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Periodic Ford Fiesta Startup Issues

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City
Saskatoon
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Non-US
Country
Canada
What I Drive
2013 Ford Fiesta
#1
Good day,

I have a 2013 Fiesta with the automatic transmission.

Every once in a while I will have to turn the key 5 or 6 times to get my vehicle to start, even though I do turn the key slowly so that the computer can do it's checks.

The starter sounds good when it starts and doesn't lag or drag when starting, the battery is only 1.5 yrs old, I've replaced the ignition relay in the fuse compartment, and I've replaced the battery ground cable with a higher quality cable.

When this happens, I hear a single click at the turn of the key and nothing more.

I notice this mostly on days when I do a lot of food order deliveries which of course means a lot of starting, stopping, and starting of the vehicle again sometimes 30 times a day.

The engineering of these cars is absolute crap. I've seen videos where mechanics have placed additional ground cables to fix issues.


Just curious as to what people think?

Could it be a bad starter or bad ground or maybe some screwed up protection setting?
 

scotman

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#2
Grounds can become corroded. You may also want to look at the ignition switch itself, you don't mention the odometer milage or if it has had the under hood fuse box service replacement campaign performed. So all anyone can offer you here is conjecture.
 
OP
A
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City
Saskatoon
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2013 Ford Fiesta
Thread Starter #3
Theres about 190000 kilometers on the vehicle. The battery ground cable was replaced, and the battery posts are clean. I've never had the under the hood fuse box replaced. Was there a recall on those for the 2013 Fiestas?
 
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2013 Ford Fiesta
Thread Starter #4
I'm thinking that it's the starter, not the ignition switch. When the car doesn't start, I still do hear the starter clicking noise which tells me that the signal is getting sent to the starter.
 

scotman

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#5
Theres about 190000 kilometers on the vehicle. The battery ground cable was replaced, and the battery posts are clean. I've never had the under the hood fuse box replaced. Was there a recall on those for the 2013 Fiestas?
Yes. There has been a corrosion issue in the underside of the box, due to the design. I think you can get an OASIS report from the service department of a Ford dealership in Canada. This would reveal the warranty service history and any open recalls or service campaigns. It really does pay to visit the dealership once or twice a year.
 
OP
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City
Saskatoon
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2013 Ford Fiesta
Thread Starter #6
So, I ended up getting my starter replaced today. Replacing the ground cable didn't fix the issue, neither did replacing the relay. The battery posts were clean as a whistle and the battery is only about a year and a half old. Cleaning the contacts on the starter helped a bit but didn't fix the issue completely. What lead me to think it was the starter was the fact that even when the car didn't start, there was still a fair amount of power going to the starter evident by the clicking sound. Also as a part time extra job I do food delivery, so that means a lot or starting and stopping of the car which puts a lot of strain on the starter. We shall see how this goes.
 

Handy Andy

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#7
So, I ended up getting my starter replaced today.

... [...] ...

so that means a lot or starting and stopping of the car which puts a lot of strain on the starter. We shall see how this goes.
Wow, 190,000?

That is quite an accomplishment for any vehicle.

Lot of times the "solenoid" itself just "sticks" or when the solenoid kicks over, there are parts that "pivot" the gear to mesh to the flywheel to turn it. They just plum wear out - good to know you did not lose the flywheel from broken teeth.

Now if you had owned an Omni, or Chevette with those bi-metallic motors of Iron block but Aluminum Heads - 190,000 miles (or km even) is extremely rare. You'd have more issues of warpage and gasket leaks - but then - those were vehicles of the 70's - not today.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
OP
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Messages
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2013 Ford Fiesta
Thread Starter #8
Turned out that the periodic startup issues was related to the TCM module, which eventually quit working. Now I got a repeat of transmission clutch issues.
 

scotman

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#9
Given the timelines i would have to say that these are not issues that have much connection beyond the inability to start the car.
 


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