Electrical faults - radio, cruise control...

[RailMags]

Ford Galaxy Titanium 13-plate. 97,000 miles. Diesel.
The radio doesn't work - no sound from it at all, no white noise or hiss (even with volume turned full up). Plugging a cable into the Aux input and touching the plug end doesn't make any noise in the speakers either. It has since made a crackling noise from the speakers on a couple of occasions suggesting to me that there is a loose connection (plug and socket maybe?)

The Parking sensors don't work at all.

Cruise control is intermittent, stopped working sometime ago for about 3 months, then it worked again for a few days, then it stopped etc. Been like this for past year or so.

Front passenger window will Auto-Up if you hold the switch a few seconds and let go, it carries on and closes itself. The Driver's door window doesn't - you have to hold the switch up till it has closed fully (or it stops working).




I took my car to an Auto Electrical shop, he diagnosed the following:-

Audio - lost comms BS1.
Body control code No Coms to cruise control switch.

at the time of this diagnosis the windows and Parking sensors were still working OK.



On 27th February, I was all ready to go to work. Went out to my car, and it wouldn't respond to the keyfob. I opened the car with the key, but there was no response from it. No interior light, no dashboard lights, nothing electrical would work.
I called the RAC and he found that the battery was registering 4.25V (0.2amps drain) on initial test. He got me running and the battery was 12.36V (0.3amps drain).
I have since purchased a digital battery charger and given it a good 14 hours overnight charge. No problem with it since.



I've recently had my vehicle into another Auto Electrical Shop on the 'recommendation' of the RAC man above. He said they were 'electrical wizards', but after getting my car back and being no further forward I am not convinced. All they did was diagnose. I really wanted them to fix.

They gave me some printouts which I enc    losed scans off in the hope they may be helpful. He talked about something needing replacing, a Body Control Module, he then mentioned another Body Control Module that would need replacing as well. Declined to quote me for repairs.


Is there more than one Body Control Module in my Galaxy? Where about in the vehicle are they located? How much do they cost?



I just want my radio back, I can live without the other items. Someone suggested it might be time to just 'get rid of it' and get another one...let the garage sort the problems.


I would appreciate comments from the wise and knowledgeable people on this site.


Here's hoping,

Best wishes


Andi.

PS. I have neither the tools nor garage space to do any work myself (arthritic hands prevent me from doing heavy work), it will have to go to a garage to be fixed.
I would happily drive half way across the country if someone could definitely fix these problems for me.

[johnnyroper]

I don't know the exact set up on the galaxy but it certainly points to a failed BCM,not sure about there being 2 modules though or where they live. Could be part of the fuse box as a lot of cars are?
I would see if you have a Ford specialist local to take a look at it as they will have the gear to program modules if any need replacing.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

Are you sure the battery is outputting a good solid 12.4v or above? Have you checked that the battery cells aren't damaged/broken? 4.25v is extremely low, so low in fact that I would be skeptical about a recharge doing anything other than lifting the floating voltage and so I would start by looking at the battery itself. If you put the ignition on but engine off and switch a few basic items like the cabin fan and maybe the sidelights, what does the battery voltage read then?

[Mirez]

Sadly, that smacks of someone who doesn't know what they are doing which I would guess is why they don't want to quote you.
Although a number of manufacturers do now have two and even three BCM modules around the car, on most Ford's BCM1 and BCM2 are software 'levels' within one physical BCM. I'm 99% certain the Galaxy isn't an exception to this, with one BCM in the front passenger footwell and contains the cabin fusebox.

It really annoys me when I see this kind of post, you've given them a good description of the issue and they've just read a few fault codes out - the module they NEEDED to read was the ACM module (or Audio Control Module) which would have given you any issues with the radio if they were logged. The codes in BCM1 and 2 are historic, they aren't currently active so whilst useful to know, shouldn't be considered as an issue at the moment although they do suggest a sticky steering wheel switch as the cause of your cruise control issues. The IPC (Instrument Cluster) code IS active and shows the battery voltage is below expectation, as David suggests above, 4.25V is a very dead battery and will likely have caused internal damage to the cells that charging won't fix, just mask so I'd also consider replacing that although it would be nice to understand what flattened it in the first place!

The parking sensors appear to be working based on the live log you've included, certainly the sensors are registering (although not knowing the test circumstances it's impossible to tell if correctly) and interestingly the rear speaker is supposed to be active.

The window probably needs its limit positions relearned following the flat battery - an easy procedure which should be documented in your handbook but is also in the reference library on here.

Personally, I'd be VERY surprised if the BCM has failed. Aside that BCM's are generally extremely robust, other then the cruise (which points to switch failure) the other faults are all independent. The parking sensors have their own controller, the window has its own controller and the radio is also separate. Based on what you've said about the radio I would assume its 'working' in all other aspects other then no sound? Ie, the screen and functions 'work' just nothing comes out? Based on that I would suspect the most likely cause as a blown amplifier within the radio itself, speakers are highly unlikely to have all simultaneously blown and are all independently wired. Potentially it's the wiring connector for them but it will be a quad-lock connector which don't really fail.

[SirDavidAlhambra]

So true sadly. Auto electricians is a big cowboy industry. Few of them have any idea what they're doing. I also was told to replace my BCM once, all that needed doing however was a few codes updating. One guy even sprayed the thing with WD40, I said what sort of witchcraft is he trying to perform on the vehicle.

[mikewilson]

Steering wheel switches are an easy fix yourself.

I've done it without removing the wheel by using a mirror to see the torx fittings at the back of the wheel.  I would also use something like this (the fibreglass one) for cleaning.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XRJV4QC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[mikewilson]

BTW, if your radio is the same as the one in the video, I have a spare, in silver.  Will be near east midlands this weekend on my way to Telford from the n.e.

[RailMags]

I don't know the exact set up on the galaxy but it certainly points to a failed BCM,not sure about there being 2 modules though or where they live. Could be part of the fuse box as a lot of cars are?
I would see if you have a Ford specialist local to take a look at it as they will have the gear to program modules if any need replacing.

Talking to someone at work, he suggested it might need a trip to a Ford Specialist.

[RailMags]

Are you sure the battery is outputting a good solid 12.4v or above? Have you checked that the battery cells aren't damaged/broken? 4.25v is extremely low, so low in fact that I would be skeptical about a recharge doing anything other than lifting the floating voltage and so I would start by looking at the battery itself. If you put the ignition on but engine off and switch a few basic items like the cabin fan and maybe the sidelights, what does the battery voltage read then?

As far as I know, the battery is good. I haven't had any problems with it since. My work involves a lot of short trips, lots of stop/starts (the battery isn't a stop/start type) which probably puts a lot of strain on the battery.

The RAC man did do various tests on the electrical system, alternator output.

My car always starts first time, after a couple of cranks of the starter motor.