Hey guys, I had a little drama today/tonight with my car. Its all better and didn't cost me anything. I thought I'd post what happened incase it happens again, then you'll know what it is.

Today whilst driving along the ABS light came on, I was a little concerned. I pulled over and turned the car off then restarted it and the light went off.

Tonight I started the car and put the headlights on. They lasted 1-2seconds and went off never to return. At the same time a whole lot of things started playing up, I may miss a few but they included. Hazard lights, ABS indicator, indicators, lots of dash warning lights and no headlights. There maybe others but you get the idea. I was a tad unhappy as you could imaging. I was thinking how miserable I was going to be for the rest of the weekend wiating to take my car to the service department, wondering how bad my car was. After calling 13FORD and getting a message service I went through my new car books and read about Ford assist. I phoned them and they got some details and said they would be there in 20minutes. Wow. 15 minutes latter they arrive. Wow. Its the RACV and this bloke knows what he's doing. 15 minutes latter he has found a faulty earth, 5 minutes latter its fixed and car is good as new.

This faulty earth is located in front of the battery and is actually atached to the turbo pipe. He said something about alloy pipe and steel something, he said that they react together and it caused a bit of corrosion that was affecting the earth.

So there you go I hope that if this happens to anyone else that this little post makes your life a bit easier.

Geea.

Maybe she'll go faster now Gman

Scotty

Eletrolisis [ I cant spell for ] When alloy and metal rub together. Like on the old type of roo bar most of them had rubber between the chassis rail and the bar to prevent it from weakening the welds in the alloy.

I think that’s right

Galvanic corrosion can only occur if the dissimilar metals are in electrical contact. The contact may be direct or by an external pipe or wire or bolt. If the dissimilar metals are insulated from each other by suitable plastic strips, washers or sleeves then galvanic corrosion cannot occur. Paint is not a reliable separator from direct contact although painting all of the noble metal is quite effective.

Electrolysis is the story,dissimilar metals,an elictrical current involved,Pretty dumb ford..

Geea,was there crusty crap all around this earth point?usually the first sign of electrolysis,wack a couple of drops of oil on it to stop oxidisation.

Another bonus from ford to look foward to ,thanks for the tip geea anyway.

vik

The RACV bloke sprayed WD-40 all over it. Hopefully that will do the trick for awhile.

Hard to believe that it could happen.

Geea.

Oil is better cause its thicker and stayes put a bit better.

vik

Tonight I started the car and put the headlights on. They lasted 1-2seconds and went off never to return. At the same time a whole lot of things started playing up, I may miss a few but they included. Hazard lights, ABS indicator, indicators, lots of dash warning lights and no headlights.

How 'old' is your car? If it's weeks old, I can't believe this is still happening.

I think that might be the same contact that got the blame for causing the stalling problems at one stage.

Tonight I started the car and put the headlights on. They lasted 1-2seconds and went off never to return.   At the same time a whole lot of things started playing up, I may miss a few but they included. Hazard lights, ABS indicator, indicators, lots of dash warning lights and no headlights.

How 'old' is your car? If it's weeks old, I can't believe this is still happening.

My car is a Feb 2003 build. It has nearly done 30000km's.

Geea.