Hello, im hoping somebody can help me with some advice. I bought a Ford Focus 1.6 diesel 2008 about a month ago, 1 owner, fsh, immaculate condition lovely little car. About 2 weeks ago I left the lights on over night and the battery went flat, I jumped the car went for a long drive and everything was fine until the other day when the car decided to completely die on me with the engine malfunction light and alarm coming on and then it wouldn't start so I left it parked where it was as a kind gentleman helped me push it to a safe place. I came back an hour later and it started up fine and I drive it home great, now today it's gone and done it again so im just wondering have I damaged the battery when I left it run dead, I measured the battery with a volt metre and it was reading 12.3 volts, is this to low? Do I need a new battery? Or is it something more sinister? 

Unfortunately without any codes or anything it's a complete guess at this point. 12.3 volts on a battery is fine as a general rule but doesn't tell you what the actual condition of the battery is like. 

Have you got a code reader or anything? Might be worth taking to you local garage for a look

Thanks for the reply, U0155 was the code it displayed, the battery and connections are in good condition. U0155 is something to do with the instrument panel cluster, just wondering if this is an easy fix or is it going to cost an arm or a leg 🙈 

The clusters are a very common problem on focus' of that era. They cause all sorts of issues from cutting out to immobiliser issues and acceleration problems.  

The soldered joints in the circuit board get dry and crack, you can send them off to get repaired or try it yourself (if you feel confident enough) be warned a new unit is anywhere from £700-£1200 

Yes I can solder, I was a technician in Sony for year's. I done a bit of research and it looks an easy enough job, 700 - 1200 pound im in the wrong business 😬. Its definitely that because if I bang the top of the display with my hand everything  comes back on. Its just a matter of getting the display out 👍

 

Awesome! Yeah that's the best trick in the book haha. 

To get it out pull the top steering column shroud off, it's just clipped in and you'll see 2 torx25 screws holding the cluster in. Undo them and then you'll need a trim tool to lever the cluster out gently from the dash. You'll need to put the trim tool in at the very top of cluster where it meets the dashboard. 👍