all of the light clusters and replace fuse , if fuse blows then its likely to be a wiring fault , if fuses doesn't blow reconnect light clusters one at a time until fuse blows. My bet would be the tailgate wiring broken around the door hinge area and shorting out, it may be possible to disconnect the tailgate wiring in one of the rear pillars? If possible disconnect it and test to see if fuse blows.
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The focus seems notorious for the broken wiring around there, looking deeper into that would be my next move after I find out which relay operates it all.


Thanks for all of your advice, it is appreciated.

David

Well there has been some progress but it got too dark, I have no 10 amp fuses left and the car is now full of moths.

There are 3 fuses in the bit of the circuit I am interested in:

Fuse 32 - side, tail, number plate, instrument panel, heater panel & stereo lights
Fuse 47 - nearside side & tail lights
Fuse 48 - offside side & tail lights

I pulled the two good fuses 47 & 48 and put one in 32 which gave me all bar side & tail. Great!
I put 47 back in and the nearside side & tail are working as well. Great!

While far from perfect at least now it looks like the fault is somewhere in the offside side & tail lights which is a big leap forward.

Now some bits are working I can see I was wrong about continuity across a bulb holder without the bulb in being wrong when there is no power across the bulb holder. I don't understand it but it seems the live goes to ground unless it is switched on, I will get a manual tomorrow which might shed some light on that.

I have no intention of driving it in dark but if an emergency occurred and I had to, at least I could be seen from behind now.

For anyone following this, with a full compliment of fuses in place I now have everything bar the offside side light. I am leaving it alone for a few days to see if anything develops before I have a look at the side light.


I am not really sure where I am with it but can draw these conclusions:

I had a facelift manual for a non facelift car, I have the right one now.

I need a new meter so I can test continuity with more confidence.

I can now see there is no relay to worry about.

The fuses for the side / tail lights should have been 7.5 amp not 10amp, this might be useful if they blow rather than the 10 amp fuse that is upstream.

When it goes again I will do the things suggested in this thread in a logical order so I can isolate the problem, I have wiggled, jiggled, disconnected & reconnected everything in desperation so I don't know what if anything has helped.


It will go pop again but I will have a better chance of fixing it next time.

David