Hi

I need some help as my car has been playing up over the last 3 months with a red cog and the caution light keeps coming on. I lose power to the car when driving it is like changing from 2nd gear to 5th gear. My car has been to two diffent garages the first garage said it was the instrument cluster and told me that only Ford can replace it. So off I sent my car (Focus 1.6 Sport) to Ford and spent £160 on dianogstics and a repair to the plugs on the passenger side they said that if it happen again that they will need to rewire my wiring loom. Took the car home and the next day the red cog and the caution light came back on. I took my car back and they said thay will need to re wire the plugs. This took them over 2 weeks until i got the car back and cost me another £105 and then 2 weeks later the red cog and the caution light came back on. I have been back to ford and now they THINK it is the ABS moduel.

Has anyone had this problem because I don't think it is the ABS moduel as when I tap the dash six warning lights come on, Oil light, battery light, red cog and the caution light, ABS light, Hand brake light and the engiene management and my immobiliser flashes.

Geoff

it could be anything from a loose wire, to a short circuit, or it could be coincidence and there could be the issue with the modules / relays etc, either way sounds electric. Not sure really what you can do other than trust Ford, or take it to an auto electrician.

Hi Geoff,

just found this post searching google and I have the exact same issue with my focus ( 55 plate ). I have come across quite a lot of similar problems with other focus owners but your thread is the first of an exact match. Would you be able to say exacly what sorted the issue as I would rather have a go myself before spending hundreds on labour alone and possibly weeks without a car. So far I have removed the instrument cluster and cleaned the printed circuit board like some sites suggested. While refitting the cluster I noticed the lights going mad when i lightly touched the wiring loom that connects to the cluster ( via a connector ). I was wandering if you could confirm if any of this sounds familiar with you and if your cluster issue is now history???

Kind regards

Gaz

This is a known problem of the Focus MK2/MK2.5 instrument cluster. The problem is caused by bad soldering connections of the connector to the circuit board. The soldering connections become cracked due to vibrations. This results in an open connection of 1 or more pins of the connector.

Many times the problem can be solved by resoldering all 32 pins of the connector to the circuit board. You just have to disassemble the instrument cluster to remove the circuit board. Now you can heaten up every soldering connection of the connector with a soldering iron with a small tip. I repaired several MK2/MK2.5 instrument clusters this way. In my opinion it is definitely worth a try.

I had this problem before, but a local garage recommended a company to me which cleans up and repairs the circuit board and gives a 2 year warranty for about £100, saved me paying out around £700 for a new cluster!

Just reading this.  can I replace cluster in car with a refurbed cluster, or, one from scrappies, without any problems or does replacement cluster need coded to car?  thanks

8 hours ago, Bar72 said:

without any problems

No. 

The PATS immobiliser will prevent the car from starting and the mileage will be wrong. Just get your own instrument cluster repaired. 

@rd457

16 hours ago, Bar72 said:

Just reading this.  can I replace cluster in car with a refurbed cluster, or, one from scrappies, without any problems or does replacement cluster need coded to car?  thanks

As unofix says, any replacement would need reprogramming, and it would need to have a lower mileage than your current one for that to work. Better to use a repair service like mine, yours is the type I fix most often: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314393033915

or find someone that can wipe the mileage

On 7/13/2024 at 9:06 AM, unofix said:

No. 

The PATS immobiliser will prevent the car from starting and the mileage will be wrong. Just get your own instrument cluster repaired. 

@rd457

thanks for clearing that up, unofix.

On 7/13/2024 at 4:47 PM, rd457 said:

As unofix says, any replacement would need reprogramming, and it would need to have a lower mileage than your current one for that to work. Better to use a repair service like mine, yours is the type I fix most often: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314393033915

Nice one, I've bookmarked the link for future ref.

I had a problem with with my 2008 auto. Suddenly the dials would do a sweep and multiple warning lights would illuminate and there was a warning message about about engine fault. Sometimes this would affect driving and gear changing.

I remove the instrument cluster and there did appear to be some loose solder joints. Iran over all 32 pins and reassembled. Car has been fine since.