Hey all, it turns out my new (used) ford focus 02 reg has a dodgy instrument cluster. About once or twice a week the speed needle will sit at zero, and sometimes pop in to life randomly.

The car also feels a bit sluggish, the other day in 5th it would barely pass 70mph.

I'm no car expert at all but have been reading topics like this on this forum and people have suggested a sensor that's on the gear box, and also the instrument cluster that could be the main reason. I have found both cheap on eBay and was going to pay a garage to install them for me. I was hoping people here would check the items I'm looking at getting on eBay and confirm they are the right parts for me? I don't want to make a stupid mistake that's all.

The instrument cluster I saw is this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331190836388?redirect=mobile

And the senser part is

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/221253658933

My car is a ford focus, mk1. SV02 reg. 1.6 petrol.

Thanks for any help and advice! Love the car, just want to get it working right.

I would do the speed sensor frist as most of the time its this that goes

speed sensor not the cluster

What makes you both think it's the speed sensor and not the cluster? And would this make the car perform worse if it was broken?

Not saying you are wrong, just asking so i can learn as i go along!

Also ONCE, when the speedo stopped working, the mileage underneath went ----- instead of any numbers. When i stopped the car and started up again it was back to normal.

Thanks for all the help and advice, much appreciated :)

had same thing happen on my old mk 1

well knowen on here

A duff speedo sensor will result in the symptoms you described.

The engine uses the sensor to maintain engine performance relative to speed readings.

When the sensor plays up you will notice a drop in power and even sometimes a tendency to stall at lights also the odometer will also stop increasing too.

Do the sensor first as mentioned above, the one you listed is correct.