Hello everyone. My mother has a 2005 ford fiesta with a speedometer problem. whenever i turn the key to the starting position I can see the needle going up but then drop down. if you turn the key 4-5 times the needle will drop down so much that when I drive 40kph the speedometer is at 0.  

See the attached picture (copied from my repair service). Clusters labelled types 2a-d are affected by the common problem of cracked solder joints on the main wiring connector (which I repair, though I only cover the UK). Types 2e-f are not affected by this. Perhaps the cracked joints could somehow be somewhat to blame.

However, it's very odd that the needle is managing to get so far below zero. The motors have a stopping point such that they can't quite turn a full 360 degrees. When the motor is turned towards zero until it hits this stopping point, the needle (which is simply pushed onto the motor spindle) should be pointing just below zero ("resting position"), when installed correctly, otherwise it would always be pointing in the wrong place. When power is applied to the correct pins (they take power on multiple pins for different ignition positions), which can differ among models, clusters will turn the motors to down to resting position, then afterwards will turn them back up slightly to "zero position", at which point they should be pointing at zero. Considering the physical stop in the motor, it should not be possible for the needle to be moved to more than a small amount below zero, if set up correctly. I suspect that your cluster has been worked on, possibly badly given the inconsistent behaviour (unless there's some issue elsewhere or I'm misunderstanding your description), by someone who has failed to refit the needles properly.

20 hours ago, Buyuk47 said:

Hello everyone. My mother has a 2005 ford fiesta with a speedometer problem. whenever i turn the key to the starting position I can see the needle going up but then drop down. if you turn the key 4-5 times the needle will drop down so much that when I drive 40kph the speedometer is at 0.  

If you enter engineering mode on the cluster, one of the functions is dial sweep, where the needles go from start to end and back.

See if that cures it

Put key in ignition, hold trip reset on cluster while you turn key to number two, wait 5 seconds

Hi, my son's '08 reg mk6 Fiesta doesn't have a trip reset on the cluster - it's on the steering wheel stalk, is there a different way to enter engineering mode?, thanks. 

Use the stalk button instead

On 1/25/2024 at 11:08 PM, rd457 said:

See the attached picture (copied from my repair service). Clusters labelled types 2a-d are affected by the common problem of cracked solder joints on the main wiring connector (which I repair, though I only cover the UK). Types 2e-f are not affected by this. Perhaps the cracked joints could somehow be somewhat to blame.

However, it's very odd that the needle is managing to get so far below zero. The motors have a stopping point such that they can't quite turn a full 360 degrees. When the motor is turned towards zero until it hits this stopping point, the needle (which is simply pushed onto the motor spindle) should be pointing just below zero ("resting position"), when installed correctly, otherwise it would always be pointing in the wrong place. When power is applied to the correct pins (they take power on multiple pins for different ignition positions), which can differ among models, clusters will turn the motors to down to resting position, then afterwards will turn them back up slightly to "zero position", at which point they should be pointing at zero. Considering the physical stop in the motor, it should not be possible for the needle to be moved to more than a small amount below zero, if set up correctly. I suspect that your cluster has been worked on, possibly badly given the inconsistent behaviour (unless there's some issue elsewhere or I'm misunderstanding your description), by someone who has failed to refit the needles properly.

After we bought the car I noticed a dtc code from the build in computer. when i checked with an obd scanner it had airbag warning codes but no airbag warning light on. when i checked the cluster the previous owner had opened the cluster and removed the airbag lights because the car has been involved in a car crash wich i found out later. i will try to remove and reinstall the needle to see if this fixes the issue thank you for your reply

On 1/26/2024 at 9:28 AM, DaveT70 said:

If you enter engineering mode on the cluster, one of the functions is dial sweep, where the needles go from start to end and back.

See if that cures it

Put key in ignition, hold trip reset on cluster while you turn key to number two, wait 5 seconds

Hello, i have tried this but unfortunatly it does not sweep the needles. it only shows gauge on the dash. i do hear the motors of the needles spinning but the don’t fully sweep, they just go up a little and down again. thank you for your reply

On 1/25/2024 at 11:08 PM, rd457 said:

See the attached picture (copied from my repair service). Clusters labelled types 2a-d are affected by the common problem of cracked solder joints on the main wiring connector (which I repair, though I only cover the UK). Types 2e-f are not affected by this. Perhaps the cracked joints could somehow be somewhat to blame.

However, it's very odd that the needle is managing to get so far below zero. The motors have a stopping point such that they can't quite turn a full 360 degrees. When the motor is turned towards zero until it hits this stopping point, the needle (which is simply pushed onto the motor spindle) should be pointing just below zero ("resting position"), when installed correctly, otherwise it would always be pointing in the wrong place. When power is applied to the correct pins (they take power on multiple pins for different ignition positions), which can differ among models, clusters will turn the motors to down to resting position, then afterwards will turn them back up slightly to "zero position", at which point they should be pointing at zero. Considering the physical stop in the motor, it should not be possible for the needle to be moved to more than a small amount below zero, if set up correctly. I suspect that your cluster has been worked on, possibly badly given the inconsistent behaviour (unless there's some issue elsewhere or I'm misunderstanding your description), by someone who has failed to refit the needles properly.

Removing and reinstalling the needle was the fix. Once again thank you very much for your reply.