With fog lamps on this morning the LED didn’t show on the cluster for rear fogs. Got it to work after work by giving the dash a thump so I’m expecting it’s the usual dry joint issue for the cluster connector 😕

Interestingly I tried the dash test mode to check the LEDs and neither foglamp LED came on though the front was working off the headlamp switch…..

Weighing up my options for sending the cluster off for repair or taking the job on myself as being without the car for a few days isn’t ideal. Got a fair bit of experience soldering electronics etc though a little out of practice. Apart from the various YouTube videos are there any tips or things to be aware of?

Thanks

 

13 minutes ago, troy45 said:

... as being without the car for a few days isn’t ideal...

If you get the timing right, it should be bearable. My own repair I posted off on a Tuesday, they got on Wednesday, did repair, and shipped back same day, I got it Thursday and it's been operational ever since, almost a year ago.

The advantage of a professional repair is there is no learning curve, it's done properly, and they often have a test rig to ensure all is good before you get it back. In monetary terms, it's relatively a cheap repair, £60 - £80.

Up to you...

Very fair point - my local post office isn’t open tomorrow afternoon so would be looking at sending it out Wednesday then work arrangements without a car for the rest of the week and definitely not cycle to work weather right now. 
 

Can make some more enquiries tomorrow 👍

As replied in PM (just repeating this bit here to help any future readers with the same problem): The cracks always occur towards the end of the two rows of connector pins. Pin 1 is for rear fog lights and being on nes end of the rows, is thus going to be one of the worst cracked joints, so this is most likely the cause, and then on top if bashing the dash fixes it, that just confirms that cracked connector joints is the cause.

Quick update on this - decided to get it fixed by a professional. 
 

@rd457 did the honours for me and couldn’t be happier with the service. He gave me loads of info about doing the repair when I messaged him, advised best delivery service to use etc and turned around my cluster really quickly. It went to the post office Thursday afternoon, arrived back here Saturday morning and all working perfectly. Updated throughout with messages plus some photos of the circuit board before and after. 
 

Brilliant service 🤩

For anyone else with the clock setting available in the cluster it reverts back to 2008 after being disconnected and only lets you pick maybe up to 2014 so you need to set it to 23:59 on 31st December 2014 to get it to step forward. Had to do this step again up to 2020 to get it back to 2024. Minor inconvenience

2 hours ago, troy45 said:

Quick update on this - decided to get it fixed by a professional. 
 

@rd457
 

Glad to see you took the advice, and our 'own' guy you can't get better...