Electrical Gremlin

[JiminVirginia]

2018 Fiesta ST. 1200 miles. Perfect until today.

Started car this morning, backed out of the garage, and noticed the back up camera was out, the nav had not started, and the climate controls would not work. Neither would audio. Can ran normally, lights worked, otherwise OK.

Shut the car off. Restarted it. Touch screen said, "Reading disk...." And Nav worked just fine. But still no back up camera and no climate controls and no audio. Noticed an air bag dash warning.

Drove to work. Parked and shut the ignition off. The audio came on. I turned it off as usual.

I'll restart it later. But any ideas?

Thanks.

 

[koozy]

Check the obvious things first. Battery voltage when’s it’s cold, battery cables, grounds.


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[pirite]

2018 with 1200 miles..... take it to the dealer. use the warranty, electrical can turn into a headache and thats me saying that as a full time mechanic.

 

[JiminVirginia]

2018 with 1200 miles..... take it to the dealer. use the warranty, electrical can turn into a headache and thats me saying that as a full time mechanic.

Oh yeah, the dealer has it and is engaging Ford on it. Hope to know more later today. Thanks.

 

[JiminVirginia]

Sounds like the BCM or APIM let some of the smoke out and went cross-eyed. Could "just" be something screwy in the body wiring harness though. Dealer should be able to give you a complete diagnosis and solution.

Thanks. Fingers crossed.

The module that controls the way the car drives seems fine. What has failed is whatever controls some of the other instruments, including climate control, which seems pretty much dead, and airbag warning. Nav, audio, back up camera are weirdly on and off.

More later I hope.

 

[JiminVirginia]

Got the car back last night. The dealer "reprogrammed" the BCM and APIM. All seems well, as the car drives perfectly. Symptoms gone.

The service manager tells me that the car had no codes when I brought it in, even for the airbag light. He says he has never seen that before, as cars typically display the airbag code permanently so there is a history. But nothing.

And I will hope this electrical gremlin doesn't happen again, as it sounds like Ford wasn't of much help. The dealer, at least, seems to know what they're doing.

Thanks everybody for your counsel. Wish me luck.