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Alright lets get some backstory out of the way - 2015 ST Canadian market model (so basically ST3), around 36 000 KM on it
I scraped the side of my car pretty bad, but drove it for an extensive time after with no issue. I took it in to the shop which led to the replacement of two quarter panels, a door, and the front bumper - problems have arisen after this, but not right away so I'm not sure it's related or not
Lately I've been having two potentially related electrical problems
First one is the car will have all its powered components working fine while the engine is off (radio etc) but then when i clutch in and hit the starter the entire car dies - as if the battery was dead. Does not respond to any button, completely black, buttons on the keys do nothing (no lights etc) - it's as if the battery died like I said. I solved this by lifting the battery cover each time it's happened, though one time i also moved the red cable a bit to get it to work. When the car comes back to life trip computer and such are all reset (...as would be expected with no power I guess)
Second is when I'm driving occasionally the ABS and TPMS idiot lights will blink for a second, Sync will say "Reading disc..." (even when in iPod or AM radio) and everything will go back to normal after. I haven;t really thought to check if the trip computer reset as this is usually not too long after the "first one" event has happened. One time at very low speeds this happened and the tach seemed to stop working for a sec (I actually thought I stalled but was still revving/driving)
Here's the timeline I can remember
Long time ago in galaxy far far away: Car is scraped
Mid-Oct: Car goes in for repair
Nov 7: Car is returned to me after like 17 days in shop
Nov 18: Car dies after putting $20 of gas in at around 6 PM - I'd been driving about 3 and a half hours at this point. I lift the hood, and battery cover - GF in the car says lifting the hood fixed it but it might have been lifting battery cover. About 10 min later on the road "Second issue" occurs briefly. My girlfriend doesn't notice but I do due to idiot lights flashing.
Nov 20: After being on the road for maybe an hour second issue occurs
Nov 22: During my lunch break at work I pull out my sound symposer cable from the firewall. I feel like I didn't really have to give it any effort to remove (not sure if relevant but hey). I fire up the car then without issue; but when I come back down to it again two hours later I get the First Issue again and have to lift the battery cover to fix it. Three hours later at a grocery store the issue recurs, and I need to lift the battery cover and move the red cable a bit to restore power. I think I might have seen a faint electrical spark on the contact but I'm not 100% sure. The second issue occured twice as well.
Nov 23: I pull over for a sec to throw out my gum; as I'm leaving I get the second issue again but notice the tach died - this was at like 5 kmph all other instances were >80 so maybe it was a near-stall or something
Here's some pics of my battery with the cover off and surrounding area: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
If this is a simple fix then great; if not I can take it in to ford - i'd just hate to wait for hours if it's just like a loose cable or something
I scraped the side of my car pretty bad, but drove it for an extensive time after with no issue. I took it in to the shop which led to the replacement of two quarter panels, a door, and the front bumper - problems have arisen after this, but not right away so I'm not sure it's related or not
Lately I've been having two potentially related electrical problems
First one is the car will have all its powered components working fine while the engine is off (radio etc) but then when i clutch in and hit the starter the entire car dies - as if the battery was dead. Does not respond to any button, completely black, buttons on the keys do nothing (no lights etc) - it's as if the battery died like I said. I solved this by lifting the battery cover each time it's happened, though one time i also moved the red cable a bit to get it to work. When the car comes back to life trip computer and such are all reset (...as would be expected with no power I guess)
Second is when I'm driving occasionally the ABS and TPMS idiot lights will blink for a second, Sync will say "Reading disc..." (even when in iPod or AM radio) and everything will go back to normal after. I haven;t really thought to check if the trip computer reset as this is usually not too long after the "first one" event has happened. One time at very low speeds this happened and the tach seemed to stop working for a sec (I actually thought I stalled but was still revving/driving)
Here's the timeline I can remember
Long time ago in galaxy far far away: Car is scraped
Mid-Oct: Car goes in for repair
Nov 7: Car is returned to me after like 17 days in shop
Nov 18: Car dies after putting $20 of gas in at around 6 PM - I'd been driving about 3 and a half hours at this point. I lift the hood, and battery cover - GF in the car says lifting the hood fixed it but it might have been lifting battery cover. About 10 min later on the road "Second issue" occurs briefly. My girlfriend doesn't notice but I do due to idiot lights flashing.
Nov 20: After being on the road for maybe an hour second issue occurs
Nov 22: During my lunch break at work I pull out my sound symposer cable from the firewall. I feel like I didn't really have to give it any effort to remove (not sure if relevant but hey). I fire up the car then without issue; but when I come back down to it again two hours later I get the First Issue again and have to lift the battery cover to fix it. Three hours later at a grocery store the issue recurs, and I need to lift the battery cover and move the red cable a bit to restore power. I think I might have seen a faint electrical spark on the contact but I'm not 100% sure. The second issue occured twice as well.
Nov 23: I pull over for a sec to throw out my gum; as I'm leaving I get the second issue again but notice the tach died - this was at like 5 kmph all other instances were >80 so maybe it was a near-stall or something
Here's some pics of my battery with the cover off and surrounding area: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet
If this is a simple fix then great; if not I can take it in to ford - i'd just hate to wait for hours if it's just like a loose cable or something
