Wondered if anybody can help. Left work tonight, the car had been standing for 12 hours. Turned the ignition and a warning light came on telling me the car was overheating. The car would not start. Left it a couple of minutes and it started, but the engine warning light(amber colour) stayed on all the way home. Anybody any ideas.

What symbol is the sign?

I take it you mean the light strange shaped blob symbol. I had this after a couple of weeks, and it turned out just to be a loose wiring connection. Also, on my dads Fiesta Zetec the temp high warning kept coming on repeatedly when he was just setting off, again was just just an electrical fault. It could be the same for both cases with you.

But whichever, definitely take it in to your dealer to get it sorted out right away. Hopefully it won't be anything more than an electrical problem.

Could possibly be the voltage stabilzer. Does the temp fluctuate?

Yes it is the strange blob symbol that looks like a engine and no the temp went up as normal from a cold start. Just looked in the guide and it says if the symbol turns red its pretty nasty but luckily mine stayed amber. Thanks for the quick responses guys, much appreciated!! Just rang Ford breakdown, they will be here in the hour. Will let you know the outcome!!

good luck

Mr AA came, told him what had happened as in the first post. He plugged his computer in and came up with the fault no.u1900. He rang , but got no response as they only work 8-5 and he said that keep their faults pretty secretive and could not diagnose the fault because of this but was sure that it was a engine heating sensor. He reset the fault for me but the car mix is running with too much oxygen and the exhaust gurggles, so will take in to Ford on Friday as I'm on 12 hour days till Thursday

Not good. Hope you manage to get it sorted out then m8.

You need to get it seen to ASAP if the Engine Warning light is on as you don't want to be causing any damange to your car.

Good Luck with getting it sorted!

*argh* Never let them wipe the fault codes! Ford will know what the code is, so if he didnt he should have left it and you arrange to take your car to Ford. How are they going to know what the fault was?

The computer will probably be able to pick up on the last fault and view the diagnostics I would expect Pinky.

He had to reset it or it would have kept the in limp home mode and been useless to use.

Nope. Ford will only be able to get the fault code if the fault happens again (i.e. the engine warning light comes back on). Its always a good tip to follow that if you call a recovery company out (RAC, AA, Green Flag etc) then never let them clear any fault codes they cant figure out. Best to leave as is and get it towed. A pain yes but its best in the long run.

Well at least Rich knows the code so he can just tell Ford what it was.

Interesting comments guys, Mr AA said that the car was safe to drive till Friday as long as the fault did not reappear and driven 20 miles today with no issues or warning lights. Rang to book the fault in and the first thing they asked me was the fault code number and said exactly the same as Mr AA, that it is safe to drive etc. Drove steady to work, no high revs, all those souped up astras and corsas got a kick out of flying past me today! But i'll be back!!

Lol just teasing them before you fly past them all again next week!!