That's what I'm worried about - it's not failed to start yet but I'm sure it's been close. I have breakdown cover but I'd rather not have to use it & be late for work one day! Well in that case it almost certainly needs a new battery...
After the first fail, I overextended its life for 3 months. It goes like this: 1# Woke up a morning and the car didnt started, I thought I had forgot some light on. 2# I was in a shopping center parking, the radio was on, and after 25 minutes the battery died. 3# I was downtown, I parked the car and it just died : /
Hmmm... Bit more puzzled now - when I started it this evening at work it wasn't exactly sluggish to turn over, just needed to do it a few times before it started (which isn't exactly normal for it to be honest). The only thing I can think is to record it tomorrow morning at put it up here so you can hear what I mean (I'm useless at describing things in words - that why I'm a Mathematician!). Obviously if I take it to a garage they might be able to diagnose the problem but it'll be warm when I get it there and that's not when I'm having a problem!
Throw a battery on it, if the problem is elsewhere you've got a shiny new battery to last you a few years.
Take it to somewhere with a decent midtronics battery tester, I wouldn't charge for a battery check (work for Ford). A decent tester will say "battery test ok", "ok but needs recharge" or "replace battery". If you do a decent run everyday in your car id be lenient to rely on "ok but recharge" as it's probably got a dying cell. For the cost of a battery, just chuck one on, considering the amount of diesels I do, I don't do many glow plugs. I'm my experience cheap batteries are usually shite, a decent one has at least a three year warranty and will usually happily last five years.
Only ever used halfords own brand batteries, decent price and a darn good warranty, not that I've ever needed to use it though...
If you want to save some cash, have a look online. I got mine from here: http://www.batterymegastore.co.uk/ Worked out a good few quid cheaper and was sent to my door for me. But to mirror what everyone else has said, bite the damn bullet and get a new one. If it still isn't working, then you may be looking at new glow plugs.
I bought a battery for my now-dead Punto from them - it was an Exide, and fantastic, not least because it had a charge indicator on top!
Thanks for the link - I'll take a look Here's it this morning - annoyingly (depending on how you look at it) it wasn't as bad as other days: You can see that the glow plug light goes off almost straight away - it's the yellow one that off by 0:03...
That's not battery, its cranking strong. cold weather and ageing glow plugs my friend. Also the fact that it starts fine once warm is another sign its turning over fast enough to start.
Thanks for that mate - I'll give your suggestion from earlier a try and leave it a little longer after the light has gone out to let the glow plugs heat up a bit more.
Yep, definitely glowplugs, not an expensive job to replace them as long as they haven't welded themselves into the head! Looking at carparts4less they're £9/each for Denso ones (decent brand), Ford ones are about £10/each apparently, and it's an easy job to get to.
Thanks again for that mate, I'll check out the company. I'll look into doing it myself but sounds like it could go horribly wrong as you which from what I can gather would require dismantling the engine to retrieve them...
For how long it'll take in professional hands I'd let them do it unless you're confident with a spanner - should be about an hour of a job.
I'll give my local garage a call and see what they quote - they're normally pretty reasonable. Knowing what they plugs themselves should cost I can at least figure what they would charge. Annoyingly a few years ago I used a mobile mechanic chap for some work on brakes who was really good but I lost his number and can't for the life of me find it again or remember his name / company name.
Have a general poke around, it might be the leads are shot and not allowing enough current to the glow plugs, after all there just an element that gets cycled once at start up. just pull the leads, if the contacts look dirty give them a clean and see if there is any improvement. (please note, i've not pulled around under the bonnet of a focus diesel)
Ah the wonders of the internet, allows you to 'see' a problem whilst staying hundreds of miles away. Why not get yourself a Haynes manual (tenner) and a basic socket set from Halfords (two tenners) and then try replacing them yourself. Its a very simple job that won't take long to do. You can even get instructional videos on youtube.
i am surprised people are saying its glow plugs or fling a battery on it ! could be a sensor failing in the pump , dirty fuel etc etc . in my experience i would get it checked out before throwing cash away on "it may be this or that" . the pumps and pump sensors do fail on those fords , also cam sensors and fuel rail pressure senors . dont waste your cash on guesses ,get a proper garage to do a diagnostic first
I disagree, the car starts fine once warm which discounts a fuel issue and iffy sensors. This has also started to occur as the weather here has been getting cooler, which means the glow plugs work harder to raise to operating temperature. My money is on plugs and plugs alone
