I have a 58 S-Max with a Convers+ instrument cluster that's suddenly started resetting intermittently. Sometimes it's continuous, sometimes it's every few minutes, I think the longest it's gone without resetting is about 10 minutes.

I've got it booked in at the local Ford dealer, but I'm worried they'll just charge me £85 for the diagnostics test to tell me that I need a new cluster.

I've seen on some other threads that dodgy solders can be the cause of similar issues, although they seem to relate to older clusters. Is it worth trying to resolder the connections, has anyone else had this issue?

Over the last couple of months I've had an issue with the radio intermittently turning off and on, could they be related?

2008 is about spot on for the age of instrument clusters failing for poor solder joints.

Unless you are a professional with good skills and a very good soldering iron with a fine point I'd not recommend you trying to do the work yourself.

Check out the likes of eBay and you will find many companies who offer a refurbishment service for £85 to £130. Read the feedback to get an idea of which of them do a good job.

So, the plot thickens.

Went to start the car today and batter is completely flat. The remote central locking didn't even work.

I borrowed a battery charger and set it to 'jump-start' but it wouldn't even turn over. Once the instrument cluster had stabilised long enough to show the warnings it reported that the immobiliser had been activated!

The battery promptly died again. I set the charger to slow charge and was able to give it about an hour before the rain meant I had to bring it all in, but there was still no sign of life in the battery.

The battery was new about 3 years ago. Is it wishful thinking to hope that the issues with the instrument cluster were symptomatic of a battery slowly dying? Is there something more sinister at play that's causing the electrics to act all bonky and drain life out of the battery?

sounds like the dreaded cluster issue, it can manifest in a myriad of issues. Once 100% its ok go from there. I can recomend 2 guys unless you know someone. See if you can get a no fix no fee.

8 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

sounds like the dreaded cluster issue, it can manifest in a myriad of issues. Once 100% its ok go from there. I can recomend 2 guys unless you know someone. See if you can get a no fix no fee.

A faulty cluster can cause the battery to die? I'm guessing I'll need a new battery now anyway right?

Is that battery actually dead

5 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

Is that battery actually dead

Good question. How can I find out?

16 minutes ago, christopherX said:

Good question. How can I find out?

You'll need a multimeter, and prior to that, an overnight charge...

On 5/31/2022 at 7:33 PM, StephenFord said:

You'll need a multimeter, and prior to that, an overnight charge...

Charged the car overnight, checked the battery with a multimeter and got a reading around 12.9/13.0 V. Then turned on the car, radio, a/c and full beams and it was reading around 12.7/12.8 V. I disconnected the positive terminal on the battery for a couple of minutes and that seemed to disable to immobiliser and I was able to start the car. Drove it around a bit, the instrument cluster still displaying the same issue, but otherwise all seemed fine.

That was yesterday. Today I went to unlock the car again and there's no signs of life. The battery was showing 4.9/5.0 V. So something seems to be draining the battery. Not sure if it's the instrument cluster, or whether there's another electrical fault with the car that's causing the battery drain and cluster issues.

Edited June 2, 20224 yr by christopherX
typo

3 minutes ago, christopherX said:

That was yesterday. Today I went to unlock the car again and there's no signs of life. The battery was showing 4.9/5.0 V. So something seems to be draining the battery. Not sure if it's the instrument cluster, or whether there's another electrical fault with the car that's causing the battery drain and cluster issues.

You're not going to like my advice, but anyway, when your car is in running order, take it to an decent independent auto spark. There is obviously a parasitic drain and they will have the skills/tools to accurately diagnose what the cause is. You could spend weeks trying to find out what it is, worth the few £s to get an analysis done quickly. Otherwise, just hang on for more advice here as you work your way through a very long list of home diagnostics...

1 hour ago, christopherX said:

I disconnected the positive terminal on the battery for a couple of minutes and that seemed to disable to immobiliser and I was able to start the car.

On a point of safety, always disconnect the Negative terminal first, never remove the positive first.

As Stephen has said it would seem you have a parasitic drain on your battery. I consider myself to be a professional in the electrical/electronic field (others may disagree 🤣) and have much equipment but I could still spend 5 or more hours tracing the problem.

Get a good auto electrician to investigate it, you will save money in the long term.

Thanks both, good advice.

It's actually booked in with a garage for Thursday (the earliest slot I could get), I just need it to get me to Thursday. We don't have a second car and we use it everyday for work. It's not looking good 😅

39 minutes ago, christopherX said:

Thanks both, good advice.

It's actually booked in with a garage for Thursday (the earliest slot I could get), I just need it to get me to Thursday. We don't have a second car and we use it everyday for work. It's not looking good 😅

There are a couple of things you can easily try before you can get the car looked at and assuming that it is not the Battery.

If the Glovebox or Boot lights are straying on all the time you can easily check this by charging up the car and putting your phone inside them one at at time on record and lock the car to see if the lights go off.

The other thing is if it is one of the high current drawing things that is constantly on like the Heated Screen or Supplemental Heater then after charging the car have a feel at all the Fuses in each Fusebox. If it is one of them or something else that draws a lot of current then the Fuse might be hot if it has been running all night.

Can I place my bets now please ?

i'll have 2:1 it's a faulty bluetooth module and just to cover myself i'll have even money on a door module fault 🤣

 

i've lost track of this, did the codes get read ?????????

7 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

i've lost track of this, did the codes get read ?????????

No codes yet.

Mystic Meg is doing a reading on Thursday so get your bets placed now ! 🤣👍

9 hours ago, unofix said:

No codes yet.

Mystic Meg is doing a reading on Thursday so get your bets placed now ! 🤣👍

Thats too late for this weekends £20 million lottery draw, i'll consult the tealeaves

15 hours ago, unofix said:

Can I place my bets now please ?

i'll have 2:1 it's a faulty bluetooth module and just to cover myself i'll have even money on a door module fault 🤣

 

The symptoms are mounting up. Interestingly the driver's side rear door doesn't respond to the remote key fob. To add to that, the boot will open randomly whilst driving. Not completely open, but like it's been released with the key fob. The alarm will also go off randomly, but I have a feeling that's linked to the battery running out of juice.

I've downloaded FORScan and bought a connector, I've got no idea what I'm looking for though.

16 hours ago, Tizer said:

There are a couple of things you can easily try before you can get the car looked at and assuming that it is not the Battery.

If the Glovebox or Boot lights are straying on all the time you can easily check this by charging up the car and putting your phone inside them one at at time on record and lock the car to see if the lights go off.

The other thing is if it is one of the high current drawing things that is constantly on like the Heated Screen or Supplemental Heater then after charging the car have a feel at all the Fuses in each Fusebox. If it is one of them or something else that draws a lot of current then the Fuse might be hot if it has been running all night.

I'll try these things too, thanks.

I've charged it again and driven it around. Tested battery with the multimeter and got a reading of 13.25, an hour later it's reading 12.96. So something is draining the battery.

6 hours ago, Jimpster said:

Thats too late for this weekends £20 million lottery draw, i'll consult the tealeaves

The lottery is my plan B 👍

I refer the honourable gentleman to the answer I posted some time ago LOL

when you connect forscan your looking for DTC thats where the codes will be if any

 

3 hours ago, christopherX said:

I've charged it again and driven it around. Tested battery with the multimeter and got a reading of 13.25, an hour later it's reading 12.96. So something is draining the battery

These readings do not look correct for a resting Voltage long after the car has been run or charged.

Normally a Battery has 6 cells @2.1 Volts, or 2.1 and a little bit, so 12.6 or 12.7 is what I would expect, maybe 12.8 for an AGM Battery.

I just got off the phone with the garage. They say it's an issue with the Body Control Unit (BSI) and it will need to go to a Ford Dealer/Specialist as they have the expensive software necessary to deal with it. They said there were pages of internal faults being returned, and it's unlikely the instrument cluster is the cause, although the instrument cluster could also be faulty.

 

Research which is the cheaper fix and change it, if its the cluster youll need to factor in Forscan and a lead. any signs of water ingress ? to the fuse box etc

54 minutes ago, Jimpster said:

Research which is the cheaper fix and change it, if its the cluster youll need to factor in Forscan and a lead. any signs of water ingress ? to the fuse box etc

No signs of water ingress. I'm wondering if it could be the canbus? The stereo was the first thing to show odd behaviour a couple of months ago, and I read on another post that the data will pass through a canbus between the control unit and the instrument cluster.

I think I only need Forscan if the cluster needs replacing, but I do have it (and the lead).

Forscan will read any DTC's "codes" and point you in a certain direction. You can also use it to rewrite certain modules if needed.