My car (2015 Smax) has 4 headlight settings

0 – Running Lights (A strip of lights in the bumper, but only half of them on)

1 – Side Lights (Running lights, but more of them on)

2 – Headlights

3 – Auto depending on light conditions

As of last week I get:

0 – Side Lights

1 – Running Lights

2 – Headlights

3 – Auto but coming on when it gets cloudy rather than dark

So, what would cause 0 & 1 to swap places and 3 to get more sensitive?

My First guess with electrical problems on cars is water getting in the works?

Started when it was bone dry the weekend before last.

Dirt on the light sensor, a bad earth or a bulb gone.

Have you put a Rad sticker on or near the light sensor? Or has a spider chosen to die on top of it?

Or have you left a yoof unattended in the car who’s messed with the presets??

Beyond that, you’re going to need a young preist and an old preist 🤷‍♂️

Cleaned the sensor. Still not detecting ambient light properly. Doesn’t explain why 0 & 1 have swapped.

Have phoned a priest and left a message. Hoping for it to be some module or other that can be swapped out.

It’s a Ford

It’s a Ford

Is it a common fault with them? Google not turning up anything.

Like my Galaxy, which used to ‘blink’ headlights from Dipped to Nowt without warning for half a second, likely just Ford electrics and age not playing nicely.

Probably a bad/corroded connection somewhere. Possibly water ingress related.

3 – Auto but coming on when it gets cloudy rather than dark

Same but check where the sensor is to detect light levels.. is it a clean, dry, good looking conection? in fact that’s probably the first thing to check.

Does the sensor work? put some black tape over it or shine your phone torch onto it to try to observe its behaviour.

It’s a Ford

It will be something to do with rust.

Car therapy?

I’d say bad earth/corrosion on the bcm.

Try cleaning the plugs on it.

Is it a common fault with them?

Me and my brothers have had a long-standing joke since the 70s about Fords having dodgy electrics, must’ve been a reason for it!

Two issues I learned about when my lights went a bit haywire in the SMax…

The body control module (bcm) is an occasional issue with corrosion and that impacts lighting circuits

Ford have not brilliantly protected the wiring loom in a few places (tailgate loom being one location I’ve found in my ownership and door looms (airbag light)). It was a short for me that cut the lights on one side of the car intermittently.

It could also be a fault in the switch itself..

Me and my brothers have had a long-standing joke since the 70s about Fords having dodgy electrics, must’ve been a reason for it!

“Ford electrics” was a thing here also. Usually a soggy earth causing a disco when you braked, or some such.