Hi, I am new here and I have a problem with my focus 2006  (which I think is electrical) where the instrument cluster will randomly stop working. Specifically the indicator will not blink on the dash when I signal but the actual indicator lights on the exterior of the car blink, the radio will also turn off. When it happens it lasts between 5 mins and 40 mins, then everything just works again. I have no idea what may be causing it, and I’d appreciate any suggestions. 

Thanks

8 hours ago, Ed_III said:

where the instrument cluster will randomly stop working. Specifically the indicator will not blink on the dash when I signal but the actual indicator lights on the exterior of the car blink, the radio will also turn off.

The 2006 Focus IC is really notorious for electrical problems, usually just the soldering between the pcb and the main connector.

The indicators are controlled by the BCM, which is built in to the passenger fusebox. The control stalks are not connected to the IC at all. But the dash indication lights are part of the IC. The IC gets information about the indicators over the MS-CAN bus. The MS-CAN bus also goes to the radio. So it is possible that the wiring fault on the IC connector could be the cause. The MS-CAN bus is terminated inside the IC, and all communication over it can be corrupted if the connections to the IC are bad.

I had problems with the HS-CAN bus (from the ECU & engine) to the IC. I did a little pdf about it: https://www.fordownersclub.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=40491

 

Hi Peter, do you have a copy of the pdf still? The link seems to be broken. 

Just starting off my investigations of a U1900 fault after getting the some errors ('engine system failure', 'steering assist failure' and 'speed limited' )on a long drive home yesterday.

Hopefully I can work out what to test from your other threads on the general topic. Thanks for helping everyone out so much with your posts.

FYI - take a guess on the year of my focus...I'll  give you a clue, it ends in 06 !

 

On 4/14/2019 at 10:36 PM, Tdci-Peter said:

The 2006 Focus IC is really notorious for electrical problems, usually just the soldering between the pcb and the main connector.

The indicators are controlled by the BCM, which is built in to the passenger fusebox. The control stalks are not connected to the IC at all. But the dash indication lights are part of the IC. The IC gets information about the indicators over the MS-CAN bus. The MS-CAN bus also goes to the radio. So it is possible that the wiring fault on the IC connector could be the cause. The MS-CAN bus is terminated inside the IC, and all communication over it can be corrupted if the connections to the IC are bad.

I had problems with the HS-CAN bus (from the ECU & engine) to the IC. I did a little pdf about it: https://www.fordownersclub.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=40491

 

 

12 minutes ago, Folem01 said:

Hi Peter, do you have a copy of the pdf still? The link seems to be broken. 

Yes I have the pdf, but the link (40491) worked for me ok just now. It came straight into my downloads folder.

There seems to be a plague of CAN bus related faults about at the moment. If it is the IC, then the fix is very easy if you can use a soldering iron, or have a friend who can. Also Forscan is a very useful tool to have when dealing with this problem.

If you can not get the link to work, I can try uploading another copy, but whatever is blocking it may still be a problem.

Strangely the link works now, thanks.

I've only got a bluetooth OBDII scanner at the moment , so fault finding my take a while longer. Hopefully  I can see and clear the faults I need to.

Fingers crossed i can find the fault! Will post back with some findings if they're of any use to others (and I'll stop hijacking this thread!)

 

 

1 hour ago, Folem01 said:

I've only got a bluetooth OBDII scanner at the moment , so fault finding my take a while longer. Hopefully  I can see and clear the faults I need to.

Fingers crossed i can find the fault! Will post back with some findings if they're of any use to others (and I'll stop hijacking this thread!)

If the condition goes to the point of the immobiliser staying active and theft detected codes get stored, it may need a Ford specific system like Forscan to clear them. Otherwise a generic OBD2 reader should be adequate.

Fault readers are all very poor at locating the exact place of a CAN bus fault, it is a major weakness inherent in the CAN bus system. The codes are read over the same bus, so it has to be, at least partly, working before you can read or clear codes.

It usually comes down to doing resistance readings with a multimeter.

It is probably ok to use this thread if you want, the title matches your symptoms, and the fault may be related.

Ended up re-soldering the 2 CAN pins on the connector and seems to have solved this issue. About a quarter of the pins on the connector were lacking solder and had obvious cracked joints. I took it for an hour and a half drive afterwards with no issues, so hoping it won't return - it was happening within 10 minutes the last few days.

Whilst I had it out, I re-flowed some of the other suspect looking joints. I also noticed quite a lot of flux left over from when it was manufactured - overall a great job from the manufacturers.

Mine was made by Visteon in December 2005. I've  noticed the same date and manufacturer in pictures from others with the same issues. Clearly lacking some quality control!!

Thanks very much for your help Peter.