I thought it worth asking here as this has me at a loss and you lot are a wealth of knowledge and ability …. My daughter was driving home from work in the small hours this morning and without warning its as if the ignition has been turned off. She pulled to the side of the road, turned it off at the key, back on again and it fired up fine. Everything works as it should apart from its lost dipped beam on both headlights. She tells me about it at breakfast and I’m thinking the lights are going to be down to a fried fuse/relay. No idea for the reason it cut out at this point. Checks the lights and relay is fine, all fuses are fine only to find both bulbs were blown . Replaced them and they’re now working as they should, as are all the other lights and electrics (horn, windows, radio, etc) - I’ve checked the lot. Not that there should be any relation but all the fluid levels checked and fine. Only thing i could find were the front tyre pressures were a little low, so sorted them. As for the reason it died I’m thinking battery issue maybe - but it looks fine, not getting warm anywhere round the casing and both the earth and live leads are in good condition and firmly connected. I had it out for a run and it’s perfect - not sluggish, no weird sounds or vibrations - it drives and stops as it always has. It’s a well maintained ford fiesta 1.25 on a 2012 plate, done 94k and shes had the car for three years so we are able to say with confidence this is something out of the blue. So - any ideas anyone? Many thanks in advance.
Thanks @Cookster I havent the gear to test it properly but will be looking to take it somewhere tomorrow to get the alternator output and battery checked. As I say though the battery isn’t getting warm which I would have expected to be a telltale if that was the case.
I suspect one bulb blowing caused a spike took the other one out. Seen similar before and it didn't happen again on that car. Didn't cause the ECU to get upset though as it didn't have one!
Thanks @Barstewardsquad - could you expect the initial bulb fail and resulting spike that took the second bulb to also kill the ignition?
I’ve got someone looking at it tomorrow who has all the right equipment and knows what they are doing. I’ll post what he/we find.
Don’t know if the fiesta is a Canbus system to be honest but tomorrow I should (hopefully) know more after some diagnostics have been done
Try the spare key if you have one. I've seen weird problems with electronics that were down to faulty keys that caused the immobiliser to kick in momentarily.
Checks show the battery is functioning correctly as is the alternator. So, that’s all good news. Replaced the batteries in both the key she uses regularly and the spare. Just have to wait and see if anything adverse happens again or it was just a fluke. Thanks @Cookster, @Barstewardsquad & @dgr for the suggestions - much appreciated
