Mk2 Focus ECU fault

[Speed 3]

My elderly Mum has had an intermittent warning on her 2007 Focus Zetec and bunged it into her local main dealer who wants to take a grand off her for fitting a new unit. I have only got a partial story from her (she's 200 miles from me in Oswestry) but I am suspecting its this problem with the ECU:

http://www.ecutesting.com/ford/focus_mondeo_c-max_...

If I can get the ECU out somehow and off to these guys, would it slot back in and work without any need for resets/diagnostics ? Seems crazy to incur Ford M/D costs when the car is now only worth a couple of grand tops.

[GreenV8S]

Speed 3 said:

If I can get the ECU out somehow and off to these guys, would it slot back in and work without any need for resets/diagnostics?

You could ask that company you linked to.

[stevieturbo]

The chances of it being a faulty ecu are very very slim, unless it is a well documented problem

Yes they can go faulty, or faults can be caused....but they are usually very rare.

Why exactly are the immediately blaming the ecu ?

[Speed 3]

stevieturbo said:

The chances of it being a faulty ecu are very very slim, unless it is a well documented problem

Yes they can go faulty, or faults can be caused....but they are usually very rare.

Why exactly are the immediately blaming the ecu ?

Don't know yet, they were supposed to call me today but didn't.....

[E-bmw]

You need to nail them down to EXACTLY what is the issue & EXACTLY what they are charging for!

[Peanut Gallery]

I have a 56 reg Mk2 focus, just after getting it, it developed an intermittent fault. Took the garage an age to pin point it (understandably!) - the fault code said something like "error in communication between the ECU and the dashboard".

In the end the dash was removed and posted to a company that re-soldered the dry joint in there somewhere. Touch wood, car has been fine since!

The issue only showed itself when driving downhill over a bumpy road, when it did show up all the gauges dropped to zero, acceleration etc was normal. When the joint re-connected all the gauges bounced back to where they should be, but the car went into limp mode, so lag in acceleration and not much power.

[Speed 3]

She's pulled it out of the MD and having an indie take a look so hopefully we can get the cost down considerably.

[Speed 3]

Well in the end it was a knackered battery and a corroded earth to it. How do the main stealers get away with their diagnoses ?

[stevieturbo]

Speed 3 said:

Well in the end it was a knackered battery and a corroded earth to it. How do the main stealers get away with their diagnoses ?

Because most are retarded, and the customers dont know either way and just trust them.

Is it any wonder most have such a terrible reputation

[NotBenny]

Speed 3 said:

Well in the end it was a knackered battery and a corroded earth to it. How do the main stealers get away with their diagnoses ?

That's utterly terrifying that they wanted a grand to fix something so simple...

[stevieturbo]

NotBenny said:

That's utterly terrifying that they wanted a grand to fix something so simple...

No, they wanted a grand to replace parts that were not needed...and no guarantee it would fix anything. All at the customers expense and risk.

Very common for them

[Penelope Stopit]

The rubbish dealer would be making a big mistake if telling a customer that they are not capable of correctly diagnosing electrical faults, what a rubbish dealer will do is quote a crazy price knowing that the customer will be frightened away