Warning & advice
Q I have a 16-plate Ford Mondeo 2.0 diesel estate. On a recent touring holiday in Europe with a caravan, I parked at a friend’s house in Germany. Two days later, on trying to access the car, neither the main or spare keys would unlock it. The caravan had been unhitched.
With the assistance of the Ford dealer in Konstanz, I discovered how to access the lock barrel and found that ‘battery protect ‘ mode had cut in and the radio was on. I was certain I had turned it off, but it appears that if traffic programmes are selected then they will come through even if the radio is off. If the radio programme is not deactivated by the presenter pushing a button in the studio – which they often forget to do – then the radio remains locked on to the TP and does not power down, flattening the battery.
After a quick jump-start, all was well for the remainder of the holiday. Reading the fault codes later, there was a ‘battery low’ incident stored, as well as four ABS system warnings. I had serviced the brakes before starting the trip and had removed/replaced the pads.
On one occasion, the car went into ‘limp-home’ mode while coming down a slight incline with low fuel. This was quickly reset and there were no further problems. However, while abroad and with a nearly full tank, I had the same thing happen twice when going downhill, then once again on my return. I don’t have fault codes for these incidents, but do you have any ideas about a likely cause? Ed Dinning
A The details about the radio ID traffic programme are an interesting anomaly. While I can understand Ford thinking that you would be interested in hearing any trafficrelated information, even when the radio was switched off, I can’t understand why they would allow the system to work when the ignition was off.
The low battery code would have been stored when the battery was depleted, but without the other codes it is difficult to know what the problem may be. There are many reasons why ABS codes might have been triggered, but this should not have been affected by removing and replacing the brake pads.
You do not mention the mileage of your Mondeo, but I would suggest that the fuel filter might require changing, as this could be relevant to your problem with going into ‘limp-home’ mode. Your Ford should have been supplied with a three-year warranty and it would be worth taking the vehicle to the main dealer to investigate the fault.