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Battery problems with my 2012 Ford Focus

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I have an automatic 2012 Ford Focus which has a battery that is only 15 months old. However, the battery light on the dash keeps coming on. It starts straight away and there are no other problems except at night when you turn the lights on, the light on the gearstick flickers on and off. Could this be caused by a loose wire somewhere?

There are lots of potential causes for this sort of behaviour, starting with an alternator that is not working properly or even a body computer that is on the way out. But these symptoms are also a classic indication of a very simple problem; a poor earth somewhere on the car. A modern car has multiple earthing points, and if one is a bit sketchy, it can throw the whole car into chaos. Flickering lights and gauges and warning lights on the dashboard are classic indicators of a bad earth. If that’s the case here, an auto electrician should be able to chase down the fault and fix it permanently.

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