Mk1 Mondeo estate - it thinks the boot is always open

[LeoZwalf]

Chaps,

I wonder if you can help me as I'm a bit stumped. The car is a 1995 Mondeo estate. It has the graphic display thing which shows when doors or the boot are open. For the past month or so, it keeps showing the boot to be open when it's not. Sometimes this doesn't happen but there's no pattern to it.

This is the display thing I mean, it's quite a common Ford thing (I remember my dad's XR4 and Scorpios having them too, waaaaay back!)



Today I gave all around the boot and the lock mech a good clean out but it's made no difference. How does the system know the boot is open or not? There must be some kind of sensor or whatnot but I didn't find anything whilst cleaning up.

Thanks in advance for any tips

[Rickyy]

Not sure how it senses the boot is open. I'd imagine there is a switch somewhere, have a check around the opening. May also be worth checking the wiring loom for the boot lid, wires could be breaking down and shorting out.

[LeoZwalf]

This has mysteriously fixed itself!

[Rickyy]

Strangely enough my Focus had a similar issue in which the boot would actually open whilst driving along!! This too fixed itself and hasn't done it for months!

[LeoZwalf]

You mean it would open or show as being open?

Funnily enough (actually means "shiiiiit, why did I touch it?!") I thought I would have a look at this today as I had a day off. The boot light doesn't work either so I thought that would be related. This is what I found:

There is a blue plastic thing clamped onto the boot lock mech (the part on the boot door itself, not the solid fixed post bolted to the body) - turns out it is the switch and is kinda stuck. My plan for the day had included a trip to the Ford Hessen Garage (the only Ford dealer and parts place I have seen in Frankfurt) so for a brief moment had a lovely idea to just buy a new one. Not so easy; it is hooked into the boot door loom so you can't just swap it out

There happened to be a bottle of 15-40 and a screwdriver to hand so I dabbed some oil into the switch and pushed it in, out, in, out, in, out, in... you get the idea. It seemed to have freed up a little but still didn't feel right. It was given me the feeling that no matter how much oil I threw at it and no matter how many times I pushed it back and forth, it just wasn't going to get any better. So I re-fitted it and hoped for the best.

The best wasn't to come as now the 'boot open' indicator is always on. I was driving for a good 2 hours this afternoon and it didn't once go off So however it fixed itself a few weeks ago, I have fked it again!

The nail in the boot's coffin is that the boot interior light still doesn't work. The bulb is ok; you can manually switch it on, but it doesn't come on when the boot is opened. Is there a separate switch/sensor for that?!

[dilateous]

LeoZwalf said:

There happened to be a bottle of 15-40 and a screwdriver to hand so I dabbed some oil into the switch and pushed it in,...

With mechanisms involving plastic parts I use a silicone lubricant. Conventional oil may well react chemically with plastic and rubber parts, possibly resulting in disintigration.

I've found that with such mechanisms involving plastic and the like, silicone lubricant works wonders. Plastic moving on plastic tends to 'creak'. Which means it's gripping and slipping intermitently. Silicone lubricant appears to illiminate this such that it'll work smooth like a Rolls royce!

Edited by dilateous on Tuesday 6th November 11:08

[LeoZwalf]

Thanks for the tip I've got a can of silicone spray so will give it another go at some point.

[mad4amanda]

it normally detects its open by running a current to earth so isolate the wire to the switch and it should be ok . Of course this will also not tell you if the boot is open !