Ford Fiesta

loulou41

Not sure whether this is the right forum to post but I think there must be some ford owners here. On sunday Ford Fiesta Finesse displayed this sign on the board Electronic Accelerator Control failure. Hubby was able to drive only at 16 miles an hr, luckily it was near home. Later on, he tried the car and it was ok. He checked his ford book and he said it is an EAC fail and should take the car to the dealer and that sometime this happens due to battery etc. Hubby phoned ford and they asked £75+ vat for an electronic check. I am just wondering whether it could be due that we do not use the car very often may be twice a week on short trip? Will be very grateful if anybody knows anything about this EAC or how urgent this problem is. Of course, Ford said they cannot answer his question until he brings the car in. The car was bought in 2003. This is really on our mind as we do not want this to happen if we do long distance. Thanks

Conor_3

I think I'd try charging the battery up first and seeing if it improves things. Short journeys don't help as the charge used starting the car never gets replaced.

deltic_2

It's odd that it went into 'limp home mode'. However, try the battery first but bear in mind that it might be on the way out and charging it may only temporarily resolve the issue. Silver/Calcium batteries normally last about 6 years (which is longer than the older battery types) but this could be shortened by constant short journey use and so replacement might be necessary. You could ring up a Ford Rapid Fit centre and ask them to look at the battery (would most likely be a free check or much cheaper than a full diagnostic check).

anewman

I've never understood how these garages get away with charging £75 odd for driving your car into a bay, plugging a computer into it, pressing a few buttons, then 1 minute job done. Boy would I like to earn 40 X £75's in one hour. That would be like a wage of nearly £6 million a year, more with overtime.

goldspanners

anewman wrote: »

I've never understood how these garages get away with charging £75 odd for driving your car into a bay, plugging a computer into it, pressing a few buttons, then 1 minute job done. Boy would I like to earn 40 X £75's in one hour. That would be like a wage of nearly £6 million a year, more with overtime.

overheads! software updates,diagnostic equiptment.maintenance of said stuff.
have you ever used any of this stuff?
i use it daily and it still impresses me when it all works properly.
the dealers need to buy all this stuff and is usually only available from the manufacturer at first.and proper dealers need to use the equiptment specified from the manufacturer.
admittedly £75 is a bit steep,closer to £50 would be about right.

anewman

There are some home-brew PC alternatives in some instances, which cost less than £75 I think. One I know of is called Vag-com.

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/

I suppose it is more of a hobby for most people though, and average joe just goes to garage and pays up.

goldspanners

anewman wrote: »

There are some home-brew PC alternatives in some instances, which cost less than £75 I think. One I know of is called Vag-com.

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/

I suppose it is more of a hobby for most people though, and average joe just goes to garage and pays up.

there is the answer to your prayers,set yourself up with this £6million a year income!

anewman

goldspanners wrote: »

there is the answer to your prayers,set yourself up with this £6million a year income!

VAG officially certified mobile technician. I'll have to get some overalls made up and hope VAG don't sue me.

Ooooh another idea, drive around the local dealers in a van with a big vinyl print down the side showing how much of a rip off a dealer's diagnostic charge is. Park up close-by and all they have to do is pull up, give me £20, and I'll tell them what the problem is for less than half what the dealer charges. £20 in my pocket, £50+ in theirs, how can they complain? I'd be happy getting one customer an hour