Hi folks,

Hoping i could get some help on here.

So something strange happened the other day. for some reason the mileage on my odometer jumped from 98000 to 999999 and now wont change back!

I tried disconnecting the battery over night but this didn't do anything to fix the issue has anyone got any ideas of how to reset this? or am i screwed!

any advise will be greatly appreciated

On a 2010 model Focus, I would say you have the infamous dry solder joint failures of the instrument cluster.

Just as a test give the top of the dashboard a bit of a thump with your hand just above the instrument cluster and see if anything changes.

There are lots of companies who offer a repair/refurbishment of the IC on eBay. Or there is @rd457 who does repairs.

 

Certainly not screwed. The problem can be fixed one way or another, though not having come across this specific issue before I'm not certain what exactly will be needed. Also it's the real mileage that matters, not what's on the display. The real mileage may be retrievable via ODB from the cluster or possibly some other module like the ecu/gem. You just have to take care to discuss it explicitly with any MOT tester or buyer to avoid issues.

There are four possible causes that I can think of:

1. Cracked solder joints. As unofix says, your cluster model is one commonly affected by cracked solder joints (on the main wiring connector), which is something I happen to repair (you'll find my service here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314393033915). I'm not entirely confident that simply fixing the joints will be enough to fix this, but definitely try bashing the dash above the cluster to see if this has any affect as suggested by unofix. If that does happen to temporarily fix the displayed number then just fixing the cracks will be enough.

2. Faulty LCD. It could be that the LCD is failing. They do sometimes fail, the most common symptom being a blank or partially blank display, however we saw something similar here recently with a newer cluster model that was adding a 1 on the front along with other artefacts and a replacement LCD sorted it. If a new LCD is needed then the best place I find to get them is scavenging them from other used units on ebay. This may cost in the region of ~£50. (Would not have to be an ST specific one).

3. Corrupt config data. What if, through one means or another, the value stored in the cluster's config data has actually gotten changed to 999,999 (or >999,999 which is truncated to 999,999 when displayed)? This would require re-programming to correct, but unfortunately re-programming mileage is restricted (by the tools used / the device) to only changing to a lower value than already stored (and no you can't drive a little to role it over to 0). So if this is the result of a corrupted stored value then the only solution may be to get a replacement used unit (with lower mileage than your real mileage, and which may have to be an ST one), and either "clone" the config over to it (adjusting for mileage, which would require figuring out which bit of the raw config data is the mileage), or program it with the "asbuilt" config and then set the mileage.

If this is necessary I may be able to do this, I'm not certain... Doing programming requires forscan software (the only decent affordable solution) with the paid-for programming license, along with a good cable. I have a cable, but forscan requires Microsoft Windows and I don't use Microsoft Windows. I've been thinking that I could potentially use a Windows virtual machine, but I've not tried this possible solution yet so I don't know for certain that it works. If I can't do this without buying a Windows machine for the purpose (not happening), it would have to be done by someone else (there are services charging about £100). (Unless you have a Windows laptop yourself you could lend me to do it with).

Furthermore we would want to consider how we might go about correcting the mileage to a more accurate value than just simply 98,000. I could possibly retrieve the accurate value from the ECU/GEM module with forscan, presuming one or both do store their own copy, though for that you'd need to send me those also (and I'd have to figure out which pins to connect to), or you'd need to bring the car to me. Or perhaps a local garage could retrieve it with their scantool, if we accept a small inaccuracy from the drive home. Or if you have (or could get ahold of) a Windows based laptop and suitable cable then you could use the free version of forscan yourself (payment is only necessary for programming) to obtain the accurate mileage from one of the other modules (presuming they keep it), or you could even try programming a replacement unit yourself.

Or of course you could ask Ford to fit and program a brand new cluster but that would be very costly. (Don't bother asking them to program a used unit, they won't).

4. Other circuit board fault. It's possible that there could be some faulty component/circuit on the circuit board interfering with the value sent to the display, but I doubt this due to the nature of the complex communication mechanisms used.