2005 Ford Focus please help me find out what this is

BONNYSANGELS

MEMBER
2005 FORD FOCUS
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
75,000 MILES

The other day my battery light came on, first time since I had the car. But it went out again. My husband checked the battery and said it was fine. I was driving my car tonight and noticed the dash lights getting dimmer and dimmer. Soon I had none at all, nor did I have any headlights, as far as I could tell. I pulled off the side of the road and turned the car off, turning my hazard lights on. When I turned the key, the dash lights came on, the headlights came on, the clock and radio had reset themselves like the battery had been disconnected. But the car wouldn't start. All I got was a fast clicking noise when I tried to start the car. Then all the dash lights went beserk, then wouldn't come on at all. The interior lights were blinking in time with the hazard lights. I finally just shut the car off and a friend drove me home. Could there be a short or a fuse gone bad?

1 Reply

SAE1080

MEMBER
2 POSTS

I had the exact same problem in my 2005 ZX3 (95k miles). Except my battery idiot lite never came on. Anyways, today I extracted the alternator (from the bottom, had to loosen 2 of the 3 motor mounts and jack the engine/transaxle up to let the alternator come down behind the engine block and the firewall. Whew!) And opened it up.
I noticed one of the two brushes had worn away to the point where it could not touch the rotor(copper) ring and thus not make electrical contact and thus the rotor could not be energized to generate electricity. Tomorrow I go out with my bro-in-law to get rebuild parts. Removing the alternator was NOT a nice job.I'd like to flog the meatheads that. Oh, never mind. Lots o' luck to you.