This morning, we had just refuelled my wife's petrol Focus and were about to leave the forecourt when it refused point-blank to start. The engine turned over vigorously, but it just would not bite. For the first time in my life, I had to call on the help of our insurance rescue cover.
When the technician arrived, I explained what was happening, and added that the previous evening, the car had hit, and gone over a deer ………. could this have dislodged a wire? He didn't think this could have had any effect - and he went straight to the fuse box, pulled out the 15A fuel-pump fuse; it had blown. He replaced the fuse, the car started, and that was that! He said that he'd seen it before.
I wonder if this has happened to anyone else on here? If so, did you discover why the fuse had blown - was it a failing fuel pump, dodgy wiring or (hopefully) just a tired fuse?
Cheers
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This usually means the fuel pump is on the way out.Fairly common fault on a Focus this age.Repacement means dropping the tank down.There is no access under the back seat.I would also inspect the connector to the pump unit while the tank is down ,as there have been a few issues with overheated teminals,but this often causes an intermittant non start rather than blown fuse.A new pump from Ford is over £300,but there are plenty of aftermarket suppliers like Bosch or Delphi that can be bought for around half this amount.
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I had the main 30 amp fuse blow on the bike a couple of years ago. I replaced it and the bike ran fine for the next two years before I sold it. I'd guess fuses can get tired after a certain amount of time, they're not exactly over engineered for obvious reasons.
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Some cars have switches to cut the fuel supply in the event of a serious impact but I'm not sure they deliberately blow the fuse. If I'd hit and run over a deer I'd be looking at the underside for damage.
Last edited by: Victorbox on Sun 23 Nov 14 at 09:18
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This car is fitted with a crash/inertia switch that interrupts the power supply to the pump,it does not blow the fuse.The wiring to the fuel pump runs through the floor under the back seat to the top of the fuel tank.May be worth a look at the underside of the tank and although made of plastic ,it is very strong
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Thank you for the replies.
I've been out in the rain (free rinse) cleaning the car; there was no obvious damage underneath, but the gloom and wet drive weren't conducive to a really good look!
For the time being, we've decided to resolve the issue by carrying a few spare 15A fuses and a decent torch in the car; I've shown my wife the location of the fuse box and how to find the correct fuse if it fails again. Her daily journey to work involves a 14 miles e/w jaunt through country lanes in the dark so if the fuse blows again, then it'll off to the garage for what will probably be a new fuel pump.
The Focus, now just over 12 years old (108k miles), remains quite a handsome car; it is the 'Chic' 3-door model with leather seats etc - it drives very well, but cannot be worth more than £1500 now. In April, we'll have owned the car for 11 years and, so far, we have found no good reason to change it.
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>>For the time being, we've decided to resolve the issue by carrying a few spare 15A fuses >>and a decent torch in the car;
>> I've shown my wife the location of the fuse box and how to find the correct fuse if it fails again
>>
Plus the little tweezer like fuse extractor ?
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"Plus the little tweezer like fuse extractor ?"
Oh yes, thank you, Henry. I suspect that I knew but had forgotten about the little yellow tweezers held in the lid to the fuse-box - the recovery chap revealed them when he identified the blown fuse. My wife has learned about those too - in fact, we had a 'dry-run' on Sunday, in the dark and the rain, to make sure that she could deal with the fuse should it blow again. Yesterday's journey to her school went without incident. I must admit, if I stopped to help a woman in distress by the roadside, and I asked "Can I help?" …… and she replied "Yes - could you hold this brolly please, while I change a 15A fuse?", I'd be very impressed!
On-line, I saw that Eurocarparts had a pack of 3 x 15A blade-fuses for 0.78p, so I did a 'click and reserve' - they have a branch about 400yds from our house. I walked over there yesterday morning but, when they couldn't find a 3-pack, the chap gave me a large pack (for same price) saying, "I can't let you go without any fuses, mate".
They should keep us going for a while - when I looked, there were 25 in there!
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A further comment on fuses in Fords.
I had a problem with a fuse in my MkII Mondeo.
It was one of the cube shaped 50A ones. I suspect few folks even know they are hiding in the depths. You will not find one of those in the filling station.
I still have a good collection of spare fuses from trips to the breakers yards :-)
On a rare couple of times the Mondeo appeared to be almost dead with no dash lights etc.
All seemed to then resolve itself.
I eventually found that one of these fuses had blown and sort of 99% reconnected itself.
I often wonder if the previous owner ( I suspect a company driver) got rid of it due to unreliability.d
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Exactly one month later ………..
The Focus is running fine (touch-wood), and there have been no more instances of the fuel-pump fuse blowing. On the same principle as 'carry a brolly and it won't rain', this may be because we are carrying a torch and a handful of spare fuses in the glove-box.
It's still a bit of a mystery though, and I wonder if it's anything to do with the fact that I had just filled the tank to the point of three clicks of the trigger i.e. full-up. It seems strange that the fuse should blow at that particular time.
Last edited by: Haywain on Mon 22 Dec 14 at 13:43
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Dear Haywain,
3,5 years later.. Did you ever find out about that 15 A fuse that suddenly blows? I have the exact same problem. Have just started the troubleshooting with cleaning and attaching batterycables better.
Best regards
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Dear Frodde
Welcome to the forum. I am ok. it's the others.
Duncan
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Thanks to VxF for drawing my attention to this post - it may otherwise have gone unnoticed for a few days.
The fact is, Frodde, I never did find out what caused that fuse to blow - it only happened on that one occasion. We p/xed the Focus last August as it became obvious that it was going to need money spending on it - more money than it was worth. So, it went on for at least another 2.5years, with no further problems with the fuse or fuelling system.
Based on my experience, then I would simply replace the fuse and see what happened before I chased off down another route; I would also keep some spare fuses in the glove-box. If the fuse blows repeatedly, however, then it would be indicative of other problems - possibly a faulty fuel pump as suggested further up the thread.
Good luck, let us know how you get on.
H
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Thanks Haywain, we have consumed five fuses in five weeks. Before it was one per year. Strange that the fuel pump needs 0,5-4 hours to wake up after the fuse is replaced and then works perfect until next fuse breaks. I'll be back if I find the answer.
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It might be worth seeing what current the fuel pump is drawing. Seems that a lot of multimeters can only check up to 10 amps, so you'll need to find one that can cope with measuring a higher current.
It could of course be something as simple as a dirty electrical connection that is causing a high resistant joint, and thus the extra current drain.
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had the same thing on Hyundai i10 . 2months later no further problems. putting it down to starting and stopping to quick on a cold engine, who knows.
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Ford Focus - 02 1.6 Blown fuel pump fuse�.. - carmalade
