The wrench emblem lights up solid on dash, car loses all power

JSTYLES7979

MEMBER
2011 FORD FOCUS
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
180,000 MILES

As I was driving the wrench emblem came up on the dash solid and the car lost all power, I had to coast to the side of the road. I let the engine cool down for a while and then restarted the car I drove for 15 or 20 minutes approximately and had the same issue. As I had to get home, and I didn't have the means to tow it I had to let it cool off and start it again. I made it to my house but as I was pulling in the engine lost power again, with the same emblem appearing. Does anyone know what this could be due to? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

1 Reply

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
47,640 POSTS

This problem can be about five different things, the wrench is telling you there is a trouble code in the computer system like the engine coolant temperature sensor is shorting out when hot. We need to run the codes to see what the problem is. This guide will help walk you through the code gathering which is easily done with a cheap code scanner from Amazon (about $20.00).

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

If it turns out to be the coolant sensor (which is my guess) here is the location in the diagrams below so you can change it out. Check out the diagrams (below). Please let us know what you find. We are interested to see what it is.

Images (Click to make bigger)