Hi all,

I have a 2004 1.8 ghia petrol Focus that has just stopped on me & I need some advice.

The car's battery was fading since it has turned colder and I was about to change it but before I could,

It packed up on me whilst taking my daughter to school. I was about to change from 1st to 2nd after pulling out of a junction and it cut out totally. No power in the battery to restart it.

After a stressful half hour of negotiating the junction by pushing the car (not one person stopped to offer help) I got it turned round and tried to bump start it down a slight gradient without success.

Got it off the road, bought and fitted a new battery (£38.00 from Euro Parts) and now it turns over perfectly but will not fire up.

Before the break down, it was doing the instrument cluster flickering on the first couple of seconds of start up, I now realise this could be the issue after reading some of the posts on here.

But before I shell out on a new one, I was wondering if any of you have any other ideas?

As well as the battery change, I have checked the fuel filter which was full of fuel both ends, unplugged, cleaned and re plugged in crank and cam sensors, all belts are in place too.

I want to know if the Cluster can cause a total failure such as this or is it likely to be something else?

Hopefully one of you can help me,

Many thanks.

what battery did you get? it sounds like you have a relatively low charge battery that is not silver calcium.

I had this issue yesterday where my battery just went dark, the car went, no lights, no signs of life, nothing. In the end it was one of the terminal connectors had worked loose and although it was on the battery, it wasnt making a proper or decent connection, so after the guy pressed it down and I started the car, we then tightened the battery up and it appears to be much better now!

The new battery is fine, it's not a silver one but charge is good and it's spinning over at a rate of knots now just won't fire.

I have the Cluster out, sprayed, cleaned and now in the airing cupboard for the night.

I hope this might solve it, otherwise I'm a bit stumped!

It really depends I guess, I'm always wary of non silver batteries mainly because I bought two cars that never had them and they cause similar havoc to what you and others have seen along with what I have described.

Hopefully it will work with the cluster but take a multimeter to the battery and check the voltage.