i was driving to work this morning everything was fine like any other day

then i noticed i lost my dash no speedo no tacho oil pres amp meter egine temp fuel gauge it all stop working the only lights that worked was the volt light check abs light and the econ light

the car is very slugglish complete loss of power

as i was driving it home the dash came back to life but the amp meter was reading a strong 16v still with the amp like on car was still sluggish and felt like it was stuck in 4th gear

i popped the bonnet when i got it home and theres a spray mark of some fuild it looks like its come off the engine belt and has sprayed the rocker cover while the engine belt felt very hot

at the time it was a normal temp for 7:30am in melbourne penty of juice near new battery new leads plugs filters oil etc

i know my brake pads are wearing down and im going though some brake fuild at the moment which i keep toping up for now the level was fine when all this happen

any help would be great
justin

ive taken it to the workshop down the road they said its gone into limp mode (i was thinking that) it wont leave 3rd gear they wanted 80 to see why it went into limp mode i took it to ford they recon it may be a alternator problem

i reset the ecu i went for a drive within 45secs of driving it went back into limp mode i saw the alternator gauge went upto 16v again i put my lights and highbeams on the ac the stezz and the voltage dropped while driving it left limp mode and drove fine show speedo tach oil pres everything being fine the volt meter sat on 14v while driving once i turned lights off stezz off it went back into 16v again so im figure its a voltage problem from the alternator i gotta stick a voltmeter on the battery and see what that says

has anyone had these problems before im sure im not the first but then again the bloke at the ford dealership never seen anything like it before

Sounds like it may be the bushes in the alternator work out, relatively easy and cheap to do, need patience though, they are fiddly little bigger and the springs will piss you off.

r u saying the bushes maybe worn out or dirty

do you think maybe a can of degreaser and a good was out may fix the problem


after looking at it again today it looks like the fulid is coming from the battery yes battery acid it has a breather hole poninting toward the engine belt

so im thinking the battery has leaked dripped into the alternator

the battery is 2months old its a top of the range 550cca exide battery cost me 160 i will repace that tonight wack a volt meter on and see what it says

im just worryed driving it with 16v may burn out the wiring harness or other things

does it smell funny, sort of like a gassy smell. if so it may be overcharging and boiling your battery, which would explain the acid spraying out. if it is overcharging, it could melt the inside of the battery and could damage other electrical stuff.

sounds to me that the regulator on teh alt is f**k
and needs replacing
degreasser and a wash will not work!

no idea why this would send the tranny into limp home mode

over voltage might make the ECU go into limp mode?

2nd disco frank, replace the alternator... if the gauge (not that accurate) is showing 16 it could be higher, and if a new battery is spewing out acid, you will need a new one because it aint going to last long now... dont drive the car or you might wreck more...