whats wrong with my car?

[fredeye]

i have an 05 focus zx4 and yesterday as my car was idling a message on the radio screen said low battery and the gauge cluster and radio stopped working but car still ran and the windows still worked but sluggishly. went to a repair place and they tested the battery and alternator and battery was weak. replaced battery and after about twenty miles it happened again. i made it back home and parked it and thirty minutes later i went and cranked it , everything is ok working good again. i tried to call ford and the mechanic at the dealer said he had never heard of this before and they never have problems with focus. i know he is full of it. can anybody help?

[GapBoyPCS]

Welcome.

I wasn't aware that the radio screen would say "low battery". I hope you aren't talking about the light on the instrument cluster that looks like a battery.

I'm sure others can chime in on what may be wrong, but if your battery was replaced and you got the same problem, it'd seem that the charging system itself is the issue. The weak battery is/was just a sign that something in the system couldn't keep it fully charged, so it gradually wore down. If anything, you may need a good shop or dealership to do a proper diagnosis on the charging system of your car. In the meantime, I'll move this to our Team Tech forum.

[fredeye]

it actually came up on the screen of the radio which is weird. LOW BATTERY. i have never heard of it being on the screen of the radio. i guess i need to look in the owners manual and see if it does that.

[Mjasinski]

Check the wire harness to the alternator, i had mine come apart. i know its not a common duratec problem but it could happen.