Hey all,

Our Focus 1.6 TDCi with 109 HP has been throwing an Engine Systems Fault at random, it seems unpredictable. The car starts up and moves very nicely, but all of a sudden, and without any trigger it seems, the car beeps, shows the error on the IC and goes on limp mode (heavily reduced power, won't really go over 3k RPM). It's really weird because the car runs awesome 😞

Restarting the car solves the error, and it can go up to another 150 - 200 miles or so without throwing the error again. It's easy to restart, so it's not a big deal, but it is nonetheless concerning. I eventually got an OBD2 cable to hook up the car to Forscan, and I've been able to get a couple of DTC codes:
- P0089-21: Fuel pressure control valve - Signal above the maximum tolerance
- P138B-62: Spark plug control module system voltage - Signal below the minimum tolerance
(sorry for the terrible translations, I ran Forscan in Spanish. If needed I can run it again in English)

I've been looking everywhere to check what other people with the same error did, and I've seen mixed opinions. As for the fuel pressure control valve, I've seen that changing the fuel filter may fix it, either that or the sensor, and as for the spark plugs, I've seen that replacing the spark plugs might be necessary. The car is second-hand so we have no clue when these were last serviced.

Does anyone know a bit more about these codes and what I should proceed with next? Thanks in advance.

Do a search on the forum, or use Google, for "Instrument cluster cracked solder joints"

1 minute ago, mjt said:

Do a search on the forum, or use Google, for "Instrument cluster cracked solder joints"

That was my original thought before getting the OBD2 cable and looking at Forscan. Do you reckon that would still be the issue despite these two DTC codes?

Because the cracked joints can interfere with the CANbus signals all manner of random fault codes can be thrown up. Usually if it's cracked joints you'd see some 'U' codes which indicate communication problems. It is, of course, possible that these are genuine codes and if they're consistent maybe they are. I don't know if those signals pass through the cluster. If they do it could just be their joints that are causing the problem. One test that's often suggested is to hit the dash above the instrument panel to see if that provokes the fault. All I can say is that our Mk2.5 behaved exactly as you've described, chimed and threw up "Engine malfunction" with a lot of random DTCs. The Engine malfunction cleared with a key-off and key-on and then it ran for several days before doing the same again. Since I resoldered the joints with tin/lead solder the problem hasn't reappeared in over 2 years.

If your cluster has never been resoldered I would recommend you at least get it checked out.

3 hours ago, AlejandroSR said:

Do you reckon that would still be the issue despite these two DTC codes?

Yes.

3 hours ago, mjt said:

Because the cracked joints can interfere with the CANbus signals all manner of random fault codes can be thrown up. Usually if it's cracked joints you'd see some 'U' codes which indicate communication problems. It is, of course, possible that these are genuine codes and if they're consistent maybe they are. I don't know if those signals pass through the cluster. If they do it could just be their joints that are causing the problem. One test that's often suggested is to hit the dash above the instrument panel to see if that provokes the fault. All I can say is that our Mk2.5 behaved exactly as you've described, chimed and threw up "Engine malfunction" with a lot of random DTCs. The Engine malfunction cleared with a key-off and key-on and then it ran for several days before doing the same again. Since I resoldered the joints with tin/lead solder the problem hasn't reappeared in over 2 years.

If your cluster has never been resoldered I would recommend you at least get it checked out.

I see, thanks for taking the time to answer.

Personally it's just these two errors at the moment, but then again I had a mechanic clear the codes a couple of days ago, and I've only gotten my hands on the OBD2 cable today. I'll definitely check any new ones to see if they're the same. I've also never gotten any communication fault codes, is that normal as well?

Would it be a good idea to delete these codes? I'm going on a road trip soon and I was thinking maybe different errors could show up to confirm the IC issue.

The car beeped again and it threw the same Engine Systems Fault error on the screen. Hooked it up to Forscan without turning it off and the car now has one more PCM error and a new IC error has popped up, both about the immobilizer iirc.

 

I think this fully confirms that it's just a faulty instrument cluster so I've bought a newer Mk2.5 one to replace this one and hopefully that should be the end of this.

 

I could've resoldered but I don't have the steady hands. Hopefully this update helps other people out, and honestly super glad it's just the instrument cluster, means I get to switch to the fancier newer one 😆

10 hours ago, AlejandroSR said:

I think this fully confirms that it's just a faulty instrument cluster so I've bought a newer Mk2.5 one to replace this one and hopefully that should be the end of this.

The cluster is programmed to the individual car. They cannot be fitted to another car without being re-programmed.

Not all clusters are compatible with all models of focus.

16 minutes ago, AntonovAN12 said:

The cluster is programmed to the individual car. They cannot be fitted to another car without being re-programmed.

Not all clusters are compatible with all models of focus.

Hey,

 

I've taken proper care to get a cluster that is confirmed to work as an upgrade, down to the RPM range, speed range, etc. Mk2 clusters to Mk2.5 clusters as an upgrade is pretty common from what I've seen since it's not too challenging. Reprogramming doesn't seem too labour intensive with the proper tools, and PATS reprogramming should also be doable with ForScan.

 

I wouldn't have taken on such an upgrade if I wasn't sure it would be a perfect fit.

 

Nonetheless is there anything I should be concerned about?

1 hour ago, AlejandroSR said:

Nonetheless is there anything I should be concerned about?

 What @AntonovAN12 said was perfectly correct.

Everything went well and now I have replaced the previous instrument cluster with a new facelift one 😀

 

Overall a pretty easy upgrade, hardest part was ironically removing the previous instrument cluster.

 

I haven't had the opportunity to try the car enough yet, so I'll slowly report results