Hi all,

Any help would be gratefully received. I have a ford focus titanium (auto) 2008 and the LCD has stopped working. All other lights on the dash are ok. I changed the fuse but this didnt make any difference. I took it to a garage and they wanted a mortgage to investigate and so I thought I would ask if any of you know where I could start. I have no car experience but am also cash poor so hoping to find a self remedy :)

Remove the instrument cluster and send it to be refurbished/re-soldered. Just use Google or look on eBay for companies who professionally repair these units. Expect to pay around £90

@rd457 may be able to help you.

Hi Clare, and thanks for the recommendation unofix 👍

Since it was manufactured in 2008 there's a possibility that this could relate to the common solder joint issue - Ford switched to use of unleaded solder over this time period which unfortunately has been found to end up cracking, primarily where the instrument cluster's main wiring connector is soldered to its circuit board, resulting in various erratic electrical faults. You need a fine soldering iron and good soldering skills to fix it.

I've just recently offered up my own services for fixing this on ebay and I'm the cheapest option you'll find on ebay currently at £40 + postage. You can find my service here. Instructions can be found there.

It's possible that it could be some other fault that's causing the problem, but it's advisable to get the connector re-soldered anyway.

I completely understand being cash poor, I'm not well off myself. If you really can't afford the price on my ebay listing it's okay if you want to negotiate with me based upon what you can afford. If re-soldering the connector doesn't fix the LCD issue then I'll have a go at seeing what else I can do about it. If I fail then I guess I'll just give you some money back. I don't want to make things difficult for you and I'd feel bad taking the full amount, even as cheap as I'm offering the service for, if I can't fix it.

4 hours ago, rcmckee said:

Any help would be gratefully received....

As already stated here, getting your instrument cluster resoldered is a very effective repair for all sorts of electrical gremlins. It may be daunting to think how you'd do that, but even a total novice, just by watching a YouTube, would be able to remove it. It's basically held in by just 2 x screws. You'll have to time it so you can do without the car for the duration (Usually just a couple of days), sending it away, waiting for a day turnaround, as the car won't drive at all without it. 

I instigated an instrument cluster repair myself a couple of weeks ago, and I can barely use a screwdriver!

Lots of videos available, but this is my favourite...

Almost positive a 'local garage' will be unable to do repair, and budget no more than £80 all in.

Last night I did a little research into the price of a replacement LCD component just in case one is needed. I was expecting it to just be a few pounds but that's unfortunately not the case. It's madness. The cheapest I can find one is about £45. I looked on eBay, on aliexpress (Chinese Amazon alternative), did a general google search, and looked at second-hand instrument clusters to take one from. I can't find one any cheaper. I noted on someone else's professional repair service that they have an extra £45 charge for LCD replacement, so it seems it's not just me struggling to find one at reasonable cost. Since waiting for weeks for one from China just to save a few pounds (cheapest I saw might have been £43 with at least two weeks delivery time) doesn't seem like a great idea, it seems the best option would be the cheapest used instrument cluster on eBay which is currently £50. Again, this is just if one is needed, though it's a strong possibility.

So if it turns out that just re-soldering is required, then the repair will just cost £40 + postage, or whatever you negotiate me down to. Whereas if it turns out that a new LCD is needed, then there's that significant extra cost of sourcing a replacement part to factor in.