Cars

Car disaster

Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

We’ve had a car disaster.

Well, it could have been worse. No one is injured and nothing’s broken, no crash and no emergency services have been involved.

However, while watching junk TV last night, himself and I heard a weird click. This was followed a couple of minutes later by the alarm on himself’s Focus RS blaring from the integrated garage.

The doors were all closed, no sign of anyone sneaking in and getting anywhere near the car. But the electronic keys didn’t do anything. We couldn’t stop the alarm sounding. The car was unlocked, but with the wingmirrors turned in which it only does when locked. The car wouldn’t start either, no headlights, no interior light, the boot wouldn’t open. The radio worked, but nothing else.

We finally pressed enough buttons that the alarm stopped and we had peace enough to read the manual. We tried everything we could find; replaced the batteries in the key, hooked the car battery up to the trickle charger, tried the secret cubby that’s meant to start it even when the key’s batteries are dead.

Having exhausted all other options, we gave up and called the AA while also resorting to the car forums. We asked in several places and Facebook groups, got no immediate solutions and went to bed.

After a rather sleepless night, we got up and got the kids to school. The AA came, failed to make anything different happen apart from confirming that the battery was OK. They organised a flatbed to get it to the local Ford dealership, loading a car with power steering but no power onto a flatbed is an interesting endeavour apparently.

And that’s where it remains.

Lots more googling by himself leads us to believe that the body control unit is dead. We think the click was the car unlocking itself at the moment at the BCU failed. That would explain why nothing works apart from the radio which is separate.

So here we are. Himself’s pride and joy is at the dealership, unresponsive and without an official diagnosis. We’ll have to wait and see what’s wrong and how much it costs to fix.

Not as destructive as the lamppost incident (me, Honda CRV, sleep deprivation, mini-roundabout, lamppost and a write-off at 5miles an hour), the deer incident (Alfa Romeo 156 and a muntjac, you can guess the rest but the wheelarch was ruined), the snow incident (Subaru Impreza, snow, haircut trip, idiot, ditch, car on side, nice stranger with a landrover to the rescue), or the gatepost incident (Alfa 156, handbrake that didn’t, open door, sloping drive, gate post, door no longer attached to car). But at the moment, the Focus is a very large paperweight about as much use as a lego model.

Love from Smell xxx

Published by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

Rants, rambles, loss, gin, guests, recipes, funny kids, occasional poems, and a bit of running.

26 thoughts on “Car disaster”

  1. Pingback: Turmoil – Smelly Socks and Garden Peas

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