My wife has a 2008 2L Focus Titanium petrol hatchback with manual gearbox.

She has recently had engine warning light come on and go off again, dials suddenly stop working then start again, other warning lights and chimes sounding, limp home mode message. Took it to our garage (she had just had new water pump fitted so didn't know whether this was connected) and no fault codes were present. Took it to Halfords for battery test and it passed with flying colours. Connected my code reader today and still no fault codes.

Each day this past week she has reported different combinations of the above, with it being ok travelling to work then lights/messages on way home. There seems to be no pattern to this and we don't know what will happen each time she uses the car.

Can anyone suggest what to do next about this problem please? Any ideas as to what is happening here (apart from the car suffering from demonic possession!)?

check the big plugs that go in to the passager fuse box lose plugs found this on mine doing the  same thing this cured it might help

11 minutes ago, dezwez said:

check the big plugs that go in to the passager fuse box lose plugs found this on mine doing the  same thing this cured it might help

Just had a look at those and they were pretty tight. Thanks for the tip.

Either a bad connector to the instrument cluster or a dry joint in the instrument cluster. Could also be a bad earth connection. With the car running, start banging the dash and instrument cluster to see if you can replicate the issues.

Separate the connectors to the instrument cluster and spray with contact cleaner, keep an eye out for any corrosion, the green nasties, on the pins and connectors.

Once ALL the connectors have been targeted, take the car for a spin and see if it's fixed. If not, then I'd start looking at dry joints on the PCB in the instrument cluster.

Do you own a soldering iron? If not, look online for a new/refurb cluster.

 

Thanks for the info. I'd heard about instrument cluster problems before but never experienced them 1st hand. Thought it might have been the battery until that checked out ok! Feels like an intermittent electrical fault from the way the warning lights go on and off at random. Will try and take a look in next day or so.

I don't own a soldering iron as I'm not too good with electrics! Replacement might be the way to go if it turns out to be the cluster.

1 hour ago, GazP said:

Replacement might be the way to go if it turns out to be the cluster.

Repair is an easier option. Replacment will need IC programmed and the mileage set (not so easy).

8 hours ago, GazP said:

Thanks for the info. I'd heard about instrument cluster problems before but never experienced them 1st hand. Thought it might have been the battery until that checked out ok! Feels like an intermittent electrical fault from the way the warning lights go on and off at random. Will try and take a look in next day or so.

I don't own a soldering iron as I'm not too good with electrics! Replacement might be the way to go if it turns out to be the cluster.

Search "Ford Focus MK2 Instrument Cluster repair" on Ebay. There are people on there who you can send it to and they will repair and return. Pay no more than £70

Don't try to fix it yourself as you will never get the needles back in the right place.

You can't just fit a second hand cluster as the car won't start

One of my old car mates does it, no idea on his pricing though - https://www.ajelectech.co.uk/

Thanks for all the replies on this. Watched a video of repairing a cluster and it looks a bit too involved for me to do myself. I'll certainly check the repair route, as replacement looks even more complicated!

Car was ok yesterday so car was used for work and guess what, wife was stranded at work as it wouldn't restart! AA were called and mechanic spent quite a while on car, getting lots of codes then clearing them, only for them and others to return. One was for fuel pump fail, but obviously wasn't faulty as car was running at that point. He was tapping the cluster and said it was probably that causing the problem. They got the car started and she drove home followed by the mechanic, but she said the dials and warnings were going crazy on the drive home.

Has anyone on here used Essex Recons in Rainham; they repair instrument clusters and are fairly local to us?

Just send it off on ebay, follow instructions, really fast turn around, we got my brother-in-law's back in about two days £65

If the car dies again, ensure you take the key out, open and close the driver's door and it should start again

 

2 hours ago, GazP said:

getting lots of codes then clearing them, only for them and others to return

Exactly what my mates cluster problem did (just needed resoldering)

2 hours ago, GazP said:

Has anyone on here used Essex Recons in Rainham; they repair instrument clusters and are fairly local to us

Get a quote first, my mate didn't and was charged £250 to repair the "clocks" by an auto electrician he left the car with, who just resoldered the joints

It's much cheaper if you can get it out and send it off for a repair

58 minutes ago, Carl123 said:

It's much cheaper if you can get it out and send it off for a repair

This is who did my bro-in-law's

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324144360343?hash=item4b78826b97:g:AW8AAOSwZ41ecMdc

Thanks again for the replies.

Dave & Carl, Essex Recons are also on Ebay but as they are just down the road to us I thought it would lessen the chance of more damage in the post. They quote £79.99 on Ebay. Had a look at their website and they seem to have all the diagnostic gear needed... and a soldering iron!

Looks like we have an end to this saga!

Phoned Essex Recons this morning, was told to bring the car down if possible, and repair would take approx 1 hour. After a very eventful drive there (with warning messages, chimes, and the needles working and then not!) was told to leave the car with them. Went back later as arranged and the car was all finished. They had re-soldered a lot of the joints, replaced burnt-out components, tested and then cleared all the fault codes. All with a lifetime guarantee!

Drove the car home with one eye on the cluster as before, but all was ok! Can't believe the change in the car, and was money well spent; it cost a little more as they had to remove it and refit to the car. Very helpful company and a turnaround of 1 hour or so; I would recommend them if anyone needs their cluster fixed.

Incidentally, the codes that the AA mechanic found were P0231, P0571, P1260, P2121, P2122, and U1900. If anyone gets these codes in future then the cluster might be the problem.