Warning lights and flat battery? FOCUS

[MapMan]

For the past few days we have noticed a 'power steering failure' message on our Focus 2008 at start up, it goes away after about 30 secs and car drives normally, no problem with steering. Today the car was not able to be started but after 3rd attempt all was good, although my wife now mentions that starting has been sluggish over past few days when first driving each day. I noticed a while back that the glove box light bulb is very hot to touch and although the little rubber pad is in place I suspect that light is on all day every day. Could we be suffering from an almost discharged battery overnight due to lamp on and could this possibly be causing our erroneous warning light? - Tonight I'll try and build up the pressure pad to the switch in the glove box anyway.

[Riksta]

Hold the fort! I have the same kind of issue in my 2005 model.

Only seems to happen when its hot, they replaced the power steering pump under 2nd hand warranty but it has happened again.

Problem is, mine does not go away after 30 seconds.

When mine has the "Power Steering Failure" showing on the screen - here are other symptoms that go hand in hand with it - if yours does exactly the same, then I know there's at least one other person with the issue:
- Power steering is indeed failed with that message;
- ABS Light stays on, park brake light stays on even if park brake is off;
- Windshield washer "squirters" do not work (front or rear)
- Rear wiper will not do a full sweep. Will sweep part of rear window and stop, and not start until you turn it off and on again.

I had the RAA come out a couple of times, the only way they fixed it was by tightening the Earth connection, and also taking some paint off it for better contact. The car still repeated the issue, I took it in to the dealer I bought it (2nd hand) from and they replaced power steering pump and loom (I think it was the power steering loom?) under warranty and all was fine. Until the heat hit again. Only seems to do it in hot weather.

The other day it did it after work, I turned the car off and on about four times and it eventually cleared it. Then the following evening, it started up fine but for the first time did exactly the same error to me while I was driving. Then cleared itself a few k's later. But it was not fun trying to drive without power steer!

One other "symptom" - once its done its thing then decided to work normally - the engine warning light will stay on for a while and go off after a couple of drives.

[MapMan]

Thanks for your comments Riksta, appreciated - I think my problem is different and possibly now fixed - I 'boosted' the pressure pad to light switch in glove-box last night - bulb was cold to touch this am so I am rid of that issue - took the car to ford service this am - all fault messages were cleared O.K. and battery power was determined as 'low' - they had it on charge all day and car seems good now (other family member collected car) I have yet to drive it myself and look for any warning messages - at least it now seems to start without any problem - so it could simply have been a discharged or low battery causing the error lights to go a bit mad (I had "engine systems failure" this am after starting but it went away quickly and no apparent 'real' issues, power steering has always remained functional.

[Riksta]

No probs mate. Just thought it sounded very similar to the issue I was having (and encountered again after it was supposedly fixed).

So you're sure the steering was working even though it said there was a fault? Mine you can tell by a quick "flick" of the steering wheel, when my fault was on the thing was damn near impossible to move when parked.

Maybe I might need to do something as simple as check my battery level?

I did post about it when it first happened but it looks like threads drop off or get deleted fairly quickly in this section, a quick glance through and I can't find it - or I would have linked you to it.

Edit: I did find a thread about glovebox lights though, similar problem to yours? http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11317410

[MapMan]

Well all seems good today after having the battery recharged - no more messages and car starts o.k. - wierd if it is indeed the case that an almost discharged can cause my warning messages to 'go mad' - I would have preferred a simple low battery light rather than all the angst the 'messages' caused us. Is this normal behaviour I wonder in the case of a simple discharged battery on a focus (LX Auto 2008 Hatch) ?

[marg99]

Most modern cars use sensitive electrical voltage and restistance changes to send signals from various sensors to the CPU, so when the battery/charing system is doggy the CPU gets the wrong messages and gets upset hence it send weird messages. Some makes seem to be more sensitive than others